Southern England

Rather than head abroad we thought we would check out more of England over the New Year's break. Here is what we got up to:

Day 1: Friday 28 December 2007

Hiring the car from Gatwick Airport so we didn't have to drive through London and we were on our way. First destination was a small town of Tenterden were we got on a little steam train heading to Bodiam Castle. Bodiam was on the agenda with Geoff when we went to Battle (due to time constraints this didn't happen) so it was good to finally get there. The castle was closed however it was one of the first ones we had seen complete with a water filled moat. From Tenterden we then went south for our first stop, the medieval town of Rye.

Day 2: Saturday 29 December 2007

After exploring the delightful little cobblestone streets of Rye and the Gun Tower Exhibition we drove onto to Beachy Head where we enjoyed lunch. Beachy Head is famous for its sheer drop white cliffs (similar to Dover but way prettier). If Beachy Head ever needs to change its name we nominate 'Windy Beach' due to the cyclonic winds that seriously tried to knock us down! Along the highway we also viewed the Long Man of Wilmington (think huge white chalk drawing of a man on a hillside that's been there forever). Our next stop on dusk was Arundel for a look at its castle (didn't go in) and a walk around its pretty town. It was then onto the area known as New Forest and our destination for the next two nights Lyndhurst.

Day 3: Sunday 30 December 2007
New Forest is famous for its beautiful scenery and wild ponies and the drive through the forest to Beaulieu gave us plenty of chances to see both. The ponies just munch by the roadside and have free reign of the place. In Beaulieu there is a National Motor Museum, Abbey (partially in ruins), and Palace which we checked out. The National Motor Museum had everything and would be highly recommended to any car buffs out there (though you needn't be one to enjoy it). From Beaulieu we headed to Highcliffe for a walk around the castle (closed - notice a trend happening here) and checked out the beaches. We then headed back to Lyndhurst were we enjoyed a brilliant Italian meal and the BEST BANOFFEE PIE we had ever tasted.

Day 4: Monday 31 December 2007
To begin the day we went for a quick drive through the Forest checking out the deer at the deer viewing platform before heading to the highway for our long drive to St Ives. To break things up we walked around Lulworth Castle and hiked the beach side cliffs to Durdle Door. A great recommendation from the owners of the B&B in Rye.

Dinner was in a small restaurant near the harbour were we enjoyed some seafood and champagne. We then stood on the promenade for an hour watching the antics of the town walk by. The whole town goes into fancy dress mode for New Year's Eve and honestly we had never seen anything like it before. Our best dressed award goes to the 'Bobsled Team' named the Sleigh Lords! New Year's itself was a quiet affair back at the guesthouse just the two of us!

Day 5: Tuesday 1 January 2008 - HAPPY NEW YEAR
Breakfast was a little later today to give everyone to a chance to sleep in so after filling up we headed the coastal road to check out Pendeen Watch (lighthouse), Land's End (the end of England), Minack Open Air Theatre, and St Michael's Mount. We then spent some time checking out the beach and harbour of St Ives before having some beers in the local (with some fellow Aussies) and an awesome seafood meal at another restaurant (much cheaper and better than our NY's eve meal).

Day 6: Wednesday 2 January 2008

Last day of our holidays - BOO HOO!!!!!! It was going to be a long drive back to London so we set off early breaking up the drive with a stop at Cheddar Gorge (the home of the cheese) for a look at the gorge and caves. It was then back to Gatwick to drop off the car and home to the flat in London.

As normal we tried to cram as much as possible into a short amount of time however this trip was a lot more relaxing than some of the others we have done. The B&B's / Guesthouses we stayed in were all fabulous. It was great to see some more of the country we are temporarily calling home and fortunately for us England is a very pretty country with plenty of sites to see!

More New Year's 2007 pics!