Bob & Betty go British

A Long Weekend in Warwickshire

The English know how to make the uncertain weather of May more bearable - have a long weekend. Actually, make that 2 long weekends. We didn't make great use of the first long weekend but that was mostly due to my recovery needs. However, the last time I visited my Doctor she suggested I needed a holiday and so I planned a last minute break in Warwickshire. Originally I was thinking Oxford and Blenheim Palace but everything was booked up. Warwickshire is only slightly further north west than Oxfordshire and there was plenty of accommodation available.

Friday night we got home from work, packed our bags and headed off into the traffic. A 1hr 58min trip was more like 2.5hrs but still, that's not so bad. The traffic in London was much worse than on the motorway and we made it to our guest house in Kenilworth before it got dark.

On Saturday morning we had our obligatory full English breakfast - my first one since January. I can't say it really appealed to me. Since being on a low fat diet I really don't enjoy eating fatting food anymore (OK, so chocolate and cheese are an exception). Luckily we had our hot breakfast when we did as the power went out just as we were having our last cup of coffee. The people running the guest house had only just taken over that week from the previous owners so were a touch embarrassed. The power was only out for about an hour so it wasn't a huge problem.

Despite the weather forecast being a little dire, the sun did manage to shine for most of Saturday morning so once the power was back on, we headed out to Kenilworth Castle. Unfortunately we managed to forget the battery for the camera and had to resort to buying a disposable camera which means film, which means getting it developed, which means having to scan in the photos before you get to see the evidence! A little disappointing, but then the rest of the weekend was very wet and so photo opportunities weren't the best.

Kenilworth castle is mostly a ruin now except for a gate house which is still standing. Robert Dudley built a special section on the castle for Queen Elizabeth I so she could stay there in comfort. The walls of the castle are littered with graffiti from the 18 and 1900s. People carved their names which such care back then with serif fonts and all. In the gate house there is a name carved in the wall dated 1649. It's very cool.

After the castle we decided to go off to Stratford upon Avon. I was a little apprehensive as I'd read about the lines of traffic and crowded Tudor rooms of the main attractions. I kept reassuring myself that it was not peak season and it would be much, much worse on a perfect weekend in July or August. there was a small line up of traffic but we found a parking spot easily and then walked the rest of the way into the town centre. We found the River Avon, grabbed a bit of lunch and headed off to the main attractions. We saw the 3 main houses in the town - Shakespeare’s birthplace, the house he bought just before he died and the house his daughter lived in when she married a Doctor. There was a lot of Tudor styling - heavy beams, white-washed walls and wide floor boards. I can see how hot it would have been had it been high summer. Aside from bus loads of Japanese school girls, there weren't too many tourists. Shakespeare's birthplace was the most crowded but it was quite interesting. Apparently his father used to make leather goods - gloves, purses and other things to hang off belts. One of the guides related the process of curing the skins - something to do with urine and dog poo I think...

Perhaps it was the lack of blue sky and sun, but I wasn't that impressed with Stratford. Still, we been there, done that, bought the coasters.

Saturday night we tried to book in to a fancy restaurant but we couldn't get through on the phone. We ended up at a 'French' restaurant which came highly recommended. I found the whole experience quite hilarious. I was a little concerned after reading the menu on the website. Every dish was over engineered and the last time any news had been added was back in February 2006. Still, we arrived and got stuck into the marinated olives. They had been marinated in citrus and the balance was all wrong. The duck liver pate on a crouton as an appetiser made me feel a little unwell - the crouton had been sitting in the fat it was fried in and was soggy. For entree I ordered the scallops on sweet potato with curry sauce. The scallops were cooked nicely but the curry sauce tasted just like liquid keens curry paste. Robert's crab and avocado starter was a little disappointing as well - a dressed up prawn cocktail. For main I ordered the Sea Bream on noodles. It was a very confused dish. It couldn't decide if it was Mediterranean (sun dried tomatoes) or Asian (snow peas and noodles in soy sauce). It was very, very odd. Robert's Duck was overcooked and it looked like someone had poured plum sauce from a bottle over the top. We did manage to have a nice bottle of French wine and by the time dessert came around we were ready to try anything. The dessert was the best part of the meal in the end. My brandy and peppermint chocolate mousse was light and fluffy and Robert had a rather nice citrus tart. Do you think we’re food snobs...?

On Sunday morning I opted for the fruit with honey and yogurt breakfast option. It was the only thing to have after all that food the night before. It had been raining all night and it was only 6 degrees but we still went out to do our tourist duty. Stoneleigh Abbey was our destination on Sunday morning. You can't go in without going on a tour so we arrived along with one other couple for the 11am tour. The Abbey was purchased and then modified by the Leigh family over the centuries. Jane Austen was a relative. She spent some time at Stoneleigh and used the house as inspiration when describing one of the houses in Mansfield Park. The plaster work on the ceiling of the main room is amazing. Apparently the phrase 'getting plastered' came about because plasterers mixed plaster with alcohol so that it didn't go hard so quickly. I was allowed to play the organ in the chapel. It dated back to 1740. It was terribly out of tune but very cool none the less.

After our tour we headed off to Sutton Coldfield to have lunch with Robert's Great Aunt Connie and Uncle Eric. They put on a lovely roast lamb shoulder and baked veggies. Robert got to find out more about his long lost relatives and a little bit more about his mother's teenage years. Robert even got to meet a 2nd cousin (Theresa) and spent many hours talking about Uncle Eric's years in the Navy.

Sunday night we tried out another recommended local restaurant. This time we went to an Indian Restaurant and again we were disappointed. The best part of the meal was the pappadums with condiments. The tandoori fish was dry and not very tasty and the lamb sagwala was tasty but didn't really taste like lamb sagwala. Oh well, it was food…

Monday it was Robert's turn to choose where we went. I think he was a little over the whole old houses and Jane Austen theme so far. So where did we go but a motor museum! There was a choice of 3 can you believe. I think that had something to do with Coventry being near by and it being quite involved in car manufacturing over the last 100 years. We ended up at the British Heritage Museum. It had just reopened after an expensive refurbishment. It was reasonably interesting and Robert seemed to enjoy himself. However, he was a little disappointed that there was only one Jaguar! In a museum celebrating British motoring!

After some tasteless quiche for lunch and a few photos we headed for home. I was so very tired but more relaxed and happy to go home, do the washing and have an early night. I guess I'll post up the photos as soon as we get them developed. Stay Tuned.

posted by Elisabeth @ 9:26 PM