It's our turn to set a Hash run in a couple of weeks, so we decided to recce one today. We had a choice of two routes - the 5 mile or the 6.5 mile one - and decided, purely for aesthetic reasons regarding views and amount of roadside walking opposed to footpaths, on the shorter of the two! We started at the "Hare and Hounds" pub in Chelsham, went to Woldingham cross country and came back, basically.
It was a varied walk, quite steeply up and down as we crossed valleys, with open stretches and wooded parts (with blackberries still!) as well as passing some very smart residences around Woldingham (known as millionaires' village, as you can't buy a house there for less than £1m). At one point we disturbed a viper, but it slithered away; I had more trouble with a nasty brown bug, which crawled into my neckline, into my T shirt, and bit me all over before I could find it - in my bra by then - and get it out.

The sun came out en route and we had a very pleasant walk. It won't be quite as pleasant next time, as we'll have to do it twice in succession, to lay the trail then run it - I expect the slopes will be even steeper then, too...

Oh no! Surely we didn't book our train tickets for today? In retrospect, we really should have stayed another night - not only did the Fringe have another day to go, but our train journey may well have been more direct, instead of having to change at Peterborough and Futtock's End, or some such one eyed station where we were led astray by a guard who didn't know his left from his right. Our journey to Edinburgh took just over 6 hours; the journey home about 8...

But anyhow, we finished with two excellent shows. The first was our third at Aurora Nova, all wonderful and this no exception - "Sclavi - Song of an Emigrant" by the Czech group Farm in the Cave. Based on poems by and about emigrants and others who feel on the outside of society, the piece is not so much a narrative as a tonal cacophony of a people's grief, fury and desolation, incorporating polyphonic singing, ear-splitting music and emotional dance. We came away wrung out and drained!

Only to move on to the very last performance, and also one of the best plays we saw - "Young Macbeth" by the Castle Theatre Company - three young actors. Mark Quartley played the title role, whilst Johnny Scott and Naomi Cranstoun ably shared the other characters between them. Perfect in a small theatre setting.

So with loads of love and gratitude for having us to stay again, we reluctantly said goodbye to Norma and Came Home.

Well, we must be at Saturday by now, so it's off to St. Mark's Unitarian Church to hear "A Cappella Dream" by the Walbrook Singers. A programme of mixed music from this choir of men and children together, including some Plainsong - too short, that was super - and climaxing with Joseph's Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. Some of the music was just unaccompanied singing, which isn't quite what I understand acappella to mean, but the "Joseph" was lovely.

More music next, with the dramatisation of the last few months of Judy Garland's life, with the best songs, in "End of the Rainbow" starring Caroline O'Connor, with Michael Cormick as 5th husband Mickey Deans, and Jonathan Gavin as her gay pianist Anthony Chapman. O'Connor is superb, capturing Garland's personal side as well as the singing - a show we may expect to see in the West End soon?
A complete change of tack for the Rogue Shakespeare Company's production of "Love's Labours Won". Written by and starring Ryan J-W Smith, this modern play in Shakespearean language was a strange beast. Ed really liked it; but I thought it fell between two stools and was neither re-interpretation of the real thing nor spoof. Shakespeare for Breakfast knows its place, but I felt this didn't quite, especially with a rant about George Bush and the state of the world in the midst of the comedy.

Ed and I weren't quite in accord over the next performance either - he just liked "Kataklo" a lot - I loved it, and have it as one of my other contenders for Favourite. Certainly Favourite of the Day. The creators of the opening ceremony for the Turin Winter Olympics, the show depicted different sports through an exciting mix of acrobatics and dance. The "rock climber" was amazing, and the final piece, performed by a man and a woman on a high diving board, was sensual and electric.
Moliere's "The Hypochondriac" was cleverly staged and performed by the SUDS theatre company, starring Lloyd Ryan Thomas as Argon in an excellent cast, who hilariously transformed themselves from angels to evil gargoyles on the turn of Argon's head. I've been googling to find who the company are, but without success.

More dance to end the day, with the Lombard Twins in "Dreamers". The brothers relate the story of their life so far - their efforts to escape from their native Argentina to make it as dancers on the world scene. They started out with hip-hop, and then developed a love of tap dance - and they demonstrated both brilliantly in between and occasionally during the accompanying video clips. Very skilled dancers made more stunning by being a twosome - another pair of names to watch out for.
Our long day ended with a free viewing of the fireworks that end the Saturday night showing of the Military Tattoo in the Castle. We could see them clearly from our bedroom window, where we sat with a glass of wine to enjoy them.

Half way already! Where does the time go? Up not-quite-so-betimes, after our late incoming the previous night, but still out ready for our 10am appointment with Ron Mueck at the National Gallery of Scotland.

Much has been said of his life models in extra large and mini size. I loved them. I found some of them very moving and all of them brilliantly executed, down to the last mole under the right shoulder blade. I don't know if the skin blemishes were absolutely accurate, or just a representation of real skin, but the tones and textures were perfect. I'm not sure if I prefered the large or the small figures best. I really liked Spooning Couple, the Two Old Ladies and Man in Boat

which were all the small sized ones; but I loved Wild Man and In Bed too... Go and see this when it comes to a gallery near you.

Back to the Niddry St caves (Wilson Dixon "I thought it was a cool name for a night spot - but it's a cave...) for an excellent one woman show "Netochka Nemyanova"" by Dostoyevski, beautifully performed by young Ukrainian actress Vera Filatova. The audience was small, and she told her story to each of us individually, holding us spellbound with her amazing voice and face.
Another family show at the George St Theatre next - this time "Ovo" by the Brazilian Udi Grudi theatre company; three slightly off the wall guys who represented Brazilian culture at the World Cup, apparently. They created musical instruments from bottles and tins and played haunting tunes on them; they fooled about with sticky tape and made pets from garbage. We loved the dog and were entirely with the small girl in front of us who was horrified when they later roasted it over a fire to modify it's musical notes!! Otherwise gentle entertainment, suitable for all.

Another of our Highlights next - possibly my Favourite of 2006, although I struggled to identify an outright winner this time - "Past Half Remembered" by a young international group NIE. We were busked in the queue by the 5 piece actor's band and invited in to sip vodka or Russian tea, as we prefered, before we settled down to the show. Performed as a lively musical comedy in several languages - the heroine spoke in French throughout - the story was of a 100 year old Russian woman recalling her life and all its vicissitudes in the 20th century. I laughed a lot and cried a little and had a lovely time. Ed loved it too, so it wasn't just a girl thing!

One we slipped in to fill a long gap was Lizzie Roper's "Pecadillo Circus". In a similar genre to "Dirty Fan Male", she was repeating verbatim what a selection of different real people - an old therapist; a lonely bloke; an Irish woman, a girl in an S&M Club, etc - said about their sex lives. She reproduced the characters with a deft change of voice, manner and the odd prop, swapping back and forth between them, but we didn't laugh as much as we had at "Dirty Fan Male" - possibly Blackpool Illuminations Syndrome at work again. Fun though.
Another change of pace in the next piece we saw "Meslier" a three hander by David Hall about an early 18th century catholic priest whose Testament, published after his suicide, proclaimed him to have been a life long atheist and what we would now call a socialist. Julian Bird, a psychologist turned actor, played Meslier, giving a convincing performance of an atheist who nevertheless led an exemplary life as a priest, contrasting with that of his friend (Prentis Hancock) another priest who professed belief but led a venial life. Very interesting.

Last but by no means least, back to the Spiegel tent for the spectacular Arturo Brachetti. An Italian quick change artist, he also did shadow puppets with his hands and turned a floppy hat brim into over 2 dozen characters. His set piece Scenes From Hollywood were truly amazing - and we were in the front row too. How to end the day with a bang!

Thursday 24th. Another sunny day; up betimes for breakfast with Shakespeare. A Fringe institution, this year's Shakespeare For Breakfast was "The Taming of the Shrew - The Pantomime." An all girl cast, with lots of laughs and the usual guessing game of which play/sonnet have they taken the lines from, as they surely aren't all from the one advertised! Coffee and croissants help things along beautifully.

From the ridiculous to the sublime - well a Bach organ recital in Canongate Kirk, anyway. This lovely church, built in 1688, has a light and airy interior, with white walls, blue paintwork and clear windows with views up the hill beyond, and is a perfect setting for an organ recital. We thoroughly enjoyed David Hamilton's performance of 6 of Bach's Preludes and Fugues, numbers BWV 543-8.
A mental shift was again required, for "How to Explain the History of Communism to Mental Patients"

Jeremy Lawrence led an excellent cast in a great production. We liked the amorphous grey blob of patients, who gradually turned into individual characters. Some of the specific references were lost on us, in our ignorance of the events alluded to, but a powerful and entertaining piece, which deserved a bigger audience than it had when we saw it.
Having a bit of space in the afternoon, we visited an Edinburgh tourist attraction "Mary King's Close." Edinburgh still has lots of closes - narrow alleyways snaking steeply downhill between buildings on the Royal Mile stretching down to the lower reaches of the old Nor Loch, which was drained when they built the railway and created the Princes St Park. Mary King's Close was buried when the City Chambers were created on top, and are now an underground labyrinth of old streets, with the remains of some early houses and shops, dating from the 17th to 19th centuries. A fascinating site, with lots of interesting stories - but unfortunately we got a poor guide, who rattled off her spiel without much feeling, and got ratty when some of the older members of the group didn't keep up or hear her instructions. Worth seeing though, if you visit Edinburgh. It's open year round, not just during the festivals.
To the George Theatre next for a family show - Mummenschanz, who were celebrating their 33rd year. Their webpage gives a good insight into what they do - surreal sketches of blobs which morph into different shapes and gain expressions. Sometimes the performers were inside huge blobs, sometimes the blobs were on their masked faces. Mesmerising stuff, enjoyed by adults and the kids.

We'd been looking forward to our first visit to Aurora Nova, to see "Knots", by the Irish group Coisceim Dance. We certainly weren't disappointed - Ed voted this his 2006 Fringe Favourite. Basing the "plot" on the writings of R.D.Laing, whose premise was that we fall in love with those who love us, and need them to meet our needs. Not a very optimistic view on relationships, but it led to a very high octane and dynamic show, all ending in blood and tears! Brilliant choeography and dancing; we were shaken and stirred.

Our day ended, or rather the next began, with a late night visit to the Spiegel Tent for La Clique. We saw last year's stars, the skating Willers again, along with the equally famous Caesar Twins whose gymnastic display is brilliant. They look wonderful too (until you walk past them after the show and realise they are only about 5'5" tall). We missed the red hankerchief act, and the hunk in the bath; we were thoroughly entertained, but felt that either it hadn't been quite as good as last year, or else it's like the Blackpool Illuminations - nothing ever beats the first impression. Home across the Meadows.

In spite of warnings to the contrary, it was a lovely sunny day, so we began by walking down to Holyrood Castle to see the exhibition Canaletto in Venice at the Queen's Gallery.

The pictures are from the collection of Canaletto's patron John Smith, the then British Consul, who comissioned a set of 14 views along the Grand Canal. The series of paintings is wonderful, although I wanted a set of modern photos to compare the views then and now; but even more interesting were a whole collection of drawings of Venice. We wished Mum and Dad were there to see them, as they would have loved the exhibition as much as we did.
James Campbell's Onomatopoeia Society came next. Billed as a kids' show, in our audience it was the adults who were having the most fun, as we got the word play as well as the farting squirrel visuals. The finale was a hilarious rendering of a spoof Bohemian Rhapsody, featuring "Squirrel Leo, Squirrel Leo" - you get the idea, pointless but enjoyable.

Lots of point to "Girl Blog From Iraq - Baghdad Burning"
Based on a real girl's blog - she keeps anonymous and calls herself Riverbend - who records what it's really like for ordinary people living in Baghdad today. The play was gripping and very moving. Heather Raffo was one of the cast; we loved her in 9 Parts of Desire last year, and we loved her again this year.
We saw The Hamlet Project next. Five actors, 2 Hamlets, very interesting. Ed had never seen Hamlet before - strictly speaking, he still hasn't, as this abridged production made fairly free with the original - but Hamlet arguing both sides as a dialogue instead of soliloquy worked rather well and we both liked it a lot. In a good quality day, it vied for favourite and possibly won.
The next show won our wooden spoon for least favourite of our whole Fringe, unfortunately. We were expecting "Audience" written by Michael Frayn and performed by Big Village Theatre Company, to be much better. It was poor, with a cliched cast of stereotypes and the only laughs were rather forced. At a good bit short of an hour, we didn't know whether to feel relieved it was over, or short changed on the ticket price.

We felt much better after seeing Ed Byrne's Standing Up and falling Down. It was all downhill to a brilliant entrance, then he kept his packed house well entertained for the evening. We came out still chuckling, and agreeing with everything he'd said.
A good first full day then.

According to "The Stage" Essential Guide to the Fringe, it would take you, viewing them back to back, 5 years 11 months and 26 days to see every show on the Fringe. We had just Tuesday to Sunday, but did our best.
Arriving at Edinburgh Waverley late afternoon, we caught the excitement of the atmosphere at once as we were immediately importuned by Flyerers on our way to the Box Office to pick up our tickets. We couldn't resist; we wanted to get stuck straight in, so booked the Flyerer's show too, which started earlier than our pre-booked first event...
It was lovely to see Norma again and begin on the exchange of news and views that forms such an essential part of our enjoyment of the festival - she does the Main Event as we do the Fringe and was off to the opera that night.
So to the first show - a typical Fringe one - "Finnegan's Wake - Shem the Penman" performed by Adam Harvey, a self confessed Joyce geek, who had learned chapter 7 by heart and gave us the dramatised rendition. I followed faint but willing, as he led and it felt like the first few minutes of a Shakespeare play - you haven't tuned your ear in yet and it doesn't quite make sense, but you know it'll all come good in a minute - except, try as I might, I never quite tuned in enough to achieve comprehension. It didn't really matter - the prose washed over with shades of Dylan Thomas, Shakespeare and Rambling Sid Rumpold in a tour de force of a One Man Show. I'm not sure that I'd recommend it, but I don't regret going and came away both bemused and amused.

The second show would have been a much gentler introduction to this year's treats, and offered unadulterated amusement. "The Wilson Dixon Hour" is Aussie Jesse Griffin's spoof of a Country singer from the American MidWest. Slow and gentle, but with some good laughs amongst the good tunes. He sent us home smiling.

Lissa left us this morning, and Jenny came and went, so now we are by ourselves for a couple of days until we go to Edinburgh for our last Culturefest of the summer.
We had a family day today, visiting Ed's sister for the Christening of her two youngest grandsons, Dawn's children Ryleigh and Liam. We had a good day catching up with everyone - we hadn't seen them since Christmas. Unfortunately, my camera batteries chose just the wrong moment to expire, so no pics of either Dawn's or Keith's lovely children.

Arriving betimes at Osterley, we couldn't get in the house as it was booked for a wedding. So we waited to see the bride before looking round the garden. The bride was a Sikh, marrying a Scot (if the groom's kilt held any significence). The wedding guests all looked very smart, and there were some lovely saris in jewel shades and spangly embroidery amongst the bride's family. We wondered if the bride would be in a red sari or white gown - what she did was a lovely fusion of the two. She had an ivory outfit, heavily emboidered with red spangles, consisting of bodice top, gently flared skirt and train fastened at the waist. She looked gorgeous.

We thought we'd walk around the ornamental lake, but there wasn't an easy circuit, so we did a loop including one side of the lake instead, and found more bushes of delicious brambles to snack on, and spotted lots of birds. Apart from the Canada geese, gulls, swans and mallards on the lake, we saw a heron posing on a small island, a pair of jays at close quarters and a mysterious green bird that the ranger said was a parakeet, common in these parts nowadays.
Coming back for a teashop lunch, we were joined by a juvenile robin and then its parent, begging vociferously for crumbs.

Finally allowed in the mansion at 1pm, we had a very enjoyable mosey round this late Adamised Elizabethan house. Not as lovely as Syon, nor as homely, nor, in my opinion such a good example of Adam's work; but it had lots of good stuff in it. We loved the State Bed (above - imagine it when the silk was a brighter gold and the gilding was new!),the Yellow (Countess's )Bedroom, the Tapestry Room and the Etruscan Room (below), amongst others.

The paintings were dire - badly preserved poor copies of originals in a style I don't much care for in the original! Luckily, there were a couple of art exhibitions in the servants' quarters we enjoyed - some very pleasant watercolours by a local artist, and some beautiful Bangladeshi textiles which we would have loved to have bought, had they been a little (well, a lot) cheaper.
A stroll around the flower gardens (pretty but not extensive) and another trip to the teashop just about completed another very pleasant day.

Ignoring the dire weather forecast, Lissa and I set off this morning for Scotney Castle in Kent. True to the forecast, it was raining when we arrived, but by the time I'd fastened my waterproof, the shower had passed, and we had a very warm sunny day. Which was a good thing, as I'd also been warned that Scotney is a photographer's paradise, and they weren't wrong.
This was our first view of the Old Castle, having descended the hill via the lime walk.

Lissa (seen here if you look carefully) was relieved to find it quite as romantic as she'd remembered. We looked round the ruins and the small but pretty surrounding flower beds - all in shades of pink, lilac and blue, Mum would have loved it - and then set off to circumnavigate the moat.

I took a picture from the Chinese Bridge; then thought one just a little further along would show the reflections better; then one just a little further along would have a better composition; and this is the one I've chosen from about 6 nearly identical shots!

This is the one I liked best for reflections, from the other side of the moat. I also liked the happy chance that a lady in a pink mac picked up the colours of some pink flowers - but that doesn't really show in the photo.

And finally from Scotney (well not really, but I can hear you yawning so won't bother you with the others) the back view from the ruined side. A truly gorgeous place and I expect, from the massed rhododendron bushes, a visit in Spring would be equally rewarding, and probably the autumn colours too. Apparently the widow of the donor of the castle to the National Trust died this year, which means that the new castle also reverts to them - which might also be interesting in a year or two.

Having eaten a light lunch in the walled garden, we moved on to Finchcocks, this nearby lovely Georgian brick manor house. Once a family home, it went through troubled times and a variety of owners, including a ballet school, before it was purchased by the current owner Richard Burnett to house his collection of historic keyboard instruments. He, his wife and small team of curators and visiting musicians gave us a warm personal welcome, and informed us that the concert would begin after a talk on the history of the house. We hadn't been aware there would be a concert - I was under the impression that someone would demonstrate a few of the instruments, as we've previously seen at Hatchlands, in Surrey.

But no. After the 10 minute history talk, heard whilst admiring this view of the house, we were treated to 2 hours of music by Steven Devine, Richard Burnett and a guest pianist whose name unfortunately I didn't catch, but who played beautifully.
With a break in the middle for tea and cake and a wander around the house and its contents, we heard an often humorous musical history of keyboard instruments, with examples of contemporary pieces played on each historic instrument in turn, starting with early spinets and harpsichords, via early forte pianos to the modern concert grand and parlour cabinet piano. What a treat.

Cobham was our main destination of the day, but this tudor mansion turned girls' public school doesn't open till 2pm, so we went to Rochester first.

We began with the cathedral, with its Romanesque nave and Early English extensions and had a chat with a very friendly chaplain about cathedrals in general and Rochester in particular, before we started our look round.
We followed her instructions not to miss the medieval wall painting, pilgrim steps and tiles along the left side of the choir.

We followed the cathedral with the castle - a large keep in surrounding bailey - and although there aren't many solid floors, there's plenty left to see, not least the similarities with the cathedral (partly built by the same master mason) and the views out over the cathedral itaself, the town and the river Medway with its water traffic and bridges.
After lunch we popped into the Poor Travellers' House. Endowed under the terms of Richard Watts' will in 1579, the charity provided a night's board and lodging for 6 poor travellers in a house resembling a mini medieval galleried inn. The current custodian, a pleasant South African gentleman, looks after the place very well, and also does wonders in the courtyard garden, growing an abundance of flowers and traditional Elizabethan favourite herbs, all in containers, pots and hanging baskets.

And so to Cobham - easy for me to say, not quite so simple to achieve. As we searched in vain in and around the village of Cobham I remembered that Ed and I had done the same thing at Easter, when it was last open, and given up in frustration. This time we persisted, and a kind assistant in the C15th village shop pointed us almost in the right direction, so that with the further aid of a chap in a parked car near an unenlightening roundabout, we finally found the place, only 20 minutes after we expected to be there.
Unfortunately, this meant we had just missed the first tour, and had to wait half an hour for the next; but this gave us chance for a quick walk round the not very extensive garden, and a quick munch of some delicious blackberries we found in surrounding woods.
The tour itself was slightly bizarre. Our guide clearly knew her stuff and was determined to impart it to us, in the form of the full history of the house and the vicissitudes of all its various owners, with a bit of national history and politics thrown in, despite the fact that what we were seeing was a shortish sequence of rooms with lovely plaster ceilings, ugly and similar carved fireplaces, and containing for the most part, modern school furniture, including the computer suite in the "Queen's Bedroom." It was a little surreal and rather confusing.

We were very pleased to see this Gilded Hall - mainly because at the end of a tour that had lasted 2 hours, it contained the tea shop! We gratefully ate scones and drank tea, and came home.

Well, we got Mum and Dad safely packed off home after a lovely two weeks with them, nicely in time to prepare for House Guest Mark 3, Lissa, here to comment in person rather than by blog.

Our first excursion was to Michelham Priory, a beautiful medieval building set in pretty gardens within a moat - very scenic. It is currently run by the local archeological society, who maintain the gardens and buildings extremely well, but haven't quite decided what's best to do with the interior, so it is partly furnished in more or less Jacobean style to ressemble what it may have looked like when first used as a family residence, and partly used for local history exhibitions. The local displays work better than the pseudo furnishing, but the whole thing has the air of being run on a shoestring, which I expect it is. Surprisingly interesting though, and worth the visit for the watermill in action and the garden walk.

After Michelham we moved on to Herstmonceaux, but we arrived too late for the castle tour; which is what happened last time we tried too, so we are fated not to see it. We decided not to bother with the gardens there, but to go to Wakehurst Place instead - far superior gardens and we got in free as it was National Trust.

Again there is a lovely old building to set off the gardens - this was built as a tudor manor, rather than converted into one, however. Here there was no pretence at interior furnishing as a home - just some gorgeous botanical photos and an education room. We went for a short stroll through the walled garden, as recommended by the ladies who shared our table when we stopped for coffee, but ended up with quite a long stroll through several areas. A lovely setting and some fabulous trees - we need to go again in the autumn.

I did once nearly meet the Queen. It was some years ago, when our son attended Rossall School, near Fleetwood.

In 1994 the school celebrated its 150th Anniversary and they invited The Queen and Prince Philip to attend the celebrations on 22nd July. As they coincided with the centenary celebrations of Blackpool Tower not too far away, Her Majesty graciously accepted the invitation. So did we, lots of other students' families and some specially invited guests from the local community, including a nearby Old People's Home.
Security came and combed the school in advance; a new toilet seat in HM's prefered wood was purchased; and on the day snipers ranged themselves in the loft windows and we ranged ourselves alongside the royal route in happy anticipation.

The royal party arrived to due acclaim and went into the chapel for a brief thanksgiving service with a selection of school dignitories and local VIP's, whilst we lesser mortals settled down to wait for them to come out and walk by us on their way in to lunch. The pathway was lined with chairs, on which the old folk were seated and we were standing behind the chairs, cameras at the ready.
The minutes passed; the finally chapel emptied and the royal party then paused to watch a dance display by the children. This was a wait too long for the old dear sitting directly in front of us, who announced to her friend that she had to "pay a call". "Oh, Rose! Why didn't you go before?" asked her indignant friend. "They're coming now, we'll miss them." Rose had gone before, but now she needed to go again, it couldn't be helped. So her friend helped her up, and the two old dears trundled off to the lavatories, leaving two empty seats in front of us.
Sure enough, Her Majesty came by very shortly after. She walked slowly, pausing to chat to several of the old folk along the way. As she reached us she saw the two empty places and looked a little surprised. She looked me in the eye and raised her brows questioningly. I smiled back at her but only shrugged, and she passed on.

And that is how I almost met the Queen. This is the photo I took of her as she moved away. Do you know, I've only just noticed that there was a hole in the brim of her hat, so the flower could peep through!
While HM was lunching, we picnicked on the lawn and then all had our photos taken alongside her Rolls Royce. Richard's Grandad George always reckoned that his Grandma Edna had a look of the Queen at a certain angle. She wasn't very good at holding a regal expression though!

Prince Philip nodded "how do" to Richard in passing, after viewing an exhibition about pupils' exploits on the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme. And Rose and her friend made it out of the loos in time to greet Her Majesty at the end of the path.

Can't remember now who these people were. It was a lovely day.

We went to Windsor Castle, but still no Queen. I was sorry not to see her, as I'd wish Her Majesty to know that whilst I don't expect personal hospitality, I'd like the opportunity to purchase a cup of tea or coffee during a visit. She provides plenty of souvenir shops and the odd icecream parlour - a tearoom would be much appreciated, especially in the likes of Windsor, which took in excess of 2 hours to view (and we gave the Dolls' House and Moat Garden a miss) and after the guards took away our bottles of water because of the current high level of security. It's a good thing the weather was cool, or we might have been crabbier than we felt as it was!
The State Appartments were as sumptuous as we have come to expect on our tours of the Queen's palaces.

The Waterloo Chamber was impressive, with portraits of all the Allied protagonists lining the walls.

Elsewhere, I was really pleased to see one of my favourite portraits of Elizabeth I, as princess, by Hans Holbein, and popped it in my handbag to bring home.

I loved St. George's Hall, with its portraits, statues and heraldry, but it was beaten into poor 2nd place by St. George's Chapel, so here's a picture of the lantern lobby instead. This is late C20th Gothic, with fan vaulting as built in the 1990's, to replace the private chapel that was destroyed in the fire of 1992.

But the really wonderful space was St. George's Chapel, with its magnificent fan vaulting, the Garter Chapel and all the royal tombs. And did I mention the stunning fan vaulting? We all loved it.
We rounded off our day with a bus tour to Eton and Datchett - we didn't get perfect views, as we huddled downstairs out of the chill wind, but it saved us the walk!

No not Derbyshire, still in London. Today's expedition began with a tour of Clarence House, the residence of the Prince of Wales and his family, and where the Queen Mother lived for 50 years. They only open the reception rooms - you don't get to see the Duchess's bedroom here, unfortunately! - but it is very interesting. Apparently when the Queen Mother lived there, not unnaturally once she reached her 70's, then 80's, 90's and 100's, she couldn't be bothered with the upheaval of decorating and maintenance, so it had got very shabby and it has been completely refurbished for the Prince of Wales.

But this room, which the old Queen particularly liked, and the new Duchess also, has been merely "refreshed" - ie redone in the same pale turquoise colour scheme, as she had it. And it is a lovely room.
We saw more of her collection of paintings, of course, including family portraits and more of the Windsor Castle series by John Piper (all in dark and ominous tones of grey - apparently on viewing them King George VI remarked what bad luck he'd had with the weather!), and lots of portraits of her favourite race horses.

After a side call in at St. Margaret, Westminster, to view, amongst other features, the (predominently grey and therefore instantly recogniseable) John Piper stained glass windows, our next port of call was Westminster Palace, the Houses of Parliament. A wonderful building if you admire high Victorian Gothic - which I do in its place, which must be here, the seat of government - and our guide had all the stories and history to go with it.
We rounded the day off at the National Gallery, where we all sneaked off to look at our personal favourites.

The National has hundreds of great pictures, of course, but this 1905 picture of Lake Keitele, by Akseli Gallen-Kallella, calls to me from across the room every time, so I did bring it home and hang it in the blue bedroom, where it looks perfect.

Mum loved the room with the Turners and Constables in it, especially as it also had George Stubbs' "Whistlejacket" in it, which she ended up choosing - she's into painting horses at the moment, and couldn't resist the work of a master.

Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to look around the village itself, as we were too busy viewing the lovely houses in the vicinity.

We started with an old favourite, Winston Churchill's home at Chartwell. The weather was changeable, but we cleverly managed to be in the house, then the tea shop, during two heavy showers, and the garden in the sunny intervals. The Golden Rose Walk was lovely, rather surprisingly, as the roses we've seen elsewhere have been a bit past their best.
I think, on recent viewing of the two, I have now relegated Lady Churchill's bedroom to number 3 in my favourite bedroom list below Lady Iliffe's at Basildon - I now need to revisit Plas Newydd to re-appraise Lady Anglesey's in comparison!
The sitting room was still lovely, not least because of the views from the window and the Monet on the wall.

After Chartwell, we returned to Westerham proper and went to Quebec House, which is not-quite-the-birthplace of General James Wolfe. The family lived in the property at the time of his birth in 1727, but his father was away, and his mother was staying with her friends at the vicarage, which is where Wolfe was actually born. But he lived there for 11 years, and the house is furnished in a contemporary style, and filled with memorabilia of his life. There is also a book on the wall exhibition in the outhouse explaining who he was and what he was famous for, for those who don't realise that in his day he was as renowned a national hero as Nelson was a generation late. Obviously, as he was in the army, he didn't leave a famous warship behind, nor a scandalous love life, and his statue is in the Square at Westerham, alongside Churchill rather than on a column in Trafalgar Square in central London (or Quebec Square, as it would have been known) which may explain why Horatio's memory has lived on more than poor James's.

We rounded off our day with a visit to the other side of Westerham, to see Squerryes Court, the home of the local Squires, the Warde family, who were friends of the Wolfes in the C18th and who still occupy this lovely Caroline house. We didn't get to see very much of it, but the Yellow drawing room was much to my taste - I think I'm as keen on yellow living rooms as I am on pink bedrooms!
The gardens were small but lovely, with some very humorous topiary in one corner and a pretty lilac and silver parterre with more formal topiary.
Another successful day!

Well it was Basildon Park, near Reading, actually, but it was used as Netherfield in the recent Keira Knightley version of "Pride and Prejudice" (which I liked a lot, even if