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It has been quite a while since the last newsletter so I've set myself this task to get bang up to date with the news and photos since our trip to South Africa in January.
We made our first trip of the year back to the Costa Blanca in March, following the familiar routine of flying into Alicante, picking up a car at the airport and heading up to The Altea Hills hotel. The weather was great which always makes the holiday that much better, particularly when escaping the cold here. With it already being warm enough to lie in the sun, we passed away the days on the beach and returned to our favourite restaurants each evening.
That's us by The Sierra Bernia mountain range in the warm Spring sun, with a shot of the pretty church in The Lleus valley, and of course the Manhattan -style beach front of Benidorm bay. Later in the month I reached my Half Century but didn't want to make a fuss about it. (What's to celebrate about getting old?!) and so didn't want a big party. On the day we were actually travelling up to The Lakes for the viewing of this year's new launches of houses on the property market up there, and so on the way up called in at Mum's for a lunch out, joined by friends of the family Dorothy and Hazel.
We later carried on up to Ullswater, staying at Rampsbeck House by the lake for the evening, before the next day's itinerary of viewings. As usual it didn't amount to anything with all the properties seemingly stuck in a 60's time warp of garish tiling, formica kitchens, and avocado bathrooms; the only contemporary detailing being the over ambitious prices! Anyhow, we enjoyed the scenery, as below around Watendlath in Borrowdale.
Only a week later we were once again dashing up the M6, Lake District bound on the promise of three interesting viewings around Lake Windermere. The front suspension on the Mercedes had collapsed whilst the car was sitting on the driveway the day before so we were in a rental car which turned out to have a rather dubious history. Looking back, we did remember an awful lot of police car sirens in the near distance throughout our run across five counties. Little did we know it had been used in a robbery by the last 'owners' and still had a police marker on it when they finally caught up with us three days later outside the dry cleaners in Stratford! So, unlike Thelma and Louise whose only way out was to drive over the cliff top, we simply told them it wasn't our car and showed them the rental agreement! We had arranged three days at a lovely old mansion fronting Windermere called Pullwood Bay during our stay up in The Lakes. The house had been renovated to a very contemporary style, with plasma screens and surround sound to every room, and a degree in electronics necessary to turn everything on and off! Our 'self catering' extended only to toast for breakfast as there were many good restaurants nearby, but we did enjoy the freedom of living in our 'own space' in the tranquil 50 acres of lake front grounds. The nearby 'Drunken Duck' was our chosen venue for dinner for the first two evenings, finishing off at The Holbeck Ghyll on the final night in a lovely elevated location overlooking the lake and the distant Langdale Pikes.
Anyway, our 'raison d'etre' was once again house hunting and not enjoying ourselves in pubs and restaurants, and so clutching yet more brochures of the seasons's latest offerings, we scheduled our days around numerous appointments, taking yet another trip down memory lane and back to the 60's when aluminium window frames, floral swirls on carpets, and chalet bungalows were definitely 'in'! 'It doesn't get any better than this' said the agent, all misty eyed as he looked out of the window of the damp stripped out bungalow ready for auction and already on offer. 'Oh yes it does!' we thought as we retreated back to Pullwood Bay. Is it us being particular or do people pay premiums for wood rot, wet patches and knocking pipes?! Well, actually, it turns out that they do, and just three months later we ourselves did just that! Anyway, more about that later. With Easter on the way, British Airways notified us of our outstanding Air Miles to be used as credits against flights within Europe, so we booked two trips; the first to Berlin, followed by Rome later in the year. Having followed the story on the news about this abandoned baby polar bear 'Knut' at Berlin zoo, it seemed a good reason to go and see this new fluffy white superstar for ourselves, and so we booked in to The Berlin Palace Hotel just opposite the zoo over the Bank Holiday weekend. Well, Berlin city itself was pretty uninspiring, perhaps because we bombed it to bits in the Second World War. However, we did the expected tourist things, visiting The Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie, plus having three differing meals out; German, American and Vietnamese. We relied on taxis to get around, glad to have decided against a rental car as East & West Berlin merged in to one great metropolis of apartments and tower blocks. However, seeing Knut was a breath of fresh air as he faithfully followed his keeper around his pen. With viewing times strictly set each day, the hoards of people were kept in orderly fashion behind lines of barriers. 'Stuff this for a lark' we thought as we gate crashed the queues to get a better view of the playful bear. As the over zealous German security guards fended off the surging human tide that took our advice and followed us to the front, we simply pronounced 'We're English!' as they remonstrated with us in unrecognisable German. Anyway, we got the shot, as seen below.
Below are the remaining 'Berlin' photos with myself outside both 'Checkpoint Charlie' and The Brandenburg Gate, and Dennis in the shopping mall just as the sun made a brief appearance!
Back home, April turned out to be the driest on record, and we almost forgot what rain was like. The early summer weather continued in to May, when the English countryside tends to look its best. Below are some shots taken around the garden at this time.
Well, those photos above prove at least that the irises bloomed this year! One of the best things about this time of year in England is the long light evenings, barely getting dark before 9.30 p.m. by mid June. Already, now we're in to August, the nights are drawing in, though we're currently enjoying the hottest weather we've had all year, just three weeks to the day after our worst floods in a century. Come May, once again we returned to The Lakes, almost by now on a mission to find that elusive house we've been searching for over the last two decades. During the last trip up there we concentrated around the Southern lakes and Lake Windermere, but finally realised it had to be Ullswater or nothing, and so, knowing the area like the back of our hands and with nothing on the market, I even started taking a look at camper vans, and really started worrying Dennis when I dragged him along to a caravan and camping exhibition and came away with a prized purchase of an 8 man tent, complete with velvet lined inflatable mattresses! I managed to grab a wind break too and was about to contemplate a 30 flush portaloo before he got me out of the exhibition hall! To date, the tent sits wrapped up on the garage floor. We are a bit afraid to burst open the ties as we know once erected we will never get it back in it's bag! So, there I was, trying to persuade Dennis about the delights of 'getting back to nature', imagining us around a camp fire on a balmy Summer's evening with nothing but the sheep for company, and content in our 4 bedroomed tent complete with sewn in ground sheet and domed central ceiling, and then the rains came and suddenly the great outdoors stopped beckoning, the only 'calls of nature' being our imagination of the horrendous pumping and slurping noises from an auto-flush chemical toilet! Maybe at that moment fate conveniently intervened, as in one week three very interesting properties around Ullswater were launched on the market. They were all completely different but each very interesting in their own way. One was an unusual opportunity to build a brand new house on the footprint of a recently demolished dormer bungalow, with traditional barns existing within it's three acre plot. Views were lovely and the project had great potential to create a contemporary home within a hamlet a couple of miles from the lake. The next house was actually being offered for auction the following month on the 'quiet' side of the lake. The brochure incorrectly positioned the farm on the marshy floor of a neighbouring Valley and so we didn't hold much optimism for this property, but still made an appointment to view. Then, just before travelling up, a famous working farm on the lake shoreline became available on the instructions of The National Park. I've walked past and known this farm for most of my life, and on the day of its launch on the internet Dennis read the details and immediately rang the agents to offer full asking price. So, for once the dash up the M6 didn't seem to be another wild goose chase. However, with viewing dates set only over two days later in the month, the offer on the working farm was placed on hold, and the agents let it be known they would actually be selling my means of informal tender. On arriving up there our first priority was to get out on the lake by renting a little 'chug-chug' boat from the neighbouring marina to the hotel.
It was as peaceful as ever on the water. The 5 m.p.h. speed restriction only allowed for sedate passages anyway, either by motorboat or yacht, and so we happily passed a couple of hours exploring the shoreline form Glenridding up to Howtown and back. The viewings commenced the following day, firstly at the building plot with old barns in situ.
As shown above , the potential was the prospect of creating a newly built house on the site on the left, with the attraction of the view as illustrated on the right. It really is a rare opportunity to find such a plot in The Lake District National Park, and Dennis met up with the owner to make an offer on the place. The existing barn was formerly the original farmhouse plus an additional barn for rebuild provided suitable garaging, and with the three acres of land with garden curtiledge included in the package, all in all this was a very interesting project. We headed around the lake to view the second property, an historic farm in need of considerable renovation and offered for auction the following month. Already on the market for a few weeks, we hadn't chased up immediately to view as we thought its position wasn't overly good, and so it was a pleasant surprise to find the brochure had placed the property in the 'wrong' valley, and the farm was in fact in a really superb location. Just like the working farm on the lakeshore, I have known and regularly walked past this place for years, whenever staying at Sharrow Bay hotel, and have looked down on it from the fells during my early morning runs up there. On this bright sunny morning we both got an immediate 'feel' for the place despite its almost 'abandoned' condition. Well, as they say, you can do anything with a building apart from pick it up and relocate it elsewhere, and the location was its major attraction, standing in its sunny south facing elevated position looking down the valley ahead, with fabulous views down the lake from its surrounding 20 acres of fell side land. However, the auction guide price already made the farm over priced, the premium no doubt due to the rare opportunity of acquiring a property of this nature by Ullswater. A cluster of barns surrounded the 18th century farmhouse and already I had started to link together the series of buildings in my mind and redesign the interior layout. The result looked wonderful in my imagination but the reality was somewhat different, with just about every house owner's nightmare staring us in the face, including bowed gable walls, leaky roofs, probably wet rot, dry rot, and the awful smell of damp inside. Renovation costs would probably fund a revolution somewhere in central Africa or perhaps buy us another beautiful new Sunseeker powerboat for us to go off and play with in The Med, and already with an over ambitious auction guide price, we were resigned not to pursue the farm further, and our thoughts returned to the building plot already viewed on the opposite side of the lake. Anyhow, below are some photos of the farm.
Above left is the gate to the sheep dip race which we resisted earmarking as an outdoor Jacuzzi! The two pictures below confirm that estate agent's theory about the three most desirable requisites of a property; namely location, location and location, the shots below taken from the farm's land.
Returning to The Cotswolds with at least this time a certain sense of achievement, we planned our return to The Lakes the following week for a viewing of the substantial working farm for sale complete with 200 acres of lake front land, renovated farmhouse, guest cottage, and a flock of sheep, cows, and pigs! Already pricey, the brochure stated that the larger portion of the sale would be subject to VAT and the National Park wanted an additional substantial fee for themselves, and so with stamp duty, suddenly taxes were standing at a further 25% on guide price. What would we do with the livestock anyway?! Overnight, for the first time ever we stayed at Howtown Hotel, further down the lakeside road from Sharrow Bay. What a delightful experience it was. Family run for many years, the Victorian house was cosily furnished and had welcomed many returning guests for decades. We were 'gonged in' to dinner at precisely 7 p.m. for an excellent meal with Dennis's favourite, of tomato soup and fillet steak!
Now that's more like it; low cloud, heavy rain and mist on the fells! Viewing was done with umbrellas and wellies at the lakeside farm on the left, and I later took a walk past the auction farm further around the mountain which looked somewhat different under a deluge of rain! On reflection neither properties looked much of 'a goer' to us, with the building plot still reserved in the meantime. Just a week later the auction for the derelict farm was imminent and we wondered whether it was worth the early morning drive up to attend out of curiosity. On the morning had it been raining we probably wouldn't have bothered to face the drive up a wet M6 motorway, but it was bright and clear and so at the last minute we decided to go just to see what happened. Our enquiries had already suggested auction price would well exceed its guide, making the farm totally overpriced, but being there would help us better value the other properties. The village hall was set out with a couple of hundred chairs, and as 2 p.m. approached only a handful of people were present. The agent suggested they started at guide price. Silence. He lowered it by £100,000. Silence. After an embarrassing pause he lowered it another £100,000. Dennis decided to put his hand up, expecting the bidding to suddenly liven up and run away. It struggled up in £10k increments and within a minute stalled as the hammer fell. 'Who's bought it?' I whispered to Dennis. 'We have!' he replied. Dennis told me later that I went white on realising we had acquired the farm. It wasn't just the thought of the major rebuilding project that faced us, but perhaps the reality of achieving a lifetime's dream to have a traditional Lakeland house in the exact and most favoured location of the whole National Park, and with that in mind I owed Dennis a massive 'Thank you.' The search had commenced over 25 years ago when we used to spend most weekends waterskiing on Windermere, continued more casually during our visits over from Spain in the 90's, and ended in most unlikely circumstances that early June afternoon. I suppose we could say 'It comes to he who waits' and with the work required, we sure have it coming to us! However, two months on, the site has been topographically surveyed, the architect appointed and discussions with the planners underway. 'Shall we drive back now?' Dennis said on leaving the auction hall. 'Shouldn't we go and see again what we've bought?' I suggested. We made the way down the narrow road following the lake, over the mountain pass and in to the driveway of the whitewashed and stone farmhouse. I got my camera out and walked up the fell, looking down on the cluster of farm buildings with the valley spread out in the distance, encompassed by the horseshoe of mountains, as illustrated in the picture below.
We estimate the project to take a couple of years and have already been recommended several local builders capable of doing the substantial work. It will no doubt be a challenge but we're not exactly new to such things. I remember when we turned up in Spain exactly 20 years ago with Dennis's holiday house to re design and improve. Within a fortnight we had acquired also a front line building plot, designed the new villa and had plans drawn up. Taking on such ambitious ideas as an underground squash court and gym, the project took 3 or more years but the end result afforded us years of luxurious living in a stunning villa on the cliff top. This next year proves to be interesting! Mid June saw us once again returning to our old haunt on The Costa Blanca, Spain where we spent every day on the beach, mainly cooling off snorkelling in the sea, and dining each evening at Harry's 'Las Ruinas'.
Later in the month we flew to Rome, collected a car at the airport and travelled North along the coast, heading for a renowned Tuscan hotel called 'Il Pellicano', perched above the sea by Porto Ercole on the Monte Argentario peninsula. We had a fabulous stay there. Everything about the hotel was immaculate; the location, gardens, service, food, and of course the weather! A couple of years ago we did our first tour of Tuscany but hadn't the time to make it down to the South West tip where Il Pellicano lies, and so promised ourselves a visit there one day. A rather early flight from Heathrow saw us at the hotel in time for lunch on the shaded terrace perched above the deep blue Mediterranean sea below. The guest's bungalows were scattered amidst the manicured gardens, encompassed by a nearby mountain range. The winding country road out of the pretty village of Porto Ercole lead only to the hotel, enjoying complete privacy in the totally unspoilt landscape of the pine and olive clad Tuscan countryside.
Well I had to have our trusty rental car as the first photo! It was a brand new Fiat Bravo which quite impressed us. 'It looks like an Aston Martin DB9 from the front and an Alfa Romeo from the back!' I suggested. 'What have you been drinking?!' Dennis asked. That's me on the hotel's open dining terrace, a lovely venue to dine each evening as the sun set over the sea. Dennis is standing in front of the boats lined up in the harbour of Porto Ercole, behind, above right.
We couldn't resist getting out on the water with such a fabulous location to explore, and so rented a little dingy to motor along the coast, firstly stopping in the bay in front of the hotel, top left, before returning to Porto Ercole late afternoon after a glorious day of swimming, sunbathing and pottering about on the sea.
Above are four nice colourful shots taken around the harbour front late afternoon as the sun was loosing its intense heat of the day; time for a cool beer before returning to Il Pellicano for the evening meal 'al fresco' on the terrace. Above left, the ancient part of the village sits above the natural harbour, with its castle on the cliff top behind. The array of powerful offshore cruisers lined up on the pontoons are testament to Porto Ercole's importance as a playground for the wealthy weekenders from Rome, just an hour's drive away. The delightful staff at the hotel made for a memorable few days at 'Il Pellicano'. Many had worked there all their lives and all spoke impeccable English! It was a pleasant change to dress smartly for dinner, as all guests chose to do, and the perfect venue to completely relax and enjoy the wonderful setting.
The final photos perhaps confirm the glorious location, illustrating the dining area and waterfront sunbathing decks. Now back to reality and the Summer of discontent, weather wise, in England. The long dry spell of April and May dissolved in to the wettest June and July on record, cumulating in the worst floods in 100 years hitting The Cotswolds on July 20th. In the morning we were in Stratford upon Avon as the streets became awash with water. Driving home we didn't really think too much about the situation and happily stayed in all afternoon as it poured down incessantly. The little brook a couple of fields away to the back of us which normally meanders gently down the valley became a 200 ft wide torrent from the water running off the surrounding hills. Meanwhile throughout the afternoon all the local village high streets were flooding as vehicles everywhere were becoming stranded, either submerged by rising levels or stranded by flooded roads. It was only in the evening when we were due to go out as usual to the pub that we realised how bad it was. Surely our nightly pint of Guinness wasn't that necessary?! We ventured through floods that were incapacitating many cars, made it to higher ground and were within 100 yards of our 'local' when we hit a line of vehicles unsure whether to risk the flood water spilling over from the torrent below, just a few hours ago a normally operating railway line. We followed the wake of a lorry in front to make it to the pub, but didn't anticipate the problem of the return trip later! By late evening cars were milling around aimlessly trying to find a way out of the area, as road after road was cut off. After an hour or so of trying, we realised the one and only route out was the rather large puddle we went through over the railway bridge coming in! Several cars had already tried and failed as their engines died a death in the water. Not relishing a night in the car, we again 'went for it', and did get through all the way home, but wondered if we should have just stayed in for that one evening! Meanwhile all rivers had burst their banks as the water flowed to lower ground, completely submerging the towns of Tewkesbury, Gloucester and Cheltenham, downstream. Sitting in an elevated position above the surrounding countryside, we realised how lucky we were for the house not to be affected by the floods. Suddenly, properties with a riverside location didn't seem so desirable. The photos below show the stream in the valley behind us that temporarily looked more like The Thames that afternoon.
Just three weeks on and Summer has returned to normal and only this weekend we have been out in the garden enjoying the hottest days of the year. Since buying the farm we have returned to The Lakes several times for meetings with the architect and planners, normally choosing to dash up and return in the day, but more recently staying over as we invited Mum up to show her the place, and meet up with my sister Janet and husband who were holidaying there at the time.
Those spectacular shots above show The Red Arrows putting on an impressive display during the annual Windermere Air Show. On a glorious sunny day with high cloud and the magnificent backdrop of the distant Langdale Fells, the Red Arrows zoomed down over the lake, followed by an appearance by the latest Eurofighter Typhoon whose engine roar echoed around the mountains. We had collected Mum that morning, and making good time, realised we'd just make it to Bowness on Windermere by lunchtime to take in the Air Show from the lawns at Storrs Hall, before driving over The Kirkstone Pass to Ullswater later that afternoon. We even had time to pick up a boat for the now accustomed cruise around the lake before dinner!
Thanks once again to good weather, the couple of days in The lakes were super. Above left, Janet and John are taking in the much photographed view on this website over the years. On the right they are on the land we own with the farm, looking for a suitable level plot to pitch my tent as site office during renovation works! That just about completes this, the longest newsletter ever, covering our stories throughout this year. Dennis and I thought at the beginning of this year that it should somehow be a milestone year, due to a number of anniversaries, such as my 50th birthday, Dennis's 50th plus 50%(!), 20 years since we originally left England following the sale of Dennis's companies, and so at the start of 2007 we pondered how to celebrate it, if at all. However, looking back over the history of our travels it seems we somehow perpetually celebrate life one way or the other with our super trips away and the projects we tend to have on the go. Next year will be no exception and already plans run well in to 2008, not just with the farm to rebuild, but also because of some work planned on the house here in The Cotswolds, as we intend to open up the third floor with more windows and create more rooms. The scale is such that we intend to vacate for a few months, and where to go, who knows?! However, it's sure to be interesting, one way or the other. As for now, it's time to sign off indefinitely, and so all that's left to do now is to pass on our very best wishes to all of you who have had the stamina to get to the end of this newsletter! Colin & Dennis. |
