Garden House Hotel

Thursday morning we caught the train to Dover. I had recovered quite a bit and had also managed to pass my germs on to my mom; her throat was just starting to feel sore.

View of Margaret's at Cliff

We rented a car in Dover that stank like bathroom cleanser (apparently we had been given an “upgrade”). And at the hotel we were given a top floor attic refurb with a minimalist style (read: no furniture), instead of the cottage we had rented (yet another “upgrade”). Once we had settled into our rooms, we drove to a historic estate that we had stayed at when we visited in ’96, and sat in the conservatory enjoying a very proper cream tea with warm scones. We also learned that the owner (or “restaurateur” as he was called) was planning to purchase the hotel we were staying at.

Wild Dover ponies

The weather was sunnier near the coast and quite nice (thought the wind was a bit chilly), so after returning from tea we decided to set off on a walk across the English countryside. We stopped at a war memorial, met some “wild” ponies, followed a path along the white cliffs, and almost made it to a National Heritage lighthouse before heading home. The walk was a bit long but the weather couldn’t have been better.

I say, what an English road.

We ate dinner back at the hotel. The chef was obviously very fond of putting meat on some form of starch; lamb on potatoes, chicken on sweat potatoes… and the entire meal was bland and overpriced. But thank god we had made reservations; there were a whole six other people in the dining room. But on the plus side, we were able to climb right up to bed afterward.

View over London

I can safely say that flying with a cold does not make your sinuses explode, but it still isn’t very peasent. After the seven hour flight from Chicago to Heathrow, I had an amusing inner-ear issue where I was deaf only when my head was upright and looking forward, yet I could hear perfectly fine when looking down; so I had the option of seeing but not hearing, or enjoying my first few days in England staring at the ground. I picked the seeing.

The train at Dorridge

We checked out my parents’ Kensington flat, which despite having 80s down couches with blankets as slipcovers and a bathroom that failed my mom’s exacting sanitary standards, was generally very nice and had a great view of the London rooftops. We ate a late breakfast/early lunch at a nice café on the high St., then caught a taxi to Marlibone station for the 2 ½ hour train to Dorridge. Once we arrived, Garry had quite a time finding a working phone to call his dad (apparently they expect tourists to carry cell phones) and ended up having to use the phone and the nearby pub.

Knowle

Garry’s parents are just as we left them. His dad has built a couple more cold frames and a new green house in his garden, and has a quite a serious production going on back there (who needs 127 geraniums???). The weather wasn’t great; typical English drizzle and overcast skies. We took the train to Birmingham on Tuesday and I bought two pairs of pants from TopShop. And that evening Andrew came over and watched the football with Garry (how very proper!).

On Wednesday afternoon we caught the train back to London. Next time we plan to stay longer, maybe take some walks if the weather cooperates.

A London square garden

We stayed the night in the aparetment in London. Dinner was at a pretentious Italian place, but we did get to explore the new four-story Kensington Whole Foods (they had osterage eggs!). Garry listened to a Chelsea football match on the radio (it wasn’t showing on TV) and we were able to hear the roaring of the crowd from the Chelsea football grounds two miles away!