The New Forest

The end of October saw us heading west, this time in the school minibuses for several trips along the delight that is the A27, to the New Forest. We've been through it many times but I've never stopped there - Trev had, but more years ago than he cares to remember.

Anyway, the purpose of the trips were to drop off the kids at the start of their Duke of Edinburgh expedition and pick them up a few days later, hence the multiple trips.

Obviously I took the chance to grab a few photos, only wishing that I'd brought the proper camera.

Well, it looked stunning, as I'm sure you can imagine, the changing colours of the leaves bringing its own beauty.  We loved seeing the ponies ambling across the roads and managed to get a few snaps. Seeing the deer scamper through someone's garden and across into the woods was wonderful but they were too quick for the moment to be captured to digital memory.

The meeting point for the kids at the end of their trip was a fireplace. Yep, you read it right. To be precise, the Portuguese Fireplace is all that reminds of a cookhouse used by Portuguese soldiers who helped the local area with logging during the First World War.

So, the New Forest has most definitely joined the long list of 'must do's in Patsy', hopefully next autumn.

Going to Battle – or is it Hastings?

1066 saw the Battle of Hastings, in er, Battle. OK, Hastings is only a few miles away and they didn’t have Google maps in them days. Anyway, one Wednesday in October saw me heading in that direction at the wheel of one of the schools shiny new minibuses – they were still clean then, not with a party of kids on a History field trip, but some parents. A club had been set up to provide various activities for said parents to enjoy, presumably as a bit of a thank you for the considerable sums in school fees they hand over every term.

The organiser had contacted me prior to say they was an admission ticket for me if I wanted it, and it seemed a good opportunity to grab some photos. Not only that but they had dragged a couple of history teachers along for the ride so I even got to learn something. It linked in well with our time in France in the summer, and Normandy in particular when we went to the the Bayeaux Tapestry which depicts of course, the Battle of Hastings.

It’s owned by English Heritage – so members will get in free, and car parking is available, and although I didn’t get a chance to have a look around, the town looks a pleasant place to spend a few hours too. Anyway, enough of the waffle, time for the photo’s: