Puddle jump

To all my friends stateside I will be returning home to NH on the 9 of September and will be staying until the 22. To those of you who I've made plans to meet up with I look forward to seeing you an catching up. To anyone I may have missed scheduling a get together, be sure to call me at home or email me so we can try to get together.

cheers!

Somerset Lavender

Sunday 7 September - Ian and I decided to take a break from moving (we are leaving university housing and moving to a private flat) and took advantage of having rented a car to go outside the city. It took us longer than expected to leave the city because of major traffic issues, however, we finally made it out into the countryside. We went to visit a lavender farm not far outside Bath. We drove through some very quaint and historic towns including Norton St. philips which had an amazing 14th century Inn. We got lost a few times trying to navigate the tiny unmarked back roads but finally made it to the farm. We walked around the fields which had already been mostly cut back but which were nestled in some lovely countryside and so still enjoyable. We also walked through the display garden which held about 10-12 varieties of lavender still in bloom. I bought a pot of Princess blue lavender to put out on our new balcony and remember the trip by.

Brockenhurst

When we arrived back in Brockenhurst we walked around the charming little town, jam packed with tea rooms and small shops. We stopped for a new forest ice cream and took a stroll. The New Forest is well known for its ponies which being a rare breed are allowed to roam the area freely which means that they meander at will through the town. Many houses had gate or cattle grates to keep the horses off their lawn but horse dropping along the sidewalk proved that they took full advantage of their freedom. We saw a number of ponies on public greens and they often enjoy stopping traffic by crossing or even standing in the roads. They were quite tame and let us pet them. It was a lovely little town with a great atmosphere. We took a different route through the New Forest to get to Fareham, passing through a dark wood, moors, ponds and even a castle. I would love to go back and spend the day bicycling through the many small paths of the forest. It was a lovely trip with great company.

Bournemouth

Saturday, August 30 - as the "summer" draws to a close Ian and went to spend the weekend with our friends Emma and Dave. We took the train from Bristol to South Hampton where Emma and Dave picked us up. We drove to through the New Forest to the Brockenhurst train station and took the train to Bournemouth. A beach town, Bournemouth is a bit like Bristol set along the coast. The city itself wasn't very thrilling but there was a lovely park and long sandy beaches. We arrived at the station and walked through the city and park to the beach where we stopped to have fish 'n chips. It was a good meal despite the wait and the heat. There was a air show at Bournemouth this weekend and it was estimated that 1/4 million people had been through the city on Saturday. We could see some of the air demonstrations from the restaurant and we were refreshed from our travel by the food and lots of water. After lunch we walked along the cliffs taking in the air show. We made our way down to the beach and sat on the sand to watch the wing walkers perform. We stuck our feet in the water and watched the day's final performance of military parachuters landing on the beach. We then made our way back to the train station and back to Brockenhurst.

Discovery Channel International Balloon Fiesta

Friday 8 August, Ian and I packed a picnic lunch of chicken, pasta salad, ginger beer and fresh baked blackberry crumble with cream and marched up to the park above the Clifton suspension bridge to view the launch of the balloons. The launch was delayed about half an hour but it was fascinating to watch the balloons emerge from behind the trees and pass by the bridge and eventually out of site. I counted 107 balloons. There were lots of lovely colours as well as some unusual shapes including a chicken, a kiwi, a fire extinguisher and a monster. The entire launch took about two hours and was fun to watch despite the cool breeze and cloudy skies. On Saturday we hiked over to Ashton Court to check out the launch site and the ground festivities. There were lots of carnival rides and games but not much was appealing since it was pouring. They cancelled the launch for that night as well as the following night launch due to weather conditions so it was fortunate that we saw the launch on Friday.

Lynton and Lynmouth

The final destination on our coastline trip were the twin towns of Lynton (at the top of the hill) and Lynmouth (at the bottom of the hill, on the oceanfront). These two quaint historic towns have loads of character. Lynmouth feels like a small seaside resort town with lots of ice cream shops, toy shops and souvenir shops. The upper town has it share of shops too but also more sophisticated restaurants and galleries. We walked up the hill to Lynton but took the famous cliff railway back down to the bottom. Lynton has lovely views of the beaches and surrounding cliffs while Lynmouth has access to the mostly rocky beaches. We walked along the water and I collected some lovely seaglass and a few shells before we had an ice cream and then started the return journey.

Moor to Sea

Along the coast Ian took us to a road way up on a hill top which over looked the ocean. On the road we couldn't see much but fields with sheep, cows and exmoor ponies on one side of the road and moors full of heather and gorse on the other. However, when we got to the end of the road there was an amazing view of the water and cliffs surrounded by woods and moors. We tramped around a few muddy trails and enjoyed the view before hunger got the better of us and we went in search of the town of Porlock (of Coleridge fame) and lunch.