"England's green and pleasant land"

We have just spent some wonderful family time at the Rodney Stoke Inn, not too far from Bristol in the Somerset area in the west of England. This lovely pub is owned and managed by my cousin Annette and her partner Neil. What a beautiful place!

We arrived very late on Wednesday evening so we didn't see the amazing setting of the Inn until the next morning. It really is glorious countryside.

Thursday afternoon, Annette took us on a lovely drive through Cheddar and the Mendip Hills to Wells. The Wells Cathedral was glorious.

The historic village dates back centuries - the cottages on this street were once homes for the vicars and other church staff.

We had a wonderful family dinner at the pub Thursday when we met wee Hamish, Andy and Mary Watt's adorable new baby! (apologies to all the adults whose pictures came 2nd in line to Hamish's)

Friday, Annette, mum and I headed through the Chew Valley to Bath. What a gorgeous city! We thoroughly enjoyed the Roman Baths tour, a little shopping and High Tea at The Pump Room at the baths.

The centuries old Roman baths were extraordinary to see.

A decadent champagne tea! 

Some final Aberdeen sights

Part of the Aberdeen skyline as seen from the Old Torry Battery.

The entrance to Robert Gordon's College where dad attended high school.

St. Nicholas Church, or the Mither Kirk as it was named in the 13th century, has a gorgeous new stained glass memorial to the Piper Alpha, the oil rig disaster of July 1988.

Marischal College in full sun. Wow.

Our Aberdeen Hosts

Mum and I have been truly spoiled during our week in Aberdeen. To give you a good example of the limits our hosts went to ......... yesterday, I happened to mention my yearning for a bakery fresh rowie and ta-da - look what Euan snuck out to get for our last morning! Still warm, flaky, buttery, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Another Aberdeen dream come true :)

Euan and Sheena live in the Bridge of Don, a lovely area in north Aberdeen.

They have a beautiful home and made us feel very welcome, not only with their warm hospitality, but by offering us everything we could possibly need to make our stay easy and comfortable. Last year when mum and I were in Scotland, I toyed with the idea of renting a car this year and doing the driving myself. I really don't know what I was thinking. I've been a front seat passenger for all of our wonderful driving tours this week, and my conclusion is that you could not pay me enough to get behind the wheel of a car in Britain. The right side of the car, the left side if the road, spinny roundabouts, ignoring your Canadian instincts on these fast paced, windy roads - no thank you m'am. And a big thank you Euan! You were an awesome chauffeur!

This lovely state of the art kitchen was where we enjoyed gourmet home cooked meals almost every night! Scottish favourites (remember the pic of the haggis and mince and tattles?), Euan's specialties - it was all scrumptious! We were truly spoiled. Have I mentioned that?

This was one of the amazing meals - mustard chicken, tattles, veggies. Mmmmmmm.

It wasn't just me who loved Naboo!

Thanks Euan and Sheena. We have loved spending the week with you, sharing special memories and creating such wonderful new ones!

xoxoxoxo from Irene and Susan

Above is our last lunch, at the Royal Hotel.

Along the Deeside Road

The Deeside Road follows the Dee River west from Aberdeen through beautiful countryside and into the highlands. We did this drive today and enjoyed many wonderful stops along the way.

The first was the Brig of Feugh, where the force and colour of the water amazed us all.

The Linn of Dee is near the source of the Dee and is a place mum came with her dad and mum many times as a child.

We had lunch and did some shopping in Ballater, one of many small towns along the route. 

Shopping! Yay tartan purse.

A day in Aberdeen

A little rain certainly didn't spoil our day exploring some wonderful places in this gorgeous city.

The St. Machar Cathedral is one of the oldest in the city and is quite spectacular, inside and out.

This is Kings College, University of Aberdeen, Ian Watt's alma mater.

The next 3 pictures are from 'Fittie', or Foot Dee, the original fishing village at the foot of the Dee River. These charming little cottages go for quite a price now, and the whole area attracts many tourists. Yes, it was raining. It's Scotland after all.

Fish and chips for lunch. And only the best for us of course.

I did a little shopping this aft and look what I found!

A fine Scottish Sunday

My cousin Mike and his wife Susan picked us up this morning and took us on a drive south of Aberdeen to Stonehaven and Dunnottar Castle (of Mel Gibson, Hamlet fame). The castle tour, and the long walk in and out which includes hundreds of stairs, is not for the faint of heart! We all did it though and oh my, was it worth the effort. It was absolutely spectacular!

We had lunch at The Ship Inn in Stonehaven. Mum had Cullen Skink, mmmmmm. My meal of roast chicken wrapped in streaky bacon with honey and whiskey sauce, served with black haggis bon bons and Scottish clapshot was positively crackin'! 

Cousins!

What a great reunion with cousins!

Fiona, Wilłie, me, Pat, Mike and Ian.

Mum, Barry, Catriona and me.