Saturday, 13 June 2015

All part of the journey...


We've just had a very nice week in the UK. Our flights from Tours to Stansted were cheap at 17€ each way, and car hire for the eight days was 88€. In total this is about £115, plus, of course, fuel from LPP to Tours and from Stansted to Staffordshire. We think that with the addition of shuttle, tolls and extra fuel that this is around one third of the cost of driving the whole way - not to mention a whole lot less effort!

Normally our flight of choice would be Limoges to East Midlands,  as we prefer to drive the extra miles in France than the UK. However the added bonus of flights via Stansted is that we could spend the night with my brother, who lives near BurySt Edmunds, in Suffolk.









We took a leisurely drive across having programmed the rental car sat nav to take the shortest route. The journey took us through rural Leicestershire, which is an absolutely beautiful county with wonderful villages and impressive scenery. Bury is a lovely little town packed with tea shops and the kind of small independent stores that I love to browse around.




















We sat in the Abbey Gardens for an hour or so listening to an open air production, enjoying the shade, reading our books and, in my case,  having a short snooze! After a little fun finding our car we headed off to West Stow for a cup of tea, a dog walk (not the one above!) and a tasty evening meal at the Cadogan. 

We've really enjoyed our flying visit, catching up with friends and family. Apart from breakfast we've hardly eaten in, and to round off our stay in Bury we are all going to eat breakfast at one of those delightful tea shops I mentioned earlier...

(posted via iPad, just in case the layout is a bit odd!!)

UPDATE: We actually ate breakfast at the Officer's Mess. It was pouring with rain and a trek around Bury wasn't as appealing!!

Posted by at

15 comments:

  1. Craig13 June 2015 at 08:10

    I've never been to Bury and it looks delightful. I must make an effort. I see you couldn't resist looking in the window at Patisserie Valerie... my favourite shop! I shall be stopping by one of their Glasgow shops on Monday to buy their "four cakes for £10" deal which is good value.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. GaynorB14 June 2015 at 16:10

      They did look delicious. We didn't buy as we were eating out and we'd already treated ourselves to an ice cream!

      Delete
  2. Le Pré de la Forge13 June 2015 at 08:28

    As the UK is such a "nanny" state now, I am really surprised that Patisserie Valerie hasn't been closed down by the Ministry of Health!!
    All those terribly fattening cakes....

    And no pictures of t'OtherTim enjoying a glass of Greene King ale?
    Shame...
    See you Mundi....
    Tim

    ReplyDelete
  3. Colin and Elizabeth13 June 2015 at 11:06

    Glad you have enjoyed your trip, I spent a week in Bury working at the hospital. It is a nice town with plenty to see as I remember... C

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. GaynorB14 June 2015 at 16:11

      We shall be returning, but when I hit the shops I'll be leaving Tim behind! ;o)

      Delete
  4. ArtyZen13 June 2015 at 18:52

    Bury is lovely! And your photos are suberbly ecclectic and unusual. Glad you had a good trip - and at a very good price too. Makes me think....I have friends I'd love to visit. Time for a bit of skyscanning.
    Axxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. GaynorB14 June 2015 at 16:14

      Thanks, Annie. Good to hear from you. I am amazed by your tangles and always enjoy seeing them. Catching up with friends is important but probably more difficult when you live in Spain and have limited time to come back. xx

      Delete
  5. Anne in Oxfordshire13 June 2015 at 21:47

    My old home town !! Yes I went to school in Bury St Edmunds , worked there too , just oppostie the Angel Hotel near the Abbey gardens. I left there in 1981 and moved to Germany with my first husband who was in the Royal Air Force. Long story but I lived around there twice. Once from about ages 4/6 years old and then from 10 til 24 years old. My mum now lives in Newmarket and my brother near Cambridge. Oh yes I have many of a photograph with us dressed up in our Sunday best in the Abbey gardens. Cannot remember the last time i was there .. I know it has changed a lot. Cannot believe how cheap your trip cost you!! That is amazing,

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. GaynorB14 June 2015 at 16:18

      What a coincidence! My brother is also in the RAF, currently based at Honington. It is a lovely area. When the children were small we would always bring our caravan to Mildenhall for the airshow at May half term. I think the base at Mildenhall is/has closed.

      The flights are currently cheap, but increase as the school holidays get closer. We were very surprised by how little the hire car cost.

      Delete
    2. Anne in Oxfordshire27 July 2015 at 19:16

      Hello Gaynor . thank you for your lovely note of support. Really means a lot. I just came back to this post for some reason and you say your brother is in the Raf based at Homington. My eldest son is in the Raf too based at High Wycombe ..he has been in now for 21 years ..YIKEs how did that happen .:-) .. take care and thanks once again. Xox

      Delete
  6. Kerry14 June 2015 at 07:14

    There are so many places I've not visited in th UK and this is one of them. Look lovely and those cakes look delicious too x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. GaynorB14 June 2015 at 16:19

      We were only saying the same thing, Kerry - about the cakes and parts of the UK on our to-do list. x

      Delete
  7. Rhodesia14 June 2015 at 09:24

    Sounds like you had a really good trip and at a sensible price. We have said we will never fly again. We did so at Christmas, the flight was expensive (I know wrong time of the year but we have no choice but to go then) and the rental car was also ridiculous now because I am over 70. The cost were outrageous, I am probably a much safer driver now that I was when younger!!! Also it is impossible to bring much back when flying. Have a good Sunday Diane

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. GaynorB14 June 2015 at 16:23

      We did, Diane. Its a shame about the flight prices. We take out an annual policy for the full car hire insurance coverage which is much cheaper than the car hire companies offer. I think it is £59 for the year, and this year we will have hired cars for about 7 weeks. Not certain how age impacts on this, but I agree with you that most older people (us included) have so much more time to travel and rarely rush, unlike when we were working and dashing from place to place!

      Delete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)