English Countryside - South-East England — travel diary by danieladisa

The story

We have already visited Great Britain, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Cornwall several times. We have been to London city a couple of times, but never to the south-east of England. We love these cool lands and the Anglo-Saxon style very much; so we have worked out an itinerary that allows us to visit this area with particular reference to the small towns and the English countryside. We want to see the famous English cottages with thatched roofs, the canals, the rivers and some romantic castle with a fine moat: we should be in the right place to find all of this.

9 AUGUST 2019: CAMBRIDGE

In the morning we set off from Cassano Magnago for the very nearby Terminal 2 of Malpensa, where our Easy Jet flight to London Luton awaits us. Here the Parkingo valet waits for us punctually, takes charge of our car, and we set off fairly on time. In the early afternoon we are at Luton airport, where we take the shuttle bus that brings us to the car rental centre, located about 15 minutes by bus from the terminal. Here we collect the rental car booked through the Rentalcars portal with Europcar. We had booked a station wagon and so they give us a Passat SW: comfortable, functional, a bit bulky, but it will perform very well for the entire trip, without giving us the slightest problem. In a little over 1 hour we reach Cambridge, where we have booked a triple room for 2 nights at the B&B Alington House, on the outskirts of Cambridge a few minutes from the centre.

Unfortunately, the accommodation will not turn out to be the best: a modest little house in English style; a triple room the size of a normal single; a bathroom as big as an aeroplane toilet with a sink the size of an A4 sheet; a cramped entrance where the passage is obstructed by vacuum cleaners and cleaning products that will stay there forever. But the worst thing is the long-winded, absurd and petulant owner: highly unrecommended. We are almost tempted to leave but, checking Booking.com, we find that the available options cost twice as much. The only positive thing is the Pub The Rock, a few metres from the B&B, where we will dine both evenings. The dinner will turn out to be excellent, the choice very wide and the cost reasonable. Satisfied, we thus conclude the first evening of our holiday.

10 AUGUST 2019: CAMBRIDGE

The morning at our B&B does not begin in the best way, as the annoying owner invites us to stay in our room for half an hour to wait our turn, since she is busy with other breakfasts. The breakfast is of average quality, or rather: the savoury English breakfast is good, while the classic continental breakfast is almost horrible, consisting of stale packaged Tesco-brand products. Then we head by car towards the centre of Cambridge to begin our visit to the city. The journey should take a few minutes but, because of roads closed for works, it takes us a little longer. We immediately notice that Cambridge is a very lively little city, crowded with groups of students and others, mostly Japanese. We begin the visit at King's College, one of the most famous colleges in the city. We visit the great late-Gothic chapel with stained-glass windows.

We then pass into the inner courtyard with large green spaces and a perfect lawn and so reach the river, spanned by romantic little bridges including the famous Mathematical Bridge, where many crowded rowing boats full of tourists pass, piloted by the students themselves. We visit St. Mary Church and pass in front of many other colleges. We particularly appreciate the rich facade of Trinity College, where the descendant of the "Newton's Apple Tree" is found, that is, the plant from which fell the apple that inspired Isaac Newton and made him understand the law of gravity. Then we stroll through the streets of the centre, where there are many original shops and where we make our first purchases, buying the classic university sweatshirts and t-shirts with "Cambridge" written on them. In the afternoon we return to the B&B, where we dine at the Pub "The Rock" as on the previous evening.

11 AUGUST 2019: OXBURG HALL, HOLKHAM HALL AND CLEY NEXT THE SEA After breakfast we gladly leave the sad B&B. The first stop, about 1 hour's drive from Cambridge, is Oxburg Hall. It is a moated country house in Norfolk, built in 1482 by an English nobleman. The interiors and gardens are modest, as it is a country residence and not a luxury house. In the gardens there are also costumed re-enactors who recreate the working and leisure activities of the Middle Ages. We then visit, again in Norfolk, Holkham Hall, an 18th-century country house, built in Palladian style. Unfortunately it is Sunday and the residence is very crowded, especially the park. We visit the luxurious interiors, including the large kitchen on the ground floor. Unfortunately, however, we cannot linger in the park because it starts to pour with rain, not a rare occurrence in this area. What a shame.

The last stop and final destination of the day is the place where we will stay overnight, namely the Cley Windmill at Cley next-the-sea, a real windmill dating back to the 1800s, now used as a hotel, which we learned about by reading a travel account just like this one. We hope it goes better than when, wanting to be original, we stayed in a spartan Scottish lighthouse! Our room, thus called Boat House as it is furnished like a ship's cabin, is in a charming little stone house, with independent access, right in front of the mill entrance. In the central body of the mill are the reception, the breakfast room and some rooms. At the back of the building there is a small garden with benches where you can relax, and beside the mill a river flows. For dinner we go to a quiet pub-restaurant with tasty local cuisine, 2 minutes away by car.

Then, when darkness falls, we take some evocative photos of the mill by night.

12 AUGUST 2019: NORWICH, LAVENHAM AND COLCHESTER

Today the sun is shining and breakfast is served in the lovely circular room of the mill. The breakfast is very refined, complete with a menu. It's a shame it is served late, from 8.30 onwards, which slows down our schedule for the day a little. The first stop is Norwich but, as soon as we arrive, we realise that it is a rather large and busy city. So we decide to park in the quietest area along the river, near the cathedral, and take a little walk near the water. Then, not finding parking in the centre, we decide to leave the city and head towards Lavenham. Along the way we pass through landscapes typical of the English countryside, with watercourses, little bridges and picturesque thatched-roof cottages. Lavenham is a village in Suffolk famous for its medieval half-timbered buildings, including a particular crooked house.

There are also pleasant tea rooms where you can taste the fabulous English cakes. The final destination of the day is Colchester, where we have booked via Booking.com in a hotel located in a large half-timbered house. Colchester is a town in Essex with very ancient origins. There are some beautiful half-timbered houses and the castle, among the oldest in the United Kingdom, surrounded by a lush, very well-kept park. The Best Western The Rose & Crown Hotel is housed inside a 14th-century coaching inn. Our room, rather large and with independent access, is located at the edge of the building. In the hotel there is a characteristic pub-restaurant with dark wood-style furnishings, where we dine splendidly. We must say that, over the course of this trip, we have always eaten well, with tasty, well-cooked and very varied food. Not the usual burger and chips every day, as we thought.

I, for example, chose melted Camembert with croutons. We then finish with some splendid desserts: each with a different dessert so we can taste 3.

13 AUGUST 2019: CANTERBURY AND SANDWICH

The breakfast at our hotel The Rose & Crown is, in my opinion, the best of the whole trip, as you can choose between the traditional savoury English one and a well-assorted continental breakfast. I enjoyed some fantastic berry pancakes, as well as everything freely available at the buffet. We then set off towards Canterbury, a very lively tourist town where the famous cathedral is found. We begin the visit precisely with the latter. Unfortunately, just past the entrance, we realise that the building, though visitable, is in the midst of renovation. If they had informed us at the ticket office, perhaps we would have avoided buying the expensive entrance ticket (£13). The cathedral is very large and sprawling, as, besides the cathedral itself, there are other buildings to visit in the complex, such as the crypt and the cloister.

We struggle to take decent photos without capturing scaffolding, workers and various equipment. After the visit we stroll through the cheerful little town, full of tourists. We linger in the little square called Buttermarket (butter market) to go into an inviting sweets shop and to listen to a street musician. Then we reach the most romantic spot in Canterbury, where the lovely "The old Weavers' house" stands, a picturesque 16th-century half-timbered house overlooking a small canal. Delighted, we take a seat in the bar opposite to rest and enjoy the view. The next stop is Sandwich, a town in Kent overlooking the River Stour. It owes its name to the Earl of Sandwich, the same man who invented the sandwich of the same name. The most interesting part of the place is precisely the one near the river; the rest is of little interest.

Very close to Sandwich is our B&B for today, Chilton Villa, exactly in Worth, a very quiet village in Kent. The room is very carefully finished in its details, with a spacious bathroom with a shower cubicle (a rare thing in these parts, where they seem to prefer antiquated bathtubs). We dine in a nice restaurant within walking distance of the B&B, St. Crispin, where they serve us very generous dishes that we can't even finish, and where a chatty parrot keeps us company. After dinner we linger at the little pond near the school, where there are many ducks and ducklings.

14 AUGUST 2019: LEEDS CASTLE, HEVER CASTLE AND ST. LEONARDS ON SEA The tiny breakfast room of the B&B has been created in the former garage of the house. The savoury English breakfast is as always good, but the continental one, on the other hand, is reduced to a minimum. Unfortunately it's raining; on the very day we had planned to visit the 2 main castles of the area, with magnificent parks! The first stop is Leeds Castle, from the medieval-Renaissance period, described by many as "the most beautiful castle in England", if not even "the most beautiful castle in the world". At the castle shop my daughter buys a bag of birdseed that she will always carry with her on her travels and will use to feed swans and ducks all over England. We begin the visit with the interiors, modest, hoping that it will stop raining.

But what strikes you about the castle is the immense park with moat, watercourses and a lake. So we decide to take a boat trip on the castle lake, given that the motorboat is covered. We then take the car again to go and visit Hever Castle, dating back to 1270 and the former property of the Boleyn family. As soon as we arrive we realise that the park is fantastic; decidedly more romantic in style than Leeds Castle. The interiors, with carved wooden panels, are very striking and very pleasant to visit. This, in our opinion, is the best castle in the area: beautiful both inside and out. The castle is famous for being the place where Anne Boleyn (1507-1536), second wife of Henry VIII, spent her childhood. Here the film Anne of the Thousand Days was shot, with Richard Burton as Henry VIII.

As narrated in the film, here Anne Boleyn meets Henry VIII, they marry, and she lives with him for 1000 days. Then Anne B. comes to a bad end, like all the King's wives. In one of the castle's rooms there are even life-size mannequins of the two spouses. At the park entrance there is a large self-service Café/Restaurant where we shelter from the rain with various drinks and cake. We then leave the castle to head towards Hastings, in Sussex, and precisely to St. Leonards on Sea, where we will stay overnight at the hotel Royal Victoria. The elegant hotel, overlooking the sea, was built in 1828 and has hosted several important figures, including the Queen. With these elegant period interiors, it really feels like being catapulted back into the 1800s and imagining the elegant English ladies who spent their holidays here, between a tea and a stroll along the wide seafront.

Unfortunately it keeps pouring with rain and there is also crazy wind, so we don't dare go out from there. We watch the sea, rough and grey, from the window of our room with a view. We then dine in the hotel bar, still gazing at the sea through the windows and, with the sound of the waves as a backdrop, we spend the night.

15 AUGUST 2019: BRIGHTON AND MIDGHAM

After a spectacular breakfast in the lovely period room overlooking the sea, we go down to see the sea up close on the wide promenade, in front of the hotel. Today the sun is finally out and we can observe the surrounding scenery in decidedly better light. Then we set off for Brighton, where we will visit the Royal Pavilion. Arriving at the palace gardens, we find ourselves before a large building in oriental style. It feels like being in India and not in England. The palace, in this particular style, was commissioned by King George IV, fascinated by oriental prints. Inside there are ample, sumptuously furnished halls, rich in ornaments with majestic chandeliers. Afterwards we head towards Brighton Pier, crossing the chaotic and busy city. The pier is practically a funfair and Brighton isn't much: big blocks of flats facing the sea, practically the English Rimini. We leave.

As happens on every trip of ours, it is obligatory to visit the local Harley-Davidson dealerships. Today the Harley dealership in Guildford is on our route, where we notice several types of Trike. We buy the classic Harley t-shirts with the name of the city and head towards Midgham, a village in the county of Berkshire, where we have booked at the Berkshire Arms by Good Night Inns. The Berkshire Arms is a lovely country pub, while the Good Night Inns is a large bed & breakfast with many rooms. We dine very well in the typical pub with country-style furnishings; perhaps the best dinner of our trip. Then we linger a while at the outdoor tables, savouring the tranquillity of the English countryside.

16 AUGUST 2019: STREATLEY AND BACK

Right after breakfast we go to see the lock near our hotel in Midgham. We then head towards the last stop of this summer holiday of ours. First, though, we visit another Harley dealership in Reading, where we buy some more clothing and where we meet a likeable Sardinian mechanic, who immediately identified us as Italians. We reach Streatley, right at the point bordering the town of Goring. Goring and Streatley are two twin villages, respectively in the English counties of Oxfordshire and Berkshire, separated by the Thames and joined by a bridge. We park at the bar of the Hotel The Swan, a beautiful hotel splendidly overlooking the Thames in a bucolic atmosphere of greenery, river, bridges and little waterfalls. We absolutely want to return and stay a few days right here, because the landscape is too inviting. This was the last stop.

Now all that remains is to go to the nearby Luton airport, where we quickly return the car to the Europcar car park. With the shuttle we then reach the terminal, where we have plenty of time to visit the airport's numerous shops to use up our pounds and more. We buy a few souvenirs to give as gifts, Max buys a bottle of whisky unobtainable in Italy and something to eat for dinner, since we will arrive home rather late. The return journey goes without problems and so concludes this trip, beautiful but also rather intense and tiring. In the future, we'll take it more calmly.

Costs: - Easyjet flight Malpensa-London Luton return, €60.00 per person (hold luggage excluded). - Cambridge - Alington House, €150.00 per night for a triple room, breakfast included. - Cley next-the-sea. Cley Windmill, €241 for a triple room, breakfast included. - Colchester - Best Western The Rose & Crown Hotel. €165 for a triple room, breakfast included. - Sandwich - Chilton Villa B&B, €112 for a triple room, breakfast included. - St. Leonards on Sea - Royal Victoria Hotel, €123 for the triple room, breakfast included. - Bath - Berkshire Arms by Good Night Inns, €165.00 per night - Car rental with Rentals Car, Station Wagon, about €275.00 for 7 days. - parking at Malpensa airport, Parkingo with Valet service, €110.00 for 8 days. - entrance to castles, cathedrals etc. from £10 upwards.