Thursday 10th December 2015
Well we all certainly felt better after a good nights sleep in an actual bed!
We went downstairs and filled up at the buffet breakfast. We filled up big time and it meant that we didn't eat until dinner time!
At 10.30 we were picked up by a taxi and driven (at great speed at times!) to the Just Go Camping pick up centre.
It took a while to go through the paperwork followed by a detailed run through of how to use the vehicle.
We finally took off and headed towards Cambridge. We are using a book called Brit Stops. It allows us to stay at local pubs in the carp ark for free. Quite often we can use their WiFi which comes in handy. This time we stayed overnight at The Old Red Lion. Still trying to sort out using the van - especially the power to the fridge as we had done a big shop!
Little bit noisy with the traffic going past all night but we were tired so we did sleep.
Friday 11th December 2015
After a breakfast in the van we took off towards Cambridge. We knew that getting into towns would be difficult so we investigated doing a park and ride. Most big towns offer this service. Some are free and some are at a low cost of £1! (Including if you want to stay the night)
So we found a park and ride and headed into Cambridge. The kids we excited to ride up top on a double decker bus.
Cambridge is beautiful! Even though it was cold and wet at times it really is a stunning city. Unfortunately the most of the colleges we closed as they had admission interviews for next year. The security guards even looked dapper in long winter coats and black bowler hats.
We picked up a guide from the visitor centre and followed the walking guide around Cambridge. We saw the entrances to all the Colleges, including Stephen Hawking's College! The beautiful Kings College Chapel was closed to the public for the BBC as they were planning to film there.
An absolute highlight was the Fitzwilliam Museum. The building is an architectural wonder. It's absolutely stunning stunning as a period building so beautifully restored and maintained. It house a wonderful collection of ancient Egyptian and Greek artefacts including sarcophagus burial treasures, ceramics, jewellery and loads more. There were numerous Greek statues and freezesas well.
It also housed some amazing medieval books, armour as well as paintings from various time periods across Europe and a beautiful collection of English crockery in pristine condition.
We also walked around and saw the Corpus Clock which was inaugurated by Stephen Hawking and is exact every 5th minute.
We declined to take a punt down the River Cam - a bit too cold and wet but we were able to walk around St Johns College and see the Bridge of Sighs. Along the way I stepped into the Wren Library which is full of ancient books and an amazing collection of manuscripts from authors such as AA Milne (Winnie the Pooh), Jules Verne (Journey to the Centre of the Earth & Around the World in 80 Days) and Sir Issac Newton's books on science that he made notation in and his books that contained his writings. Such amazing history!
We continued our walking tour ofCambridge and finished up having a very late lunch in the central Xmas markets before heading back to the van.
It starts getting dark by about 3.30pm ish so it's hard to get a full day of sightseeing in!
We headed out to the coast to see some of the small villages and to camp again at a pub. Due to our late arrival we ended up having a pub meal before crashing for the night. Less traffic so a much quieter night!
Saturday 12th December 2015
We woke up refreshed and after breakfast headed into the beautiful village of Southwold. Nearly every village you go through is beautifully decorated for Xmas. We explored the beachfront and Thomas even spotted a Seal! We then went through town to another beach with all the little colourful beach houses side by side facing out to the ocean.
We then meandered along the oats through several towns and picked up a few extra supplies before heading towards Sandringham. Along the way stopped at our first real castle ruins - Castle Rising which had a huge moat surround it.
The ruins have been dated back to the 12th Century! We then drove on and found a lovely camp ground where we powered up for the night and all had decent showers.we did a lovely walk through the Forrest and up into the Queens Estate of Sandringham. It is huge so we didn't get close to the palace.
Sunday 13th December 2015
On our way out of Sandringham we saw the church where the royal family goes for Christmas as well as the road to Anmer Hall where William and Kate live(For those interested in the Royals!)
We had a picturesque drive from Sandringham through Kings Lynn up to Lincoln. I was keen for the kids to see the Cathedral. Unfortunately we arrived as a Santa Fun Run had just finished. The city centre was full of adults, kids and dogs all dressed in red or blue Santa costumes complete with hats and beards! What a sight! It made it difficult to park but we eventually found a place within easy walking distance of the Cathedral.
It is magnificent! It is huge and the stained glass throughout is beautiful. It also houses several smaller chapel within its walls. The intricate stone work and wooden carving of the furniture is spectacular. After a thorough exploring of the cathedral we went over to the explore the castle walls.
These ancient walls were built to protect the castle from the various warring factions over the years and remain intact for you to walk around. As it is so high on the hill the views of the whole city arefantastic.
We left Lincoln and drive towards York. Again we were caught out by the dark afternoons.we parked up another pub and before and after dinner kept warm by the fire and listened to some locals sing Irish songs & Christmas carols. Lovely way to end the day.
Monday 14th December 2015
We were only 12km out of York so after breakfast we headed into find another park and ride. We found it at a massive discount outlet. We caught the bus into central York. First stop was the magnificent York Minster. Again it was beautiful building with amazing ceilings, stained glass windows and stone work. As usual there were people buried within the church and underneath in the dungeons. The kids found this fascinating. We couldn't get a good look at the famous East window as it was being resorted/ cleaned and was covered in scaffolding? Thomas did say that he had seen enough churches now and they all looked the same! I said sorry buddy but Europe is full of churches, ruins of churches/abbeys and museums. Not sure that made him feel better!
After a thorough exploration we went over to the information centre and picked up the walking guide to York. We walked around the city walls which allowed another look at all the amazing old buildings within the ancient walls. You can even see all the gaps in the walls for arrows or for storming of the walls.
We then explored Clifford's Tower in the middle of town which has been around since the ?1100's.
York has also got a Viking past with excavations in the city revealing the Viking villages that existed there. We took a tour of the Jorvik Centre which included a recreation of a Viking village including all the smells of the times. Not pretty I can tell you!
After a wonder through the Xmas markets we bought another late lunch and headed back to the van.
I managed to buy a better winter coat at the Outlet Centre and then we headed off around 2.30 towards Ripon (via Harrogate) to the ruins of Fountains Abbey. Buy this time it was getting dark and very misty. We got there I time to start exploring the abbey and surrounds. Our photos probably won't do it justice as it was getting dark and the mist was thick. It was huge and we all enjoyed exploring it. The darkness and the mist made it a little spooky but in a good way as we explored it together. We then took a very long walk around the water gardens and by the time time we got back to the carpark was pitch black and only 4.45pm!
We decided to do another pub camp and made our way the Harefield Hall in a small village called Pateley Bridge. The pub was beautiful, it even had an upside down Xmas tree, and we enjoyed a yummy pub meal after a hard drive in the mist to get there.
The short dark days are challenging to fit everything in.
We will start making our way down south tomorrow.
Sorry about the no pictures thing. I'm still working on that.
Tuesday 15th December 2015
Today is a bit of a driving day.
We drove from Harefield Hall towards Nottingham and decided to visit the famous Sherwood Forrest made famous by Robin Hood, Maid 'Arian and their band of Merry Men.
The Forrest isn't that big anymore but is filled with animals and oak trees.
We saw the Major Oak which legend says is over 1000 years old and it is where Robin and his men hid in the tree to escape from the Sherriff of Nottingham.
We drove on and explored the Rutherford Abbey ruins over lunch before driving down to Warwick. It cost us an arm and a leg but we went into Warwick Castle which has played a major role in English history. It is so well preserved and presented. I'm sure the kids will have learnt loads. It's foundations were started in 914 by a woman before all the men got involved up until 1978 when it was sold by the Grenville family to the town be used as a tourist attraction and education centre for the public.
Wednesday 16th of December 2015 - by Olivia
Today we went to Stratford Upon Avon witch is where Shakespeare was born! The town looked very old because of all the old but beautiful houses.
We got to have a washing day to wash our clothes and bodies. On the way back from the house we met a living statue who a was dressed as a knight.
After that we went on a bit of a drive to Oxford,when we got there we went to a caravan park. We went to look at the Christmas markets and stayed there for a bit. After that we went to buy some boots and it took a while to choose but we found the right ones. We then walked back to the campsite, had dinner and went to bed. What will our adventure be tomorrow?
Thursday 17th December 2015 - Charlotte
Today we surprised the kids with a visit to the Warner Bros Harry Potter Tour. They nearly wet themselves with excitement!
Both Ed and I were very impressed with the tour and exhibits. It was absolutely amazing! We took loads of photos. I'll leave it to Charlotte to write about our adventure!
The night before we went to see the Harry Potter Museum, mum and dad told us that they had a surprise for us, and that we had to wait until tomorrow until we would find out what it is.
As we were driving into the carpark at the Warner Bros. Studio, I got a glimpse of the title, "The Making of Harry Potter" on a warehouse type building. I just said something along the lines of, "Eeeeek!!!" and kept it a secret from Olivia and Thomas until we found a parking spot, and hopped out of Lady Penelope the Pioneer. (That's the name of our van.) We were quite early, so mum went inside to check if it was open yet, and we waited as patiently as we could, trying to contain our excitement.
We walked towards the building, jumping with excitement. As we walked through the door, we had our bags checked by security and mum and dad got checked by a metal detector. There was a lovely Christmas tree, much like the ones in the movies, and photos along the top of the room, of many of the actors, some in character, and some just as themselves. As we were collecting our digital guides, I looked up and saw one of the 17 1/2 Ford Anglia's that were made for the films, dangling from the roof. We lined up, and as the line started moving, we walked past The Cupboard under the Stairs. Inside was all of young Harry Potter's belongings, including a pair of glasses that were used in the films.
We entered into a room that had several screens on two sides of the walls, that were showing advertisements for the film, this was while we were waiting for the room to fill up with more people. A man started talking to everyone, introducing us to the exhibition. We then watched a short clip of the Director, Producer and some other key people, talk about the movies. We then proceeded into a room that was like a cinema. A video played, it was Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliffe, telling us a little bit about the exhibition. They exited through what looked like the doors of the great hall, and much to our surprise, the screen we were watching it on, rose, and the doors of the great hall were right there! A host then invited people whose birthday it was, to open the doors, and there it was, The Great Hall. There were Christmas trees and two tables on the left and right side of the room, one had savoury food and one had sweet food. It wasn't real, but it was very well made. There were uniforms of each of the four houses: Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Slytherin. The robes from Gryffindor were the ones that Daniel wore when he was 11 years old, in the first movie. At the end of the Hall were some of the teachers costumes. Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape and more. The floor of the Hall is made of real stone, which is very rare for a film set to have. It was made of real stone because the crew knew that they would use the Great Hall heaps, and that only real stone could last with the constant use, and hundreds of students standing on it. We exited the Great Hall into the exhibition, zigzagging along the path, discovering new and exciting things about the movies. There were many costumes and props on display. There was Hermione and Cho's dresses from the Yule Ball in the Goblet of Fire. Luna's dress from the Slug Club Dinner Party that she attended with Harry. Gilderoy Lockhart's many robes. Harry, Dumbledore and Voldermort's costumes from the last movie, and much more. We also got a photo in front of the entrance gates to Hogwarts. We then passed the Gryffindor Boys Dormitory, which had Harry, Ron, Neville and Dean's beds along with their trunks. The beds that they used in the whole series, were the same ones that were made for 11 year old boys. The young boys soon became young men, and had to curl up in order to fit into the beds or have their feet hang over the beds! (Not that you would ever realise I'm the movies) We saw a whole collection of wands and the Mirror that was in the Philosopher's Stone. On our digital guide, the narrator said that Daniel went through so many wands because he liked to use them as drumsticks!
We walked around a corner, and found ourselves standing in front of the Gryffindor Common Room. It was quite small, but beautifully decorated. A lady from the Art and Props Department was in a clip that was playing on a TV right next to the display, and she said, the fact that the Gryffindor house colours are red and gold, helped them to create a warm, safe and cosy environment for the Common Room. Next to the Common Room, was the Invisibility Cloak, with the green material on the inside, so that they could block it out and make the wearer 'invisible'. We then saw the Griffin that marked the entrance to Dumbledore's office, and next to it, the office itself. There were lots of bits and bobs and trinkets inside glass cases, and the Pensieve sitting on the desk. The telescope at the back of the office was very carefully made, with great detail. All the books in the office are actually old phone books, redecorated to look like old spell books. The Sorting Hat was also sitting there, tucked away on a shelf.
We passed a cabinet with the Golden Snitch, Neville's Rememborale and many other small items inside. Behind the cabinet was a fenced off area, with props from the Room of Requirement and other places. Sculls from Knocktern Alley, goods from Bellatrix Lestrange's vault at Gringotts and much more. In another cabinet was the Triwizard Cup, shining and looking very fine.
We continued on our walk, and came to the Potions Classroom. All the jars were individually filled and inscribed, from all sorts of things such as bones and herbs filling the jar. The potions classroom wasn't originally a set, but it had to be extended when it came to the 6th movie. We then saw fake snow being made, and fake fire burning.
We also saw Hagrid's hut, with lots of cages and a fake Fang. We then posed in front of the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, the door with the moving snakes on it. We also saw the door from Gringgots Bank, that had all the turning parts in the inside. We saw the mode of transport that is used in Gringgots Bank, one of the moving staircases and some broomsticks mounted on green blocks. We also saw some Quidditch uniforms and then we entering the Green Room. We got to record ourselves riding a broomstick, which was lots of fun! We then saw the dining table at Malfoy Manor, with Voldermort and his closest Death-Eaters sitting around the table.
We saw the fireplaces at the Ministry of Magic, and Dolores Umbrige's office, with all her 'perfect' pink cats and kittens on the wall. We walked through to Platform 9 3/4, with the Hogwarts Express right in front of us! We walked through the train and saw the different compartments from each movie. We recorded ourselves sitting in one of the carriages, travelling to Hogwarts.
We then proceeded to the lunch room where we had a lovely lunch as well as Butter Bear!! It is actually a sweet type of soda with marshmallow on top!
We went into the courtyard and saw the Night Bus, Number 4 Privet Drive, the Potter House in Godric's Hollow, Hagrid's motorbike which we sat in, the Car, which we also sat in and some of the chess pieces from the Philosopher's Stone.
We then went to the second building with all the special effects and robotics. We saw Dobby, Buckbeak, the head of the Basilisk and much more. We then walked trough to Diagon Alley, it was so amazing! I can't believe we were standing there! We kept walking into the Art room. We were amazed by the detail of the drawings, they were amazing! We watching a short video, Emma Watson was talking, and at the end she said that we were in for a surprise at the end of the exhibition.
We kept walking and saw paintings and small, detailed models, that were all made of wood. We then found out what the surprise was.
We walked into a room with the biggest model of Hogwarts Castle! It is so spectacular, I was lost for words. It took 8 weeks to reconstruct it for the exhibition, and it was huge. They used it in the film, using CGI, for the longs shots of the castle. That was the end of our self guided tour. We walked into the shop, more money to spend, and we each brought a wand for £26.95 each. I got Hermione's, Thomas got Harry's and Olivia got Sirius'. We also got a packet of Bertie Bots Every Flavour Beans. I accidentally ate a vomit flavoured one afterwards, and it did taste like vomit.
This has been the highlight of our holidays, and I wish I could do it all over again, but with all the other Harry Potter fans that I know.
In the final movie at the end of the last scene know one said 'cut' or 'that's a wrap' as they didn't want the end of over 10 years of hard work to happen!
Friday 18th December 2015
Today is our first full day in London. We got going by 8am and walked to the train station and caught the train into Liverpool Street Station.
At great expense to the management (£300 +) we all got a 3 day London Pass which gets you into most paid attractions in town plus a hop on/ off bus trip and about ride along the Thames.
We finally got sorted with it and departed Victoria Street Station around 10.30am. First stop Buckingham Palace. The kids were fascinated by the guards that they could see from afar guarding the palace in their Grey Winter Coats(not red) standing so still. There were loads of extra heavily armed police around and it turned out that Charles was there presenting medals to a group of people.
We then walked back to the bus stop and went into the Queens Gallery to see some of the royal collection on display.
Back on the bus (double decker/open top) and off we went to explore Westminster Abbey, Big Ben & the Houses of Parliament. Amazing!
The kids did a special activity sheet and they got to sit in the choir stalls and I. The seat reserved for the Australian High Commissioner!
Some amazing graves are in the Abbey (Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier plus loads of Kings and Queens). Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament are stunning to look at. The kids thought that it looked like a great place to work!
After lunch we got back on the bus for a tour through historic London. From Marble Arch to Green Park, St Paul's Cathedral, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Fleets Street and Leicester Square. It was amazing travelling around the Monopoly Board!
We got off at the Tower of London however the light was fading so we decided to leave that for tomorrow and we travelled over to South Kensington and spent the late afternoon at the Natural History Museum. What an amazing place! The Darwin Centre and the Attenborough exhibits were fabulous watching science in action.
We then made our way to Islington and met up with my friend Kareen and some of her friends for her birthday at a small pub called the New Rose.
My other friends Breige & Andrew and their 3 kids Ryan (15), Ciaran (13) and Breige (11) joined us and we left the pub and went to a pizza bar. It was like I had only seen Breige last week. It was so good to see her again after over 16 years!
We staggered home around midnight exhausted!
Saturday 19th December 2015
Well we were up earlyish to get on the road. Everyone was tired so the walk to the train took a little longer.
We caught the tube to St. Paul's Cathedral, however there was a huge line to get in so we flagged it and walked over to the Millennium Bridge (also commonly known as the wibbly wobbly bridge which the kids recognised from the Harry Potter movies).
That took us over to some Christmas Markets and then onto the Globe Theatre for a very entertaining tour of the theatre inspired by Shakespeare and modelled of the theatres of his time. It's really quite beautiful and I would love to see a play performed there.
We then walked. Down along the river to the Tower Bridge (via more Xmas markets - they are everywhere!). We climbed the Tower Bridge for some amazing views of the river and the city. There is a section of the walkway which is glass and it gives you the feeling that you are walking on air across the water. Gave me butterflies in my stomach!
Down we went and made our way to the Tower of London - our main goal for the day. Again it is so amazing to walk through buildings that were built in 12th and 13th century! We managed to get up close to the guards who are there because of the Crown Jewels. The kids thought that the large stones in the crowns and maces etc were fake! They are pretty amazing to see. Of course we saw the ceremonial Beefeater Guards and enjoyed wandering through the many buildings and walls reading about the history of the Tower, including the torture and executions!
They had loads of armour on display for men and horses as well as many medals won by soldiers in battle.
After several hours there we took a boat ride down the Thames to see Greenwich. Unfortunately we got to the Royal Observatory 5 minutes too late to go inside (4.35pm and it was in darkness) however the view from the hill top was superb! They even had a green laser from the observatory going along the sky towards the Millennium Stadium. We got to stand close to the exact spot of zero degrees longitude for GMT.
We then enjoyed another night out with Breige and Andrew and their kids. They took us out to a lovely restaurant and treated us to a lovely meal and fine company including fireworks! Our kids have enjoyed spending time with them but by the time we got home it was another late night 11.30pm). I'm not sure how functional we will be tomorrow!
Sunday 20th December 2015
We were very tired bunnies today but we pushed on.
We enjoyed exploring the London Bridge Tour and the London Tombs tour complete with the scare factor. It was loads of fun.
After a quick meal at the the Christmas food markets nearby we decided to do a tour of Lords Cricket Ground. That was good fun to explore the Long Room, Committee Room and both the English and Visitor Change rooms. We got to walk out on the balcony and down close to the scared turf.
We finished the day off meeting Kareen, Adam & little Maisie and Briege, Andrew, Ryan, Ciaran & Briege at Ally Pally which is an old BBC building high on a hill overlooking London for dinner and drinks. It was sad to say goodbye😂
Monday 21st December 2015
We took off early to make our way down towards Bath. It was a lovely drive with rolling green fields just out of London.
Bath was spectacular! The beautiful cobbled streets were decked out for Christmas and it is full of historic buildings!
Of course we were there to see the Roman Baths and they did not disappoint us.
We all got an audio guide which was well worth it to explain all the various aspects of the baths and the artefacts that they have found there.
The water temperature is around 47 degrees in the bath!
Some of the artifices they have found are amazing including 1000's of coins of the times. It must have been exciting to be part of the various archeological digs over the years discovering all the ruins. It's quite extensive.
We then went onto one of our main aims this trip - Stonehenge. We made it there around 3.30pm and it was getting dark. There were quite a few people around and what we didn't realise until we got on the bus to go up there was that it was the winter solstice- a significant day to watch the sunset on the 21st over Stonehenge and the sunrise over the Healing Stone on the 22nd. Well it was cloudy but we managed to see the sunset. It was quite magical to be there.
We drove down to Wareham in Dorset and the caravan parks around Corfe Castle were all closed so we ended up parking in a long stay car park for £1 for the night! Corfe Castle was lit up beautifully at night. It looked spectacular!
Tuesday 22nd December 2015
We made the short drive to Corfe Castle car park and had bacon & egg rolls for breakfast. We then rugged up and walked up for a closer look at the castle high on the hill. They started building it in 978 and it remained in royal hands until Queen Elizabeth 1st sold it to a loyal supporter. It was passed on for generations until it was given to theNational Trust in 1982 for the public to enjoy.
Ed had read about the Jurasic Coast so he really wanted to drive down to the Dorset Coast to see it an in particular Durdle Door. We managed to find it with a little help from the GPS and a strange local or 2!
It was super windy - we were being blown away literally! We had to hold onto the kids - especially Thomas. Despite this it was a beautiful sight. It reminded us of The Great Ocean Road in Victoria.
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