Keith's family joined us in the UK for a two week trip. After our weekend in London, we took the train to Edinburgh and met up with his family there to start the trip. We were blessed with really wonderful weather for most of the trip!!
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| Family photo in Berwick |
Edinburgh, Scotland
We stayed at Kirsty's apartment for one night before the rest of the crew arrived. She has a two bedroom flat a few minutes away from downtown. We walked into town and went to dinner with her at Howie's where we had some yummy mussels and a fish entree - cute place. We then walked up Calton Hill to see the views of the town and had a drink at Barony Bar before walking back to her place.
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| Dinner with Kirsty at Howie's |
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| Calton Hill |
The next morning, we went for a walk/run along the water and then packed up to head to the airport to pick up our rental car and to meet up with Keith's family. Unfortunately their flights to London were all delayed so they got booked on later flights and we met them later in the day at the Kelpies.
Kinross, Scotland Area
Accommodation
AirBnB - We rented a six bedroom house for three nights in Balgedie near the town of Kinross, about 30 miles north of Edinburgh. The house was amazing - a beautiful estate-like home with a large lawn and updated rooms inside. All of the bedrooms were upstairs - we had a nice sized room with our own bath with great views of the lake. Downstairs had two living rooms, a very large kitchen/dining room, an office and laundry room. The kids really liked the zipline and trampoline on the grounds! If we ever want to rent it again we can book directly through this site.
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| AirBnB near Kinross |
Activities
Keith's family arrived later than planned due to flight delays so we picked up our rental car from Edinburgh Airport and drove to Linlithgow Palace, birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots. There was a festival in town so many of the streets were blocked off so we had to park a bit outside and walk into town. We walked around inside the castle and then around the lake.
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| Linlithgow Palace |
We then drove to see the Kelpies, giant metal structures of two horses - we met up with Keith's family here. Our last activity of the day was a boat ride for an hour on a canal that took us up and down the Falkirk Wheel, a structure that rotates to lift boats to connect two canals. Very cool invention - we were surprised at how smooth the ride was! While on the boat, we learned about the wheel and the canals. After this, we drove to our rental house and got settled in.
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| Kelpies |
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| Falkirk Wheel |
Each morning, we had breakfast at the house - Graham made eggs and bacon that we ate on rolls. Before breakfast, we went for a walk/run on the Loch Leven Path which goes around the lake for 13 miles. We did not do the whole thing but did a short bit as it took about 10 minutes to walk to the path from our house. The path is well done and has amazing views of the lake and the surrounding hills.
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| View to Loch Leven from our rental house |
We spent a day in St Andrews, where there is a university in the same name and is famous for its golf courses. We played 'putt putt' -golf on the Himalayas course which is not the same as putt putt in the US. It's essentially a short 18 whole course where you are putting into the greens - so no windmills!! We had a blast doing it and of course the stuck up golfers did not appreciate our loud American selves!! We then walked around the town seeing the university, castle (where we went inside) and cathedral.
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| St Andrews Golf |
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| St Andrews Cathedral |
And for the real reason we went on this trip (aside from just wanting to spend time together), we did a day trip to Isle of May via a zodiac boat to see puffins. We were worried we would not see any - well that was not a problem as there were thousands of them! On the boat ride there, we rode around the island before landing, seeing the cute seals in the water who seemed quite curious of us. When we got off the boat, we had to quickly walk to the rest area spot to avoid getting dive bombed by the Arctic Tern birds who were protecting their young! It was quite hilarious to watch as they tended to pick on the tallest person, in this case Keith, so he would put a water bottle on top of his head so that they would peck at that instead! We walked around most of the island which had lush green hills and steep rocky cliffs. We saw plenty of sea gulls, black gulls and razorbills - but the main event was definitely the puffins! At one point, we set out a cheese board with bread for our lunch/snack - was quite interesting to eat this while watching the birds!
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| Puffin with fish in it's mouth |
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| Isle of May |
One night, we hosted several of family and friends that live nearby to join us for dinner at the Muir Inn (see below) - Val, Heather, David, Linda, Dave, Gill, Richard, Lorraine, Kirsty, Patty, and Al were there. We had a lovely time catching up. After dinner, they all came back to the house to check it out and chat some more.
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| Dinner with local family and friends at Muirs Inn |
Restaurants
Aran - Cute cafe located in Linlithgow - we had a yummy toastie and salad for lunch.
Muirs Inn - Nice restaurant located in Kinross. We had dinner twice - the first night was a 'practice' night for the second night when we hosted everyone for dinner - mainly to check out the place and to meet the manager. On this night, we shared the mussels and pork chop. For the second night, we both had the tomato/mozz salad for an appetizer and Shawna had steak while Keith had the lamb shank. Food was pretty good.
North Point Cafe - Cute cafe in St Andrews where we stopped for lunch. We shared a yummy soup and toastie. The soup was very good!
Jannettas Gelateria - Really cute ice cream shop in St Andrews where we had possibly the best gelato ever - Keith had salted caramel and Shawna had honeycomb.
Elie Deli - Stopped here for cheese on the way to Anstruther for the boat trip to Isle of May. Nice selection.
GH Barnett - Bakery in Anstruther where we stopped for rolls and scones to take on the island with us.
Waterfront Hotel - Cute place in Anstruther where we had an early dinner after the boat trip. We had mussels and fish - both good!
Bamburgh, England Area
Accommodation
VRBO - We rented a eight bedroom house for six nights in the town of Bamburgh, about 15 miles south of Berwick. The house was really large with each person getting their own bedrooms with large beds and ensuite baths except Josie and Lily who shared a twin room. There was a very large kitchen and living room with two bedrooms on the main floor and then bedrooms on the top two floors above with a separate wing of bedrooms on another side of the house. The house overall was nice but lacked some kitchenware, had one of those washer/dryer combos that are never really good and was on the main road so was a bit loud with traffic during the day. But it was comfortable and had amazing views of the castle across the street. If we ever wanted to rent it again, we could book directly through this site.
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| Bamburgh Castle - view across the street from our rental house |
Activities
On our way down to Berwick, we stopped at Rosslyn Chapel which was featured in the movie Davinci Code. We then drove into Berwick to walk around and see many of the sites there - we walked along the city walls, saw the old bridge, climbed atop the ruins of the castle (much to the dismay of another woman who scolded us), walked by Jean's old house, saw the workshop that Jean's dad owned and then walked along the pier.
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| Rosslyn Chapel |
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| Climbing the castle ruins in Berwick |
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| Outside Jean's dad's building in Berwick |
We spent the day walking around the beach and the castle near our house and then drove to Craster to walk the Northumberland Coastal Path to Seahouses. We stopped to walk around the Dunstanburgh Castle and continued on with many people bailing at Newton where we had left one of the cars. Margaret, Josie and Shawna made it to Seahouses, walking 11 miles in total. The scenery was beautiful but we were quite tired when we were done!
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| Dunstanburgh Castle |
We did a three hour boat trip to the Farne Islands where we rode the boat around the islands and then landed on one of the islands to walk around for an hour. There were so many birds and of course puffins. This time the Arctic Turns were even more aggressive, pecking each of us on our heads - one landed on Shawna's heads for a few seconds and another pecked Josie so hard she started to bleed a little!! The puffins were great here as we could get closer to them - they were walking around their nests which are holes in the ground and some even walked across the paths we were walking on.
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| Farne Islands |
We then drove down to Warkworth Castle which was quite impressive with large rooms. We walked around the castle and then walked along the river and into the cute town of Warkworth.
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| Warkworth Castle |
Margaret, Keith and the kids rented bikes in Alnwick and biked all the way to Warkworth Castle. Shawna stayed at the house with Jean and Dick and relaxed. We went into Berwick to check out an exhibit about the 400th anniversary of the bridge - it was a pretty small exhibit so we did not stay for long. We then did a 2.5 hour private boat trip in the early evening up the Tweed River and then around the Berwick lighthouse so that we could see views of the towns. The driver narrated the tour, informing us about some of the sights and the fishing on the river. The river was quite pretty!
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| Bike ride |
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| View of the old Berwick bridge and castle from the boat trip |
On our last day, we finally got a bit of rain but not too bad. We toured the Bamburgh Castle which has lots of artifacts inside. We went to the honey farm for lunch (see below) and walked across the Chain Bridge which is the oldest suspension bridge and had been refurbished since the last time we were there. We took a few photos to replicate ones we took from seven years ago with the kids! We also went back into Berwick to walk around the walls and to see the Lowry paintings - famous painter from Berwick who painted different scenes from the town. We then drove to Tillmouth which is now closed and is privately owned - we were able to drive up and take a picture but we didn't really walk around. We ended the day with a walk (one mile each way) to the Duddo Five Stones which are like a mini Stone Hinge on a farm.
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| Duddo Stones |
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| Chain Bridge |
Restaurants
S Luca - Famous ice cream shop in Musselburgh outside of Edinburgh. Had some nice salted caramel ice cream. Keith's family used to go here when they were kids visiting Berwick.
Black Swan Inn - Cute place in Seahouses, about three miles from our rental house. We had dinner here - probably one of the best of the trip. We shared a pate appetizer and then had the seafood curry which was super tasty!
Jolly Fisherman Inn - Cute place in Craster - we stopped here for lunch. It was quite crowded so we sat outside and had crab soup.
Insieme Restaurant and Pizzeria - Located in Seahouses, we had dinner here - good pizza!
Sherkahn - Located in Alnwich, we had dinner here. Ordered a few apps for the table and then got a lamb curry for our dinner. The food was pretty good - our lamb was not very spicy though.
Indian Brasserie - Located in Seahouses, we had dinner here. Better than Sherkahn. We ordered a few apps for the table and we shared a lamb vindaloo which was nice and spicy!
Chain Bridge Honey Farm - Great farm outside of Berwick that sells honey items - Jean knows the owner (Daphne is the daughter of Jean's mother's friend). We had lunch here - we each got a very tasty tomato soup and then a lemon drizzle cake!
Lord Crewe - Cute inn/ restaurant located in Bamburgh, just a short walk from our house, we had dinner here. Food was pretty good. We had mussels for an appetizer (which was not great) and duck for entree which was great!
Chester, England Area
Accommodation
Rowton Poplars Hotel - A small hotel located outside of Chester. We stayed here for three nights, each getting our own room. Our room was super tiny but the bed was comfortable!
Activities
We packed up from our AirBnB in Bamburgh to drive to Chester. Along the way, we stopped at Housesteads Roman Fort where we say the remains of a fort that was pretty impressive and walked a small part of Hadrian's Wall. Shawna, unfortunately, woke up not feeling well (other members of the family had Covid a few days prior) so she went to the fort but skipped the walk. We arrived in Chester late afternoon so unpacked and everyone went to dinner (except for Shawna) where we hosted another friends/family gathering (see restaurant info below). This one was attended by Joyce, Rachel, Lewis, Jenny and Rob.
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| Houseteads Roman Fort |
We spend the day doing a Canal Boat Ride which was Shawna's favorite event of the trip! We hired our own boat and rode from Trevor to Chirk and back, stopping in Chirk for lunch. We rode across two aqueducts, one being the famous Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and through two tunnels. Each kid took turns driving with Keith doing most of the driving. The kids also helped with other activities, like helping to keep the boat from bumping the sides of the canal and using a crank to lift a foot bridge so we could pass under it. The day started out a bit rainy but then got nice. It was really cool going through the canals and then hopping off the boat to walk along the path - often times walking faster than the boat could go! There were a few people on other boats who were not patient with us but many people on the river were quite nice and amused with us! On the way back, the two of us stopped in Wrexham to take a photo of the stadium and to have a beer at The Turf which is right next to the stadium.
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| Canal boat trip in Wales |
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| Turf Bar in Wrexham |
Our final day in the area was spent doing a Beatles extravaganza in Liverpool where they grew up. We first started with the two hour Beatles Magical Mystery Bus Tour which took us to sights from their early beginnings and was narrated by a funny tour guide. We got out at three stops to take photos. We then had lunch at the Cavern Restaurant (see below) across from the Cavern Club where they played for a few years. Lastly, we went through the Beatles Museum which has a pretty good set up telling their story to fame and then also when they split up and parted ways. After this, we went into Chester and walked around the walls and saw a bit of the Tudor style buildings and shops in the downtown area.
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| Beatles Tour |
Restaurants
Tebay Services Southbound - This is a rest stop on the way to Chester that is apparently famous in England. They have a really nice store and cafe. We got a steak pie and some mac-n-cheese - pretty good.
Hartford Hall Hotel - We hosted dinner for a few local friends/family. Jean and Dick had been here a few times before with Joyce. The food was good and the waitress was good "putting up" with the large group.
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| Family/friend dinner at Hartford Hall |
Costa Coffee - We stopped here each morning for coffee and pastries. Pretty good for a chain.
Poachers - Located in Chirk right off the canal, we stopped here for lunch while on our boat trip. We shared a yummy soup and salad.
Arkle - Michelin star restaurant located in Chester in the Chester Grosvener hotel. Really nice place (although on the fancy side). We all went here for dinner except the kids who stayed at the hotel to have dinner. We started out in the lounge with some drinks and canapés and then sat in the main dining room for a five course tasting menu, along with wine pairings. The food was really good, especially the pea starter and the lamb entree.
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| Dinner at Arkle |
Cavern Club - Very busy place in Liverpool next to where the Beatles used to perform - we had lunch here - not the best food.
Rowton Poplars Hotel - restaurant in our hotel in Chester. Cute place. Had shrimp and greek kabob with sticky toffee pudding - tasty.
Wimbeldon, England Area
Accommodation
Travel Lodge - Located a few miles outside of Wimbledon, we stayed here for two nights (while the rest of the Dodds family stayed one night. Our room was quite small but it was clean and fairly modern.
Activities
On our drive down to Wimbledon, we drove through a few insanely cutesy towns in the Cotswolds. We first stopped at Bourton-on-the-Water where we walked around a bit. We then tried to stop in Bibury but there was no parking and we didn't have a ton of time so we just drove through it. We definitely will be back to spend more time in that area. This day was Jean's birthday so we also went to the oldest pub in the UK (see below) for dinner before checking into our hotel. Keith dropped off Boone and Graham at Heathrow where they stayed one night before flying out the next day.
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| Bourton-on-the-Water |
The main event for this part of the trip was to go to Wimbledon. Keith, Margaret and Owen had gone the night before to scout out how many people were camping out to determine what time we should get up to join the queue - they found out that there were already about 1200 campers and thus only about 300 bracelets left for the good courts which guarantees you a seat at either center court, court 1 or court 2. After they are done with the bracelets, then you can get grounds passes where you can go to any of the other courses but are not guaranteed seats. We got up super early and arrived at Wimbledon Park at 3:50 AM - we got our queue card and then set down a blanket that Jean had purchased and waited in line for about 4 hours before the line started to move towards the entrance. While waiting, we napped, played cards, browsed the internet and had coffee and breakfast sandwiches from one of the food trucks. Thankfully, it was not raining and not too cold!
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| Waiting on the queue for tickets at Wimbledon! |
As we got closer to the entrance, some stewards came by and said they had 7 bracelets left to court 2 - but there was 8 of us. So they told Owen that when we got to the entrance, to ask for a specific steward and that person would get him in to court 2. When he did that, they told him they didn't have anymore court 2 bracelets but could get him into court 1 - what a score b/c his favorite tennis player was going to play at that court! So we paid, went inside and all of us went to court 2 while Owen spent the day at court 1. By this point, it was a bit after 10 am (this is how long it took from getting in the queue to wait until we got past paying for our tickets!!) and the first matches started at 11 am.
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| Family photo at Wimbledon |
It was so great to have a specific seat b/c then you could get up to get food or go to the bathroom and not have to wait in line to re-enter (except you had to wait in a short line to wait for the players to break). We watched three of the four matches: Dimitrov v Lajovic (Dimitrov won), Wawrinka v Broom (Wawrinka won) and Osaka v Parry (Osaka won). During the matches, we had a few Pimms drinks (so good), a Cornish pasty (pretty good) and the obligatory strawberries and cream (good but did not live up to the hype)! It was so great to experience this!
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| Enjoying every moment at Wimbledon! |
We said our goodbyes to everyone - Jean and Dick went off to London with Lily where they planned to stay a few more days and treat Lily to shows in the city for her graduation gift. Margaret, Owen and Josie stayed for the fourth game and then they when to Heathrow to stay one more night before they flew out the next morning.
Restaurants
Gloucester Services Southbound - Another 'rest stop' with a nice cafe and market - we stopped here on our drive down to Wimbledon and had a light lunch.
Royal Standard of England - Touted as the oldest freehold pub in the UK, we stopped here for dinner for Jean's birthday. It's in Beaconsfield about an hour outside of London. Since it was a Sunday, they featured 'roasts' - so we had a roast trio of lamb, beef and pork with Yorkshire pudding and veggies. We also had a few appetizers for the table and shared a few desserts. Quaint place with pretty good food.
