Weekend in Surrey

1st Decided to spend a weekend away at one of a list of Hotels who do a free accommodation on condition that breakfast and dinner is taken in the hotel. We had received invitations from Gloria and Fay (school day friends of our children) to join them at Gloria’s house, tucked away in the woods near Farnham, to help celebrate their father’s 90th birthday and we had booked rooms at the Pride of the Valley in Churt as it was only a few miles from Appin Lodge, in The Sands, where Henry Smith lives

3rd I have promised to help at the Lions Victorian Fayre in East Cowes. M went into Newport and I went to East Cowes at 1.pm. So windy that there were not very many people there. A Samba Band was going great guns in the centre of the arena. The wind died down and we were able to sell many hot dogs and burgers. I was on the toy stall, selling tickets for a tombola. Buy the right ticket and you could have a furry owl, cat, dog or lion. We sold quite a lot and many prizes were won. However the wind returned and blew over our tent and kept blowing out our bbq so at 3.30pm we decided to pack up. I am very impressed at the number of Lion helpers we get at these functions, but then, I suppose that is the point of the whole thing.

4th Caught the 8.30pm ferry to Portsmouth after an argy bargy about the car reg number on the Wightlink Multi ticket as we were in the Audi and the Rover’s number is on the ticket. Decided to get a cheap 2-day ticket for £40 and regretted it later. We were attending the 90th birthday celebrations of an old friend from Chinnor days, Henry Smith, known by many as Titch as he was only very young when he learned to drive one of the Cement Works lorries. We drove up the A3 as far as Hindhead and took the Farnham road for a few miles to the Pride of the Valley at Churt, and booked in. What a lovely County this Surrey is and we spent an hour driving round some of the narrow lanes and charming villages with their old houses before arriving in Tilford. We had arranged to meet Steve at a pub near to Gloria’s but picked the wrong one and we waited at the Barley Mow in Tilford (enjoying the lovely village green, the river and bridge) before we had a phone call from Steve at the Barley Mow in The Sands, asking where we were. As we were on the wrong side of the B 3001 we had to try and find it. When we arrived, there was Steve waiting outside the pub which did not open until 12, but we moved on to Appin Lodge where we met Henry, Gloria and Tony with their children Sarah and Nicholas and Fay and Peter with their son Jonathon, as well as others we have met previously, before the Chinnor contingent arrived. Tony and Corrine Pullen, Mike and Sally Gomme, Tony Benham and wife (ex Penny Church), John and Jean Lambourne and my old friend Pat Whelehan, now looking much better after his stroke last year. It is nice to know that we are still highly regarded by our old friends. Caterers of the highest quality were there to cater to our every needs. Afternoon drinks of elderflower wine, fruit juices and wine punch, bottles of red and white wine were lavished on us. Sadly the weather was inclement although later in the afternoon, the sun came out to help the croquet players and later the footballers enjoy the lovely lawns. Three grandchildren of late teen and early 20’s read out their appreciations of their grandfather and almost brought us to tears; the cake was duly brought out and champagne toasts were drunk. It was a very enjoyable day. We had a lovely day, but were quite tired by the time we tuned in at the Pride.
5th We awoke early and breakfasted and the hotel owner suggested we take a walk, not five minutes from the hotel. We walked up the road and off on a path, which led us to the top of a rocky hill, which we were later told is called The Jumps. The view over Rushmoor and Frensham was beautiful, as one could see almost to Farnham, with hardly a house in site. This inspired us to drive a couple of miles westwards to the Devil’s Punchbowl at Hindhead. We had been many years ago when Gemma and William were very small and we were visiting Steve and Barbara in Whitehill. So inspired were we at the beautiful view, that we sat on a seat for nearly an hour before returning to the National Trust restaurant for a coffee. (ice cream for me). Later, we drove to Haslemere and had a most lovely salad meal at the Age-concern restaurant, followed by fruit salad and cream, for only £4 each. People of all ages are encouraged to dine there in order to enable them to provide such a high quality meal. We continued our drive round and visited the Old Mill at Elstead for a coffee on the veranda overlooking the old millpond. Our next port of call was to the town of Farnham – a lovely old town overlooked by its red brick castle. Lots of newly developed shopping areas, particularly behind an old pub, merged well with the traditional shops. Frensham was our next point of call, although we were side tracked by visiting a large garden centre adjoining the famous Birdworld. We spent a couple of hours at Frensham Great Pool, watching children bathing on the sandy shore of the pool. Sailing boats were moored alongside the pool - Reminded me of a similar place in haut-Provence, on our way home from Frejus, but without the fields of lavender. Little did we realise that we were only about a mile or two from our hotel. We were quite tired when we sat down to dinner.
6th Next morning, as we were on the mainland, I decided that I could not return to IW without visiting my elderly sister Lenny up in Kidderminster and with my darling wife’s agreement we set off for the A34 at Newbury and sped up to Oxford, before deciding to get off the motorway at Wendlebury. We joined the A44 just past Woodstock and headed towards Worcester and the 339 to Kidder. Passing through Chipping Norton, we arrived at Moreton in Marsh searching as ever for the elusive ladies loo, only to find the biggest market I have ever seen. Rows and rows of stalls stretched for ?Miles along the road, making parking absolutely impossible. Desperation lead us to the Batsford Arboretum (where we bought some vines many years ago) where we were able to breathe again!! Up the lovely Bourton on the Hill to the pride of the Cotswolds at Broadway. After a long walk from a new car park, we were happy to have a very nice lunch at Jardines.

Back on the road again, heading for Worcester and Kidder we passed much activity on road improvements and arrived in Kidderminster in the middle of the afternoon traffic. We went to the Grange Residential home, only to be told that Lenny had gone to a Nursing Home at The Shrubbery. We got there at 4.15 and spent a couple of hours making small talk. She is very poorly after her stroke and was having her hair washed and trimmed when we arrived. Her face lit up when she saw us, as she said she has been thinking about us a lot. She is constantly in a wheelchair as she cannot walk now. We were taken upstairs to her room. She has a lovely en-suite room, beautifully appointed with very helpful staff and she is as happy there as one could wish. Time to leave as we had to face a long trip to Southampton via the M42/M 40/A34. This is the trip we have done on many occasions, but not, from memory, all the way to the ferry. We faced the journey and got on to M42 at about 7pm and were on our way before stopping at the MSA on the Newbury by-pass for a p&p. Because I hadn’t booked the ferry from Portsmouth to Fishbourne we decided to go to Lymington, where we could guarantee getting on the next ferry. When we reached Lymington, I took my ticket into the office and had to pay another £20 to turn the two-day return into the standard fare. Ugh!! It was getting dark and we caught the 10.15pm and did not get home until 11.30pm – a long day on the road, and we were soon asleep in bed.