{"id":2398,"date":"2013-08-25T23:06:46","date_gmt":"2013-08-25T22:06:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/?p=2398"},"modified":"2026-05-24T08:06:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T07:06:41","slug":"here-there-and-everywhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/2013\/08\/25\/here-there-and-everywhere\/","title":{"rendered":"Here, There And Everywhere"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few weeks were spent shuffling here, there and everywhere across England and Eileen shuffled between Chris’s warehouse yard, Doug’s car-yard and out on the open road.\u00a0 It’s been all very confusing; continually packing and unpacking, one week in her, the next week not.\u00a0 I can’t wait to get back properly in our little mobile home and enjoy knowing where everything is again.\u00a0 Our plan is to tour around the coast of Wales, then a quick trip down to Cornwall before we leave the UK and fly off to Abu Dhabi. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Laura
Laura and Rick enjoying strawberries and clotted cream<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\"Rodney
Rodney and Charisma enjoying a game of Jenga<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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After our travels around Hertfordshire and London, our next jaunt in Eileen was up to Norfolk and Suffolk, so on Tuesday 13 August we set off north from Hertford.\u00a0\u00a0 Before reaching Norfolk, we had a lunch date arranged with a cousin of Rodney’s in Haddenham, Cambridgeshire.\u00a0 Of all the numerous Blake cousins and second cousins, David was the only one we had never met, or knew anything about.\u00a0 He had recently tracked us down through contacting the writer of a book about Hertford Cricket Club who had kindly passed on our email address.\u00a0 It had been quite a surprise when we opened an email from David, whilst sitting in our campervan in Italy.\u00a0 We had a nice lunch at David and Margaret’s lovely home and spent four hours reminiscing, pouring over old photos and getting him up to speed on the fabulous Blake ‘clan’.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Norfolk
Norfolk sunset<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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At Castle Acre we stayed with friends, Bill and Ang in their ‘holiday bungalow’ for three nights of fun.\u00a0 Ang whipped up two fabulous dinners.\u00a0 Bill cooked up a couple of fancy breakfasts and we spent one evening at a very good Thai restaurant in Guist.\u00a0 To help burn off some of the fuel, we spent a sunny day cycling from Holkham to Wells-Next-The-Sea.\u00a0 After drinks and cakes, we cycled a little further across the salt marshes before retracing the same route all the way back to Holkham.\u00a0 We then cycled past the car park and in through the gates of Holkham Hall where the grounds were full of deer and lots of holidaymakers were picnicking down by the lake.\u00a0 We took a short break to queue for ice creams (we needed another re-fuel)\u00a0and then finally cycled back to our vehicles for the drive back to Castle Acre.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Rodney,
Rodney, Ang, Laura and Bill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The following day we went to Fakenham and spent a few hours at the auction house, local market and the antique shops, with of course, the obligatory cups of tea and cake in a caf\u00e9<\/span> on the return trip.\u00a0\u00a0 Back at Castle Acre, Bill took us for a good walk around his ‘ancestral village’.\u00a0 There’s an ancient ruined castle and priory, a huge church and we crossed fields full of butterflies and wild flowers.\u00a0 We passed a lovely clear stream that did look inviting on such a warm sunny day, but we didn’t indulge. There were some cute country cottages and curiously only one pub which had the rather odd name of ‘The Ostrich’.\u00a0 Goodness knows how it got that name.\u00a0 Thank you Bill and Ang, for a lovely mini break and we’re looking forward to seeing you both at our home in Australia in December.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

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\"The
The Priory gate house at Castle Acre<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\"Cant
Can’t work this door out…..<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Our next stop was in Aylsham to visit our friend Vanea, who is over from Australia visiting her Dad and sisters.\u00a0 So we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon chatting, strolling across the fields and sitting down to another delicious home-cooked meal.\u00a0 Thank you Vanea and Alan for the meal and a night sleeping well in your colourful garden.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Harvest
Harvest time near Aylsham<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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On Saturday morning we struck out south to Suffolk.\u00a0 When we arrived at the cottage near Kettleburgh, to visit cousins Sheila and Jack, plus Sharon and Ian, the TV was on the sports channel and there was a lot of surfing going on.\u00a0 Channel surfing that is; soccer, cricket, golf, tennis, athletics and, later in the evening, a bit of rugby union. Rodney settled himself on the sofa and was in ‘sport heaven’.\u00a0 The conversation flowed at high speed and high volume, the food and drinks flowed endlessly, and we finally crawled in to our bed in Eileen, very late and rather tired.\u00a0 Sunday continued in the same vein and we enjoyed every minute of our time with the Hagues; you are hilarious, please don’t ever change and we thank you for two wonderfully nutty days.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Sharon
Sharon and Sheila<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The only thing that spoilt the weekend was my back seizing up and by the time we left Suffolk on Monday morning, it was very painful.\u00a0 I managed to get an appointment with Carole’s osteopath, later in the day and she thankfully got me moving again.\u00a0 Unfortunately, on Tuesday morning it was really bad again and I had to lay flat on the back seat of Andy and Carole’s spare car, while Rodney drove us up to St Ives, Cambridgeshire for lunch with Ian and Ann, who we met in Port Grimaud, France, earlier in the year.\u00a0 We had enjoyed a couple of evenings of good conversation at the campsite and it was good to see them again, though it just seemed funny not being outside our campervan, or in their caravan….?\u00a0\u00a0 Maybe we’ll be able to catch up with you both again, next year in Portugal or Spain and we’ll cook next time.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Butterfly
Butterfly in the long grass<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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We spent the evening and overnight with my stepmother, Val in Peterborough and then Rodney drove, with me still flat on my back, across country to the Cotswolds to spend my birthday with my sister, Candice, nieces, Ellea and Honor and nephew, Max.\u00a0 It was a noisy affair, but it’s always good to see the family.\u00a0 Honor and I did a spot of delicious blackberry picking and our hands looked like we had had an accident by the time we finished; red juice was dripping off our fingers and palms.\u00a0 Ellea gave me a manicure and cooked me a really yummy sponge birthday cake, complete with my name iced on the top.\u00a0 We went to The Gumstool Inn at Calcot Manor for dinner on my birthday and finished the day with a very loud game of Top Banana, which Candice and I used to play when we were young all those years ago in Weston-Super-Mare.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Max,
Max, Ellea, Laura and Honor with the splendid birthday cake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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We spent most of the long weekend back in Hertford catching up on washing, getting Eileen ready for setting off on the next trip and frequenting a few pubs with various friends.\u00a0 Rodney pub crawled around Hertford on Sunday with friends enjoying the music festival. Lots of the pubs and caf\u00e9<\/span>s in town had live music, of every type, playing from lunch time till late in the evening.\u00a0 And on Monday morning we set off south to Horsham.\u00a0 This will be another week of catching up with family and friends before Jonathan and Clare’s wedding on Saturday.\u00a0 There will also need to be a bit more shopping on my part.\u00a0 Our clothes for the wedding are hanging in Eileen’s wardrobe, but I’ve only just realised that I don’t have with me a pair of smart black shoes to go with my outfit.\u00a0 Fingers crossed I’ll find a tiny pair of shoes somewhere in Horsham or East Grinstead by Friday, if not I’ll be wearing Fitflops…….\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Baa\"
Baa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few weeks were spent shuffling here, there and everywhere across England and Eileen shuffled between Chris’s warehouse yard, Doug’s car-yard and out on the open road.\u00a0 It’s been all very confusing; continually packing and unpacking, one week in her, the next week not.\u00a0 I can’t wait to get back properly in our little mobile […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-on-the-road-in-great-britain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2398"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8369,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2398\/revisions\/8369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}