Up and down the Uk and its castles and.......the rest of mid term break.

Of course there is some culture in this trip. The mid term break did not start until quite late Saturday....after 'Speech Day' at Bearwood. Chapel, prize giving and open day activities.For some it was the last day of school.........forever and so of course the last night was going to be an edgy one, and yes I was on duty but just from 7 to 10pm. Long enough to see some chaos. A game of rounders between the girls and the boys followed by a BBQ was the plan. Enough of that memory..........Jacqui and family came out for the night until late. It was great to meet Geoff and the 3 lovely kids and catch up with Jacqui after so many years.

The red carpet is rolled out, through to the Marquee on the Headmasters lawn.

This the Headmaster, Stephen Aiano - I'm very grateful to him. He is a very easy going chap with a wonderful sense of humour. Scholars very well dressed....many hats.

Head boy and Head girl speeches.

Governors sox?????? Another story.

Don't think I have included any pics of this side of the building, just as grand. Just 40 m from where I took this, I saw two deer during a morning walk.

So Speech day over and we are off.....1st stop Stratford upon Avon to catch up with Willie and mates. We love the Motorways when wanting to get some where in a hurry......middle lane at 80mph is no trouble and zoom by they go!

With the GPS we are comfortable getting off ,on to country roads for more of a touristy look.........and it is a fantastic countryside. Some tight little spots:

William was pleased to see us and Katrina felt right at home with a couple of his mates:

Anne Hathaway's House

Shakespeare's Birthplace.

All that cultural stuff out of the way and off down the road for a night in RUGBY. We stayed right beside Rugby School.

A wet Sunday was best used for travel so it was foot down and off to Yorkshire and our first Castles:

Clifford's Castle in the centre of York was great fun to explore. Nice hike up to it and then you could walk right around the top.....and the wind was howling, some of us prefer to crawl.

What's wrong with a bit of vertigo!

Newcastle was on the itinerary due to a cheap bed, we'd heard it was just an industrial town of the north........but a very pleasant surprise. Lovely walks along the Tyne , very striking bridges and an Arts centre beyond compare. It was Sunday night before Bank Holiday and the place had gone off! It has been promoted as party town, bit dodgy in places. The police presence was welcomed.


After Newcastle it was the coast road to Scotland, stopping regularly, including Tyne Mouth castle and priory, Warkworth and then the famous Alnwick, where parts of Harry Potter were filmed.................The Duke of Northumberland still lives there, we walk through his lounge and dining room, see his family holiday snaps along with massive paintings of ancestors along with the odd Turner et al.
Streams of people roll in so the Duke is doing not bad............but it was massive and with so many modern historical features.

Edinburgh Castle is just so imposing, in the centre of the city with sheer rock faces all around.......but it is so exposed and our day rather rough.
We met up with a lovely Ofsted inspector who was doing a review of her child's class on tour......a long story.The Crown jewels are here and we did our first big queue job- worth it too.The bus tour was hilarious with stories galore of vagabonds and thieves. Knowing we were from Dunedin added to his delivery. We have been very impressed with how the English make us feel so much at home by naming all their rivers after the streets of Oamaru......well the Scots out did them, it was Dunedin all over.!!!!!

The Donaldson school for the deaf.
Mum was a Donaldson and heard of a relation who left a few bob to the poor and the deaf. Well have a nose at this!
"Donaldson's College was founded in Edinburgh in 1851 as Donaldson's Hospital by Sir James Donaldson (1751–1830). The original benefaction allowed for special bursaries for poor children bearing the name Donaldson. Not all were deaf, although applications on behalf of deaf children were encouraged. From 1938, pupils were exclusively deaf. This benefaction was similar in style to the benefaction of George Watson, who founded and supported other schools in Edinburgh.
Queen Victoria is said to have been jealous of the landmark William Henry PlayfairA> building in Edinburgh, apparently stating that it outclassed some of her palaces."