Family visits and other ramblings...

Dear Family and Friends 

As Joan Rivers used to say, “Can we talk?” We’ve now been in England for almost 2 months and as much as it is awesome to be here with the kids, and as beautiful as the countryside is, there are things that drive me around the bend! Firstly (but not the only point) is that the roads are too busy and there are too many people!! We need to devise a way to ship about 10 million people offshore to leave some room for the rest of us! I’m thinking retired pensioners are the obvious choice – send them all to Ibizza, Spain or France – anywhere warm and sunny. I’d consider changing citizenship to cash in on that one. Do you think it will fly?  

And driving on the left isn’t the big deal, it’s the narrow roads!!! We drive the back country road to pick up Kirei from school several times a week and I hold my breath the whole way! There’s not too much traffic thank the good Lord as the roads are so narrow that you feel like you are going to scrape the side of the car as you pass them by. Either that or if Phil would slow down a little, I could pick the flowers at the side of the road without getting out of the car. Just put your arm out the window and grab! 

Another big difference –a good one this time - is that as you look out over the tiled rooftops and see all the gold and green moss that’s been there for a hundred years, and you go “Oh, isn’t that so pretty!” In Canada, we go “Oh crap. I need $25K to redo the roof!” It’s all about perspective. LOL 

Back to the blog travels. How wonderful it was to be back on the south Coast of England – Phil’s birthplace and home to several cousins and their children/grandchildren. Janet (cousin Chris’ wife) did a great job of rounding up 26 of the Vacher relatives. Phil’s Mom was a Vacher and these  were all children of her brother Frank – Chris and his sisters Julie and Jane. The Vacher family still lives on the southcoast and has a long history with the sea – his grandfather was the coastguardsman at No 1, New Haven and his uncle Frank was the engineer on the lifeboat ‘Mary Rose’. 

Almost all of us

We all met up at the Juggs pub just outside of Lewes. Juggs were the baskets that women carried on a yoke across their shoulders that were filled with fish. Being a Sunday most of us had the standard Sunday roast of beef, roast potatoes, Yorkshire puds and gravy. There was a field and kids playground for the little ones while the adults got caught up and exchanged family history. Great day!!

                                                         Kirei is the upside down one! 

It was just a long weekend but we managed to see quite a bit of the surrounding area. We stayed in Eastbourne – gorgeous seaside town with miles of shingle beach and a pier – similar to Brighton’s. We also visited Alfriston, the home of the Clergy House which was the very first building rescued and restored by the National Trust. We’d been there before but it was all new to Beckie and her family.

Cuckmere Gap is a favourite spot and a good hike out to the beach and limestone cliffs. If you remember the beginning of the Kevin Costner’s version of Robin Hood movie, he is seen swimming ashore from his ship – that was filmed at Cuckmere gap. 

 

We also walked Lewes’ High Street and visited the Castle grounds. Lovely big lawn bowling green as well as walking paths and gardens to stroll. We had lunch at a nice pub on their roof top patio. Great views over slate and tile roof tops. It was a great weekend. 

 

The next weekend was equally busy. Our good friends Robert and Christa Bouman from Rotterdam flew in to Luton airport where we picked them up in a rental car and drove to St Albans – a small ancient city very close to where Beckie works. We stayed in a lovely B&B with a very genial hostess who is actually going to visit Canada later in the year and may come to visit us in Nanaimo as she is going to be staying in Victoria. St Albans has an awesome High Street, a huge cathedral and a great park right in the city.  There was also a Roman Museum that we visited – it had stunning recovered mosaic tile floors. 

 

The next day we came up to Gayhurst to introduce them to Beckie, Kirei and Lee and went to the Cowpers Pub for Sunday roast. The pub is in the village of Weston Underwood – tiny, tiny but stunning. Cowper was a well known British poet who lived in the area. We also took a walk along a public footpath that saw us climbing over stiles and stepping carefully among the sheep droppings in the field near Gayhurst! Then the next day we drove to Cambridge, wandered through the colleges (exam time sadly so we didn’t get to get inside the buildings or the quads), watched the punters on the River Cam and did the usual eating and drinking. We dropped them off at the airport and returned to Beckie’s. 

                                                        Weston Underwood - gorgeous

While we are on the subject of family, I’ll jump ahead to tell you about our visit to see Phil’s cousins from his father’s Coss side. His Dad’s half-brother Jimmy returned after the war to England and raised his family there. He died just recently so we didn’t get to meet him. But we did get to meet his daughters (Phil’s cousins) Tricia and husband Chris who we’ve met before both in England and when they came to Victoria; and Lesley and husband John. I have been corresponding with Lesley for a number of years so it was fabulous to finally meet. We met up in the Cotswold village of Stow-on-the-Wold. If you’ve never been to the Cotswolds you seriously owe it to yourself to make the pilgrimage. You will find a collection of stunning Cotswold golden stone houses and villages that are seriously “chocolate box” beautiful – a British expression that describes the pictures that are displayed on a box of chocolate and remind you of how gorgeous Britain really is! Again, a fab family visit and one we hope to repeat before too long. Lots more family history to discover. 

 

Even though we are only a few days away from returning, I decided to finish the blog off more as a history for me as much as for sharing. The internet connection here is spotty and it’s been problematic downloading or uploading for the blog. The next and final blog will be our visits to Paris and some of the surrounding countryside. 

Much love to all – see you soon

Sharlene