Sunday, March 16, 2008
14th March Haslemere in Surrey.
Sorry - I have missed a day of blogging!
We have enjoyed a short while with Roger and Sue in Wiltshire. It would be churlish to suggest that perhaps we shouldn't have gone when we have spent time with family; but really our health was not up to much and we felt unable to contribute very much.
Our journey to Wiltshire was designed to be one of our little jaunts of exploration, visiting a place we have felt an urge to know. On Friday we drove to Haslemere for lunch, but the exploration will have to wait for another visit in the summer.
I have to say that the journey there showed us the affluence of leafy Surrey. Almost every house and cottage we passed was beautiful enough to grace the lid of a chocolate box.
Haslemere has been the home town for a number of famous people; it is a pretty little town and was off the beaten track for most of its existence, though in Victorian times the railway opened the area up.
I guess the most famous residents, who lived there for some years were the poet Tennyson and the writer, Conan Doyle. Jane Austen was not far away.
The musician, Dolmetsch and his family lived there too. They had workshops making wind instruments and wrote prolifically for recorders.
The pub where we ate, commemorated Dr Thomas Hutchinson, a Quaker who had come south from York and it was he who established the museum.
And Jonny Wilkinson, English rugby player grew up in Haslemere and started his rugby playing for the town toddlers team, although even as
a young lad he was snapped up by the bigger team at Farnham.
Here is the war memorial which stands on a green in front of the little town hall building.
This is The Star Inn where we had our lunch. It is one of the many old buildings taken over by Wetherspoons and lovingly maintained.
The dining area we chose was rich with old beams and wall decorations.
Another area was very secluded and with a very low ceiling of old beams.
I enjoyed looking at the pictures and learning about famous residents of the town.
And I also enjoyed my meal. I am happy to say that there are things on the menu that are more or less safe for me to eat. I had a chilli con carne and jasmine rice with a small dollop of sour cream (tut tut!) with corn tortilla crisps.. Bill had the very well cooked fish and chips - I had that once and I know how good it is. These 2 items can be bought from the bargain menu of 2 meals for £6.49.
Here are plaques on the town hall commemorating 2 more notable past residents.
One benefit to Haslemere of having the first chairman of The National Trust in their midst is that a lot of the surrounding landscape was bought up by The National Trust and remains unspoiled for the rest of us to enjoy.
We got to Roger and Sue's at about 4 o'clock on a murky afternoon.
I was beginning to feel very tired. This sinus infection has really taken its toll - I just don't have the physical reserves to deal with it right now.
During the evening we played a sort of trivial pusuit game, but without bothering with counters or winners. It was just a pleasure to prove how clever (or not) that we were.
I was glad to get to bed early and sort out night bags and things like that. All has gone well and there were no disasters.
So that was Friday. I will sort out words and pictures of Saturday and put them on the blog during tomorrow.
Today the weather has continued as wet and soggy as for most of the weekend. I have not been anywhere - it really was not a day for a car boot sale, especially with me feeling so rotten. I have improved a bit during the day - but the weather has not.
I have dealt with a few Ebay things finishing and Bill has been in the shop this afternoon.
We have enjoyed a short while with Roger and Sue in Wiltshire. It would be churlish to suggest that perhaps we shouldn't have gone when we have spent time with family; but really our health was not up to much and we felt unable to contribute very much.
Our journey to Wiltshire was designed to be one of our little jaunts of exploration, visiting a place we have felt an urge to know. On Friday we drove to Haslemere for lunch, but the exploration will have to wait for another visit in the summer.
I have to say that the journey there showed us the affluence of leafy Surrey. Almost every house and cottage we passed was beautiful enough to grace the lid of a chocolate box.
Haslemere has been the home town for a number of famous people; it is a pretty little town and was off the beaten track for most of its existence, though in Victorian times the railway opened the area up.
I guess the most famous residents, who lived there for some years were the poet Tennyson and the writer, Conan Doyle. Jane Austen was not far away.
The musician, Dolmetsch and his family lived there too. They had workshops making wind instruments and wrote prolifically for recorders.
The pub where we ate, commemorated Dr Thomas Hutchinson, a Quaker who had come south from York and it was he who established the museum.
And Jonny Wilkinson, English rugby player grew up in Haslemere and started his rugby playing for the town toddlers team, although even as
a young lad he was snapped up by the bigger team at Farnham.
Here is the war memorial which stands on a green in front of the little town hall building.
This is The Star Inn where we had our lunch. It is one of the many old buildings taken over by Wetherspoons and lovingly maintained.
The dining area we chose was rich with old beams and wall decorations.
Another area was very secluded and with a very low ceiling of old beams.
I enjoyed looking at the pictures and learning about famous residents of the town.
And I also enjoyed my meal. I am happy to say that there are things on the menu that are more or less safe for me to eat. I had a chilli con carne and jasmine rice with a small dollop of sour cream (tut tut!) with corn tortilla crisps.. Bill had the very well cooked fish and chips - I had that once and I know how good it is. These 2 items can be bought from the bargain menu of 2 meals for £6.49.
Here are plaques on the town hall commemorating 2 more notable past residents.
One benefit to Haslemere of having the first chairman of The National Trust in their midst is that a lot of the surrounding landscape was bought up by The National Trust and remains unspoiled for the rest of us to enjoy.
We got to Roger and Sue's at about 4 o'clock on a murky afternoon.
I was beginning to feel very tired. This sinus infection has really taken its toll - I just don't have the physical reserves to deal with it right now.
During the evening we played a sort of trivial pusuit game, but without bothering with counters or winners. It was just a pleasure to prove how clever (or not) that we were.
I was glad to get to bed early and sort out night bags and things like that. All has gone well and there were no disasters.
So that was Friday. I will sort out words and pictures of Saturday and put them on the blog during tomorrow.
Today the weather has continued as wet and soggy as for most of the weekend. I have not been anywhere - it really was not a day for a car boot sale, especially with me feeling so rotten. I have improved a bit during the day - but the weather has not.
I have dealt with a few Ebay things finishing and Bill has been in the shop this afternoon.
