Moments with Sara Pt.1

How can a week pass by so quickly! Sara from Southern California and her husband CT have 'been and gone' already. Sara was a delight to meet and I know we have made a life long friendship. I did take some photographs but not as many as usual (more on Sara's blog eventually of course). Photographs were a lesser priority to spending time talking and sharing our lives and getting to know each other better and taking into account that we may never meet again in the flesh.



My first photograph at the airport was so blurred I had to delete it. Not easy to take an indoor photo without my tripod when my hands were shaking with excitement. I recognised Sara and her husband way back in the hall before they even came through the gate. The photographs that I did take I will share over a few posts.







This is the day we visited Chartwell, the country home of Sir Winston Churchill. (For new visitors you can see much more on Chartwell by clicking on 'National Trust' on the right hand sidebar).



Sara was able to experience some real rain which she loved. It was so wet that we were given plastic sleeves to put our umbrellas into before we could enter the house. Walking through the orchards and gardens was a real battle against the wind and almost horizontal rain. A great contrast to the hot and sunny weather we experienced from then onwards.




We parked the car alongside these beautiful meadows full of wild Buttercups slightly shrouded in the rain and mist.

And here she is - Sara assuring me that she was loving the experience of the heavy rain that she rarely saw in Southern California.

Any ideas - this bucket looking thing high up in the tree? With tongue in cheek Alan decided it was a portable loo for tree climbers!

Winston's swimming pool

This particular day had many facets of an average day out in England for Sara to experience. We were delayed on our outward journey through heavy congestion on the motorway waiting to cross the Queen Elizabeth II bridge over the Thames. Having got so thoroughly wet we decided to not eat at Chartwell but make our way back to the other side of the river to eat. Again we were held up in congested traffic waiting to cross back to the north side of the Thames through the tunnels.

We decided to eat at The Bell Inn in Horndon-on-the-Hill. This pub has a great chef and has won awards for the food. We arrived at 2.0 pm only to find that they stopped serving lunchtime food at 1.45 pm. As we took Sara and CT inside to look around and use their facilities our nostrils were bombarded with delicious aromas that sadly we were unable to partake of.

http://www.bell-inn.co.uk/

Worth clicking on the link to read the history of this Inn which dates back to 1445 and see photographs.

Sorry about the quality of the picture (I should carry my tripod for indoor photos) but one of the interesting things about this pub is the fact that every year for the last 100 years an Easter Hot Cross Bun has been preserved and hung amongst the rafters.

Disappointment over we drove to a Harvester chain on the way home and did have a meal that we all enjoyed.