Back to Blighty once again to enjoy a relaxing time en famille and with old friends.
No surprises regarding the weather, as the plane descended through England’s oh so familiar blanket of grey clouds accompanied by the pilot announcing the welcoming ‘summer’ temp. – low 60’s!
I was well prepared knowing that my winter attire is the perfect wardrobe for a tropical ex-pat visiting England (regardless of season).
It was great to see my family once again, and it’s funny how all the familiar sights transport one mentally back in time…
I was to spend three weeks in England, an ideal amount of time to see and do all those special/traditional things. I had planned a fun timetable of events, albeit rather challenging coordinating schedules with friends and their busy lives, families and summer hols!
No surprises regarding the weather, as the plane descended through England’s oh so familiar blanket of grey clouds accompanied by the pilot announcing the welcoming ‘summer’ temp. – low 60’s!
I was well prepared knowing that my winter attire is the perfect wardrobe for a tropical ex-pat visiting England (regardless of season).
It was great to see my family once again, and it’s funny how all the familiar sights transport one mentally back in time…
I was to spend three weeks in England, an ideal amount of time to see and do all those special/traditional things. I had planned a fun timetable of events, albeit rather challenging coordinating schedules with friends and their busy lives, families and summer hols!
 |
| Market Town of Uppingham |
I spent most of my time with my Mother who lives in the small market town of Uppingham, which is so quintessentially British in style, retaining all of its original features despite the passage of time. A market town’s focal point is, of course, the market square, which is a hive of activity on market day with its colourful stalls proffering a wide variety of fresh, local produce. Uppingham has successfully managed to survive the pressure of large scale commercialism which threatens the existence of small individual businesses. It is so lovely to see a thriving butcher shop, florist, bakery, stationers, post office, traditional pub, antique shops, second hand book shops, and even a traditional sweet shop with glass jars full of delights to be weighed and packaged in little papers bags! Such attention to detail with all the benefits of small scale individuality; if only society at large would realise that ‘less is more’!
The trip commenced in style at Rushton Hall with my sister Emma. Rushton Hall was obviously once a beautiful family abode, and is set in vast landscaped grounds, surrounded by woods and fields beyond. It has since become a hotel, and greatly preserved in every way, and to our benefit complete with Spa, where we treated each other to an early Christmas pampering session. It was also a great opportunity for us to catch-up as sisters, confidantes of old who love one another ‘through thick and thin’!
 |
| Burghley House |
Burghley House, another quintessentially English country abode, was the next venue for a fun day out with my mother and Emma with her two energetic little boys, Louis and Henry. Burghley House is famed for its annual horse trials, a great tradition, which my family has enjoyed over the years. It is also a super place to visit in itself, and we all thoroughly enjoyed a delicious lunch in its orangery restaurant, followed by a walk around its beautiful surroundings complete with manicured gardens and deer park.
Emma and I had a super evening à deux at Lake Isle Restaurant, Uppingham. It was a very special time, made even more so by the great cuisine (mouth-watering, artistic creations such as – baked St Antony Goats’ cheesecake topped with rocket; butterflied Cornish sardines with a fresh tomato compote; strawberry wine jelly with clotted cream ice cream and a pink peppercorn shortbread; and a warm chocolate and beetroot brownie with pecan and orange ice cream – yum!). Our European neighbours would in fact be very surprised by the great progress Britain has made in the culinary world!
I had a fun day looking after Louis and Henry, whilst Emma and husband Russell busily packed for their 3week hol. in the French Alps. Four year old Louis and two year old Henry are both full of endearing character with innocent excitement for life. Their enthusiasm for their ‘special day with Aunt Rachel’ was most touching. We had a fun time at Wistow Hall Farm, which has a most impressive maze created out of an eight acre field of maize; it is thus logically called a ‘maize maze’. The lay-out of the maze cleverly forms an image, which changes every year; this year it was a bumble bee. It was an exciting experience, especially as it was the first time in a maze for all three of us; it certainly required good map reading skills to negotiate the route inside the 2m high maize ‘walls’ towering above our heads! The boys did jolly well and kept up their interest right to the end, when we all enjoyed a yummy ice cream treat to restore our energy levels.
 |
| English Afternoon Tea |
I am a great fan of English afternoon tea and everything associated with it – the charming, cottage-style tea room with its floral china and tiered cake stand with a delicious repertoire of English scones, toasted teacakes and homemade cakes such as lemon drizzle, rich fruit, coffee and walnut. This is all accompanied by the traditional selection of teas – English Breakfast, Earl Grey and Darjeeling, and a few ‘modern’ herbal alternatives. Throughout my three week visit I certainly managed to enjoy my fair share of scones and Earl Grey, enough to last me for the next year on St Barts! I enjoyed these tea room moments with friends and family; it is such a great place to catch up on times past; so much so that my good friend Daniella and I were so immersed in our reminisces in the fairy tale surroundings of Oakham Castle Tea Room gardens, that we were totally oblivious to the fall of dusk, the stacked garden furniture and the staff retiring for the evening!
I had a super couple of days in London, revisiting the familiar sights of ‘home 1988 – 98’. I ambled around the streets of Chelsea and South Kensington, and was pleasantly surprised to see that very little has changed (including the plant pots outside Drayton Garden mansion block, where we used to live!). The elegant shops continue to adorn Wilton Street en route to The Conran shop, which still majestically presides over the corner of Fulham Road and Sloane Avenue. PJ’s fun brasserie timelessly attracts the ‘in-crowd’, whilst just across the road Butler and Wilson continues to decorate the décolleté of many an ‘it girl’.
 |
| The Tate Modern Museum and The Millennium Bridge |
I then left these familiar sights to visit pastures new, namely the impressive pedestrian Millennium Bridge and the Tate Modern Museum, fascinating additions to London’s repertoire, established since my departure in ’98. The Tate Modern is apparently the most frequented modern art gallery in the world receiving 4.7m visitors per year. It houses a selection of modern art dating from 1900. I visited a few of the esoteric exhibitions, which were fairly interesting, but I was personally far more impressed by the building itself – the old Bank Side Power Station complete with a five storey high turbine hall. How paradoxical, to replace enormous electricity generators by fine works of art – I would be fascinated to hear the views of the industrious engineers of the 1900s…
I left the Southbank and its mélange of architectural conversions, restorations and renovations to visit friends in one of London’s archetypal residential districts – Clapham Common. It was a pleasant contrast to the rather frenetic Southbank, and a calming restorative to meander across the leafy common in rays of evening sunlight. I wandered down one of the many identical streets, each bearing an attractive row of Georgian style houses, to find the delightful family home of good, old friends Jenny and Edward and their four delightful children. The house was so warm and welcoming and I had a wonderful evening ‘en famille Funnell’. J and E had not changed an iota, the only reminder being the presence of two charming teenagers and two very animated four year old twin boys!
 |
| Harvey Nichol’s Fifth Floor Café |
The next day, was spent with my Mother, whom I met off the train at the now very stylish St Pancras station, which I must say far exceeded my expectations and is to rival the likes of Grand Central Station New York.
We made our way to Harvey Nick’s Fifth Floor Café, where we met my very glamorous young (well 30, but relatively speaking) niece, Hayley, for espressos. I was surprised to see that HNFFC was seemly stuck in the same time warp as my other favourite landmarks (the only alteration to the décor being a few bumps and bruises on the chairs and tables, sadly making it look rather tired, or was I simply oblivious to ‘shabby chic’…?). The time just flew as we chatted away like sisters, and I totally forgot the tight schedule of the day, with prize theatre seats awaiting!
I literally whizzed my Mother around the fashion halls of HN, admiring Stella and Alexander’s creations en route, before descending through scarves and cosmetics to emerge into the bright sunshine of Knightsbridge, where we jumped on the back of a double-decker bus heading towards Piccadilly Circus! Luckily, we had just enough time to see the ‘BP Portrait Award’ exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, Trafalgar Square. It displayed incredible talent and highlighted the many ways of interpreting the human form and portraying it on canvas. It also confirmed that there are many highly skilled artists in this world, who possibly remain undiscovered all their lives…perhaps the BP award was this group’s 5mins. of fame, or perhaps it was their lucky break to bigger and better things…?
We were luckily a stone’s throw away from the Comedy Theatre where we were to see Howard Pinter’s gripping play ‘Betrayal’, made all the more poignant by the fact that it starred one of my favourite actresses, Kristin Scott Thomas! It was rather strange to be in such close proximity to someone made so familiar through films; I felt like I was in the presence of a friend. That said, I was totally ensconced by Pinter’s love triangle, so wonderfully enacted by Kristin S-T, Ben Miles and Douglas Henshall.
The spell of the theatre was broken when we stepped out into buzzy Piccadilly, where we were to make our way to The Wolseley for an early supper. We popped into Fortnum and Masons en route, for a quick look at the wonderful timeless displays of goodies, so elegantly packaged. It was all rather tempting, albeit practical food items disguised as ornamental souvenirs, rather frivolous but great token gifts for friends!
We made our way to Harvey Nick’s Fifth Floor Café, where we met my very glamorous young (well 30, but relatively speaking) niece, Hayley, for espressos. I was surprised to see that HNFFC was seemly stuck in the same time warp as my other favourite landmarks (the only alteration to the décor being a few bumps and bruises on the chairs and tables, sadly making it look rather tired, or was I simply oblivious to ‘shabby chic’…?). The time just flew as we chatted away like sisters, and I totally forgot the tight schedule of the day, with prize theatre seats awaiting!
I literally whizzed my Mother around the fashion halls of HN, admiring Stella and Alexander’s creations en route, before descending through scarves and cosmetics to emerge into the bright sunshine of Knightsbridge, where we jumped on the back of a double-decker bus heading towards Piccadilly Circus! Luckily, we had just enough time to see the ‘BP Portrait Award’ exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, Trafalgar Square. It displayed incredible talent and highlighted the many ways of interpreting the human form and portraying it on canvas. It also confirmed that there are many highly skilled artists in this world, who possibly remain undiscovered all their lives…perhaps the BP award was this group’s 5mins. of fame, or perhaps it was their lucky break to bigger and better things…?
We were luckily a stone’s throw away from the Comedy Theatre where we were to see Howard Pinter’s gripping play ‘Betrayal’, made all the more poignant by the fact that it starred one of my favourite actresses, Kristin Scott Thomas! It was rather strange to be in such close proximity to someone made so familiar through films; I felt like I was in the presence of a friend. That said, I was totally ensconced by Pinter’s love triangle, so wonderfully enacted by Kristin S-T, Ben Miles and Douglas Henshall.
The spell of the theatre was broken when we stepped out into buzzy Piccadilly, where we were to make our way to The Wolseley for an early supper. We popped into Fortnum and Masons en route, for a quick look at the wonderful timeless displays of goodies, so elegantly packaged. It was all rather tempting, albeit practical food items disguised as ornamental souvenirs, rather frivolous but great token gifts for friends!
 |
| The Wolesley Restaurant |
The Wolseley Restaurant is in the former Wolesley Motors’ prestigious car showroom built in 1921. Its art deco design is symbolic of the decadent 20s with its polished marble pillars supporting high vaulted ceilings suspending vast chandeliers – it has been aptly likened to a ‘grand Viennese Café’. The waiters and waitresses equally looked the part in their black uniforms fronted with long white aprons, completing the continental café image. We raised our glasses of chilled rosé in honour of our wonderful day (which was in fact an early Christmas gift to one another), and then leisurely perused the menu. We found the interesting repertoire to be more traditionally British in style with Cornish crab, Jersey rock oysters, fillet of Loch Duart salmon and Scottish kedgeree, with the odd continental addition of moules frites and Wiener schnitzel. The desserts were similarly combined including British ‘nursery’ favourites such as treacle tart and steamed marmalade and whisky pudding competing with its European neighbours’ crème brûlée and Black Forest gateau.
We certainly enjoyed our pre-Christmas treat and felt nicely tired as the train slowly pulled out of St Pancras to begin our journey ‘home’.
We certainly enjoyed our pre-Christmas treat and felt nicely tired as the train slowly pulled out of St Pancras to begin our journey ‘home’.
My trip to the big city was then followed by an interesting couple of days in the beautiful English county of Oxfordshire. I spent a memorable afternoon with Godparents, enjoying a delicious long lunch in their summer conservatory overlooking their duck pond and fields beyond. After many a reminiscence over cups of coffee I made my way through the winding country lanes to find another quintessentially English abode, this time of university friends who live just outside Henley-upon-Thames. Amanda and Steve is another couple of friends who are untouched by time, and it is hard to believe that the tall, eloquent teenagers are in fact their children versus their peers! It was so good to see such friends again; however, it makes one quite nostalgic and wish to be closer in proximity…
 |
| My Mother at The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford |
Another special occasion was celebrated early, when my Mother and I went to Stratford for her October birthday treat – ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ in the beautifully restored/renovated Royal Shakespeare Theatre with a pre-theatre dinner in the roof terrace restaurant. (The theatre was also celebrating a birthday – its fiftieth year since Sir Peter Hall founded the Company in 1961.)
In honour and support of the theatre, and in memory of my late theatre loving Father, my sisters and I had previously organised for one of the theatre seats to be dedicated to him. Despite the challenge of booking tickets for such a prize production (first public performance), I managed to get seats just next to my Father’s, so it was rather like a family theatre visit of old (and extremely moving to see my Father’s name inscribed on the dedication plaque – I could feel the spirit of his pride!)
In honour and support of the theatre, and in memory of my late theatre loving Father, my sisters and I had previously organised for one of the theatre seats to be dedicated to him. Despite the challenge of booking tickets for such a prize production (first public performance), I managed to get seats just next to my Father’s, so it was rather like a family theatre visit of old (and extremely moving to see my Father’s name inscribed on the dedication plaque – I could feel the spirit of his pride!)
It was lovely to visit the spa town of Buxton where I had a super day with my Mother-in-Law. We met in The Hall Hotel where we enjoyed a nice lunch prior to walking around the Pavilion Gardens just opposite. Buxton is a pretty town, very Victorian in style and wonderfully preserved. It is also known for its opera house, which hosts a fine repertoire of productions.
 |
| My Goddaughter, Charlotte |
Last but not least was a fun few days in Surrey with my sister Alison and her three lovely children, ten year old Harry, eight year old Charlotte and three year old Georgia. We had fun together at their country club, the children playing tennis whilst we swam and had saunas, before we all enjoyed a light lunch together en plein air. The time could not pass by without visiting a couple of teashops where I enjoyed my usual Earl Grey and had a delicious rock bun, which could be a close rival for the ubiquitous scones! Charlotte and I continued the baking theme to make a batch of birthday cupcakes (complete with Madagascan vanilla), in recognition of C’s special day which she had just celebrated. C did the most of the weighing, pouring and mixing, with a little bit of Aunt R’s guidance, especially when it came to the logistics of the ‘not as easy as it looks’ icing bag! The hundreds and thousands and silver balls hid a multitude of sins to make the end result rather impressive! So this was the icing on the cake of my pleasant visit to England which had been a most memorable occasion (even the weather was on good form!).
 |
| The Icing on the Cake(s)! |