Reflections on our Return to the New Forest for a Final Fond Farewell

 “Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Looking back on the past twelve months, because I am indeed writing these final instalments from back home in Australia, I would say the best decision we made was to chose a base for a long period of time and experience life rather than just playing tourists.

In total we have spent just under six months living in the New Forest on the Hampshire/Dorset border and here we have made life long friends, have had the most wonderful base for weekend and school holiday touring whilst providing the children with the opportunity to learn and grow where the world is surprisingly different to that at home.

In retrospect once we left our happy home in England perhaps we have travelled too far and seen too many places and despite our slow travel plans and philosophy a one week stay in so many places means we have appreciated and really absorbed so little of what we have seen.

If you were to ask me where we should have missed out I couldn't tell you as we loved everywhere that we have been and would be hard pressed to write an alternative itinerary.

We had really planned to use Croatia as a second home base and a place to rest, but once we were there it was impossible to stay at home and we travelled the country from top to bottom.

I love the UK and could return tomorrow and stay forever, but as this is impossible we will have to plan to visit again one day. It is to Croatia that we will return most often in the future. To our cosy little home in the country where we have left a big piece of our hearts and envisage many family holidays there over the years.

So it was with somewhat heavy hearts that we returned to say goodbye and collect our remaining bags before leaving England for the last time. We timed our return to coincide with the kids school Christmas Bazaar which was wonderful. From the moment we arrived Emma was off with her friends while we had the opportunity to catch up with everyone and enjoy the day.

We spent our few days here packing up and posting home boxes of school work and bits and pieces to send back home. We also spent as much time as we could manage in the forest enjoying the beautiful scenery and fresh air.

As I have said many times earlier in the year, the New Forest is a fabulous place, equal in beauty to the much more touristy Cotswolds and without the crowds.

Not only is the area blessed with beautiful countryside and villages but it is also close to fabulous towns such as Salisbury where we spent a day to see a pantomime in the build up to Christmas. We also met with friends to go ice-skating down in Bournemouth on the outdoor rink set up at Christmas time.

I am so glad the kids have experienced Christmas time in the northern hemisphere, as it is so very different from that which we experience at home. We have absolutely achieved our aim of seeing the seasons change on the other side of the world and we are ending with a Christmas in winter.

The last month of our holiday has really been devoted to exploring the way people celebrate Christmas in different parts of the world. I look forward to telling you about Santa Lucia in Verona, Christmas in Austria and New Year and Reyes Magos in Andalucía.

But now I bid a fond farewell to all of our wonderful friends on the UK and promise that though you live on the other side of the world we will take you with us in our hearts.

Return to old Favourites in London and a Chilly Week in Yorkshire

"We must go beyond textbooks,
go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness
and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey." -John Hope Franklin 

The chilly weather we had in Germany continued for our return to the UK. We had arrived at Heathrow expecting a long wait but our bags were waiting for us and there was no queue at all at immigration so we were out and onto to tube before you could say Jack Robinson.

When presented with part of the day in London to do with whatever we wanted, before our train to York at 4:30, the kids had just two places in mind. Firstly as we were at Kings Cross Emma wanted to get in line for a proper photo at Platform 9 3/4. That swallowed up our first hour but was lots of fun. We had such a laugh when Julian was described and applauded by the crowd as being the cutest wicked little Malfoy they had seen for many a day.

 The second request was to feed the squirrels in Hyde Park, and so, whilst completely ignoring the Winter Wonderland and Christmas markets next door ("Mum we've done that before"), the kids were  happy tempting the squirrels with all the wrong food, kicking up leaves and hamming it up for the camera. We all had a brilliant time and Hyde Park would have to be our #1 London attraction.

About this time we remembered that having left Julian's car seat on the bus which takes you from the terminal to the plane at Cologne (hopefully not sparking a security scare) we would have to replace it, at the same store in Oxford Street we bought it from last December. And so we got on the bus...and sat there...and sat there...and half an hour and only one stop further down Park Lane we got off again and ran for the tube station. It was really quite nerve racking as we managed to buy the car seat and run into Kings Cross with twenty minutes to go until our train departed. Luckily the luggage storage had no queue at all and so we could relax and enjoy our trip to York.

I have visited York many years ago and earlier this year when we passed through we all thought it would be a lovely place to spend some more time. And so with two weeks planned in England we decided to head back to visit Yorkshire and relax in the countryside.

Having reached that point in our holiday when relaxing experiences take much higher priority than mad rushing we decided to go with a tried and tested formula and booked a National Trust cottage. It was the perfect choice. Beningbrough Hall in North Yorkshire is Georgian mansion with beautiful gardens and grounds, not to mention a fabulous adventure playground.

Luckily for us the house is only open on the weekends and beyond that we had the place to ourselves. We had a apartment situated above the Victorian laundry, which displays all the mangles and coppers that the servants used to use to do the washing.

Our lovely cosy historical flat, had all the modern conveniences you could hope for with two bedrooms, a big lounge room and dining room and the terrific country kitchen. Best of all it had a huge bath, something I really missed during our time in Europe.We arrived in a taxi in the dark on the Saturday night and had the somewhat surreal experience of pulling our suitcases past the façade of the deserted mansion which is all lit up.

We awoke on Sunday morning to beautiful views from our windows and the sounds of the visitors in the Victorian Laundry below. Without a car until Monday we spent the day visiting the house, which is only open on the weekends over the winter season. The kids loved the dress ups and the interactive displays housed at Beningbrough, in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery. The gardens however were the highlight for us and luckily we had them to ourselves for the rest of the week.

We took  advantage of the National Trust Tea Rooms and had a lovely Sunday roast, which we had been looking forward to for some time. We have been year careful all year about not buying souvenirs and such as we would only have to carry everything with us later. However, I realised that this would probably be our last visit to a National Trust Shop and I must say I love the National Trust Shops and so I picked up tea cups that I have been admiring all year and our luggage grew yet again.

On the estate there is also a farm shop, where we were able to buy wonderful fresh produce, meat, bread and gourmet items as well as a terrific café. It was fabulous to be able to take advantage of the local produce and the wonderful kitchen in our apartment while the kids were running around the adventure playground downstairs and playing in the gardens.

We visited nearby York a couple of time and the Jorvik Centre is an absolute highlight of York with kids. We had discussed the Vikings during our home-school endeavours and so it was fascinating to see a real Viking village below the streets of York.

The kids loved taking the ride through the reconstructed Viking village of Jorvik, the street of Coppergate in York was 1000 years ago. To make the experience more realistic not only are the sights and sounds as authentic as possible but so are the smells. It is fondly remembered as the stinky museum. Luckily your ticket entitles you to return visits and so we held our noses and visited for a second time during the week.

We had another day in York with the only real plan in mind being to walk the walls and visit the York Minster Cathedral. The walls were fun and gave us a great view of the cathedral, the town and a lot of inquisitive squirrels.

Unfortunately we didn't visit the minster as we were just so shocked by the 10pound entry fee per person. We have seen some amazing cathedrals as we travelled, and having visited before I know that this one ranks amongst best, and I do not mind making a contribution to care and maintenance of these treasures but it was just too steep for us, especially as the kids would want to climb the tower and that was another 5pounds on top.

It really didn't matter as we popped in next door to lovely Tudor chapel where we were warmly welcomed and greatly enjoyed looking at this lovely church where we could continue our discussion about the exploits of Henry VIII.

York is a brilliant town for wandering, and so we wandered its beautiful streets, through the Shambles, the old street of butchers with houses dating back the fifteenth century, through street markets with fruit and vegetables and Christmas markets. 

Staying in such a lovely place meant we were never going to get away early and have full days out. Instead the next day we again left in time for lunch on the road, in the lovely town of Ripon, on our way to Fountains Abbey, a lovely ruined Cistercian abbey.

As the sun sets so very early in December in this part of the world our visit was in twilight which made the visit the Abbey quite special. It was one of those great places that combine the opportunity to discuss history with the kids and also run amok somewhere very beautiful. It was a brilliant place to play hide and seek and playing it up for the camera.

We were told that the Abbey closes when it get too dark but the little museum there closes precisely at four. By four it was quite dark and we just popped our heads in to have a look at the historical displays and timelines. When we were inside we were startled to hear the caretaker begin locking up and the rest of our stay was filled with conversations beginning "if we got locked in we would have to..." . It really was quite funny.

On our last visit to York we visited the National Railway Museum which was a hit with the whole family. While initially reluctant to go both kids loved it. Emma particularly enjoyed seeing the display of the "royal trains" which has been used by the various kings and queens of England. Whilst we were there we saw a demonstration of the turntable used to turn the trains, it was a bit like Thomas the Tank Engine but on a huge scale. There was even a nice café for me to sit and put my feet up with a cuppa while the kids explored the massive workshop filled with trains.

Since leaving Croatia we have felt the time just fly by and our six night stay was over before we knew it. We faced a long drive down to the New Forest and decided to break the journey at Harwick Hall, another fantastic National Trust Property. On the way my mother asked us look out for a town in Yorkshire where an ancestor of ours lived before getting a one way ticket to Australia as a convict. Sadly when I found the place she mentioned it was a huge coal fired power station, the only blight on the face of beautiful Yorkshire.

Harwick Hall was decked out from Christmas which was a delight. The top floor was closed which was a blessing as we needed to get back on the road and with wonderful kitchens to explore and kids activities we could have stayed here half the day. After leaving we noticed the traffic was moving a little slowly, soon the traffic came to a complete standstill and we though fondly of the benefits of train travel as it took us seven hours to make our way south.

We certainly have gotten our monies worth out of our National Trust annual membership many times over, I believe we have visited a total of seventeen National Trust properties. Our English Heritage Membership was also good value but we visited only eight properties and so our savings were much less but I'm still glad we invested in both.

Visit to Yorkshire: 29 Nov - 5 Dec 2014