Arriving in England was wonderful, mainly because we were saying hello to family. We had a memorable car ride/tiki tour back to Cranleigh with Jeff, a great start to our time with the Ferrisons! We started our next day with a drive through Shere (the quaint village where “The Holiday” was filmed) and through the woods where the latest Beauty and the Beast movie was set. The afternoon was spent down in Brighton where we enjoyed lunch on the beach, walks around the Pavilion gardens and wandering down the narrow lanes. One day in and we had fallen in love with this beautiful country, especially English pubs.
The next day we started en route to Weymouth. We made a stop at Port Smith (one of Englands main South ports) that looks directly toward Isle of Wight. We went up the Spinnaker tower and learnt all about the history of the ports and defences. Our next morning was spent exploring around Weymouth and then adventuring out to Durdle Door (Englands version of Cathedral Cove). We stopped at Smugglers Inn along the way (one of our many pub stops, this country has the coolest pubs ever) and then down to the shingly beach where Matt and Julie had a swim. We weren’t expecting that in England! We enjoyed a fun evening with Jeff and Julie over delicious Italian food and wine. We then departed Weymouth and made our way to Portland to watch the English Channel and Atlantic Ocean crash together. After a quick stop at Billy Winters, we said goodbye to Julie and continued with Jeff to Sian and Pauls. We stopped at West Bay for traditional Fish & Chips and then Lyme Regis before arriving in Stogumber.
We started the next day with a trip up to the Quantocks which was beautiful and then made our way down to Stogumber station to catch the steam train. It was our first time on a steam train and we loved it. We also had our first cream tea, and debated whether the cream or jam should be on the bottom (sorry Jeff, we preferred Sians method of cream first). The afternoon was spent in Watchet exploring the antique shops and stopping in a pub where we both tried our first pickled egg. We caught a glimpse of the sunset on the trip back home and decided to rush back up to get the camera, along with Pauls drone. Jacob shocked us all with his drone-driving abilities, he was better than all of us on his first time using it - not bad for a 4 1/2 year old!
Our next day was spent exploring around Dunster (and the amazing locations of Sian and Pauls wedding), enjoying a Sunday roast & having ice creams in the heat. We had a great time with the Kelly’s and will look forward to seeing you all again one day.
A special shout-out to Jeff who showed us so much of England, we are so thankful for the meals, laughs, beds and many conversations where we learnt all sorts about life in England. Thank you for also not rubbing in the results of the cricket after our tense car ride ;)
After picking up our rental car, we made our way out to Windsor Castle for a couple hours and then onto Bath for the night. Bath is very different to other towns in England and we enjoyed walking the streets and learning about the history of the Baths (some of it being very gross). We then ventured through the Cotswolds which were simply adorable, our favourite places being Stow-on-the-Wold and Bourton-on-the-Water.
A highlight of the entire trip so far was visiting the Harry Potter Studio Tour in Watford. If you’re a HP fan or not, this place is incredible. Other highlights included walking the grounds of Blenheim Palace, going through Oxford University, a lovely stop in York for a night & visiting many antique shops!
We crossed the border into Scotland and made our way to Edinburgh for the next few days. Edinburgh is definitely one of our favourite places so far (if not the favourite). We were surprised about how small and easy it was to get around, everything is also so stunning to look at. It was special to visit the Stuart family history in Lasswade where the family line dates back to, we enjoyed an evening there over Italian food and wine & looking for ancestors in the graveyard. Other highlights included going for runs along the cobblestone roads, exploring local markets, walking to the top of Holyrood Park for views of the whole city & doing a Harry Potter walking tour where we learnt all about the history of the books and their makings (JK Rowling wrote the entire series around coffee shops in Edinburgh).
We then continued up the country & stopped at a wildlife park on the way. Both of us got to see a Polar Bear for the first time, along with native deer, foxes, birds etc to the Scottish highlands. After a short overnight stop in Forres we headed towards Inverness. Another beautiful part of the world to explore, some of the most incredible landscapes we’ve both ever seen. We continued on and explored more parts of the highlands including the Glencoe Valley, Lochness, Fort William and the Glenfinnan Viaduct. Scotland scenery blew all expectations and we were sad to leave it! The day we were leaving Scotland and crossing the border back into England, was the second hottest day ever recorded! We were lucky to be further up the country in Carlisle where it hit 34 degrees (still pretty hot, but not the 38 that London experienced). We are absolutely loving the UK and enjoying being around some scenery that reminds us of home.
