Tuesday 05.11.2019

Good to be back from peregrinations, not to say perambulations, south of the border, including taking high tea courtesy of Jane Austen in the City of Bath which I shall mainly remember for....chimneys!

All those poor housemaids up pre-dawn to light all those fires.....




At the other end of the scale the high tea meant we all ate far too much but in a nice touch, what we couldn`t manage we were able to take home for later.

Friendly, knowledgeable staff made it an instructive and enjoyable visit though sadly there was no sign of Colin Firth.On the upside, dressing up like one of Ms. Austen`s characters was not obligatory.



Welcomed back by three or four days of persistent heavy rain, the kind of weather that seems like it will never change. However, change it did today, still showery but with enough gaps to allow us to head for the very soggy woods where the gloomy light enhanced the autumn colours and shapes, and drenched tree trunks looked like they were cloaked in black satin.

And all to the soft,spellbinding musical accompaniment of drips and splashes which it was necessary to just stand and listen to for a while.

Welcome home indeed, 29 years to the day yesterday that we arrived "up here" and a good move it has proven to be.