First Stop - Singapore

Hello everyone. 

You may want to grab a drink before you start reading this very long post about the start of our holiday!!

Our adventures began in Singapore. After a long 13-hour flight, we arrived at our first hotel. As expected, the weather was still very warm and muggy even though it was evening. We were tired but still ventured out to explore for a while. Our hotel was located opposite a large food outlet with several places to enjoy. We tried some Matcha ice cream, which was new to us and was very refreshing.

Our first organised trip began the following morning, when we were picked up from the hotel by our guide for a foodie adventure. We were in a small group of 8 people, which made chatting together over delicious food a great experience. Chinatown and a very large hawker market were among the places we visited.  After wandering around, taking in the sights and sounds of fresh food for sale and many other small food stalls, where their owners were preparing more food, we were invited to sit down and sample some of the food brought to us by our guide. We certainly were not expecting the variety or amount of food presented. I'm not too adventurous with new foods, but I enjoyed everything that was provided, especially the dumplings!

We then moved on to sample food in an area called Little India before finally sampling some delicious ice cream.  

Continuing on the theme of food, there was one place we just had to visit while in Singapore - the famous Raffles Hotel. We had booked afternoon tea, which was a real treat. We were served a beautiful tiered trio of plates, all featuring sandwiches and sweet treats, along with an abundance of tea.

Afterwards, we joined a queue to enter the Long Bar for an iconic Singapore Sling and to soak up the atmosphere of the era, with traditional crushed peanut shells scattered on the floor. 

We were also fortunate enough to visit this wonderful Buddhist temple during our time in Singapore.

In the short time we spent in Singapore, we were also able to visit the famous Botanical Gardens, featuring the National Orchid Garden, as well as the Gardens by the Bay. It is easy to see why Singapore is known as the tropical 'Garden City'. Here are a few of our favourite orchids and other plants.

The other gardens that we visited were called 'Gardens by the Bay', which showcased a vast number of plants from around the world. In the centre of this paradise stands the Supertree Grove, a man-made futuristic series of structures that tower above the gardens and, at night, are also illuminated. 

Surrounding these trees are several themed garden areas, including Chinese, Malay, and Indian.

We visited two areas called the 'Flower Dome and the 'Cloud Dome', which were both giant air-conditioned glass houses.

Here are a few treasures from the Flower Dome.

Meanwhile, Cloud Forest has one of the tallest indoor waterfalls, which cascades down a man-made mountainside covered with exotic plants from around the world. You enter the structure at ground level and look up at the beauty of the tumbling water, then climb upwards along walkways inside the mountain before returning to ground level amid misted air. Currently, there is a Jurassic Lost World theme complete with impressive dinosaur animatronics and appropriate Jurassic Park music! 

It was a fun afternoon.

Looking beyond the Supertree Grove, the famous Marina Bay Sands Hotel can be seen in the background, as well as the skywalk. 

We loved our time in Singapore and enjoyed the good weather, using their metro MRT systems, great food and the beautiful planting all around us. 

If you have managed to read to the end of this post, it might be time for another cup of tea. Thank you for visiting this small corner. Have a good week, everyone.

B x

We are back!!

Hello everyone.

After eleven plane journeys, four car hires, a steam ferry, numerous trams, trains, buses and lots of walking, we are finally home from our amazing travels.

Our brains are still trying to adjust back to UK time after being scrambled by crossing numerous time zones and the International Date Line. Re-living the same day was a weird experience!

I have started collecting all the photos and memories together so that I can share them with you over the next few weeks. I hope you will enjoy the travels with me.

For now, I am slowly re-adjusting and finishing the holiday washing.

Have a great weekend, and I will be here with the first sunny location, Singapore, next week.

Glad to be back with you all.

x

Preparing for an Adventure of a Lifetime

Hello everyone.

This week has been generally quieter, and we have finished a few small jobs around the house and garden - nothing too big, just things that needed attention. We still found time to go out for coffee on a couple of days. 

Most of this week has been spent planning, buying, and preparing for our holiday. However, by Friday, I had itchy feet to get out and about, and we visited Coughton Court in Alcester.

The forecast was for rain, but we went anyway. This time, the forecast was correct, and as we arrived, there was a very heavy shower. We sat in the car and waited for it to pass over. When we were able, we made straight for the house to stay dry.

Coughton Court is a large country house dating from the Tudor period. The gatehouse dates back to the mid-1530s and is the oldest part of the building. I really liked the turrets and windows and was pleased to be able to climb the winding staircase to view the surroundings from the rooftop.

The Coughton estate dates back to 1409, when the Throckmorton family owned the land and built the property. It remains their family home to this day.

Coughton Court also holds a place in history for two attempted assassination plots. The first plot was to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I in 1583, and the second was to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605. Although the Gunpowder Plot was the more infamous of the two, the Throckmorton family were only indirectly involved when some of the conspirators rode to Coughton after their plan had been thwarted.

During this time, the Throckmorton family was firmly Catholic; however, since the country was mainly Protestant, openly supporting Catholic priests was dangerous. Instead, the family built a a hidden priest hole so that any Catholic priest could hide if an search party arrived unexpectedly. We were able to see this.

The National Trust currently manages the house, but from next year, the current Throckmorton family will take over this role.

By the time we came back outside, the rain had stopped, the sun had come out, and we were able to enjoy the rest of the afternoon strolling around the gardens. 

And so to the adventure.

Hubby and I will be off travelling very soon on a holiday we have been planning and looking forward to for a long time. It was impossible until retirement, but now we have the opportunity to enjoy ourselves and make some good memories together. 

We will be visiting Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and Vancouver, Canada.

I will be back in November when I will come visiting all my blogging friends and tell you all about our time away. D will still be around to keep an eye on things, and who knows, she may put up a blog post herself.

 

Until then, enjoy the rest of this month and step into Autumn or Spring if you live on the other side of the globe from this small corner.

See you all soon.

B x

Week One

Hello and welcome to you all. Thank you for taking the time to visit here. 

Firstly, a huge thank you to all of you for the good wishes and encouragement we received on my husband's retirement last week. You are all kind and thoughtful people, and we were quite overwhelmed.

And so the reality of retirement has now begun!

I realise that there will be lots of mundane and routine jobs still to do, but we can share them a bit more now. The cleaning, washing and cooking still need to be done, but there will also be lots of projects, travel and other things to enjoy. The best thing is that we can do all this, but at our own pace and in the way that suits us best.

This week we visited Bakewell in the Derbyshire Dales. It has been about two years since our last visit but we enjoyed it just as much as last time. The weather forecast was to expect some rain. However, it remained dry while we were there and we didn't need coats all day. A lesson learned, 'to sometimes just go out anyway.'

We arrived at lunchtime and indulged in Bakewell's famous sweet treats: the Bakewell Tart and the Bakewell Pudding. Three places claim to have the original recipe: 'The Bakewell Tart Shop and Coffee House', 'The Bakewell Pudding Shop' and 'Bloomers of Bakewell'. We went to the 'Bakewell Tart Shop', which sold Bakewell tarts, Including Iced Bakewell tarts, moist Bakewell tarts, and the traditional Bakewell pudding. 

Bakewell Tart

Bakewell Pudding

I think my favourite was the pudding.

According to legend, the Bakewell pudding came about from a happy accident when a nineteenth-century cook at the now-demolished White Horse Inn misinterpreted the requirements for a dessert, and thus created the first pudding. The Bakewell tart was a later creation, featuring a shortcrust pastry base and a filling of jam and frangipane, topped with almonds. There is also a more commercial variation, with icing and a cherry on top, made by a company that claims to make 'exceedingly good cakes'. 

We enjoyed looking in shops in town and a stroll along the River Wye. The ducks, swans and geese were happily enjoying being fed by visitors. One man was hand-feeding a goose! I value my fingertips too much for that type of close encounter.

We also walked up the hill to visit the parish church of All Saints. The current building is about 180 years old, having replaced the original Medieval church. In the church yard, we found these two Saxon cross bases, a reminder of the long history associated with the church. 

Inside, there are some beautiful stained glass windows like this one.

We had a lovely few hours in Bakewell and I would certainly go back again and enjoy more Bakewell pudding, of course.

Back at home, hubby has enjoyed working on a new jigsaw. One of his birthday presents this year was this carry jigsaw puzzle case. It means that we can easily clear the table for meals or other crafting activities. We tried it out and it works perfectly. 

He completed this puzzle in just a few hours. It had 500 pieces, and the scene is Scarborough. He may need to move on to 1000 pieces next time. I managed to fit in a few pieces myself as well.

We have also been trying out various coffee/tea places that also have sweet treats and catching up with friends. The weather has been mostly good, and this first week of retirement has gone well.

I hope your week has gone well wherever you are, you are in good health and that you have enjoyed a little sunshine in your life.

B