We flew back to the U.K. landing in Gatwick where my friend Andrew picked us up. I’ve known Andrew for a few years, both of us attending an open spaces style conference in Crested Butted Colorado over the years. Andrew has been very patient answering lots of questions for me while I was planning our trip. I was really excited to introduce him to Deanna and to meet his family.
Our flight was a bit late, but we met Andrew and headed down the A3 towards our B&B, The Rising Sun in Waterlooville. We dropped of our bags and had a drink with Andrew in the pub. England was playing Wales in the rugby world cup so the pub was pretty noisy but it was great to catch up. We tried to get some dinner at the pub, however they stopped serving food earlier so we ended up getting a bit of Chinese takeout just down the road.
Andrew and his daughter Hattie picked us up and we headed a few minutes down the road to Petersfield, where we met Andrew’s wife Amanda and Charlie, their son. We were treated to some tea and a tour of their lovely home and yard. Charlie and Hattie took great pride in showing us their Lego collection which was lots of fun.
Andrew and Charlie then took us to Winchester for the day. Being Sunday, it was a market day in Winchester. It was busy, but we found a parking spot and spent a bit of time wandering about the stalls.
We stopped for a really tasty lunch at before heading for a visit to the Winchester Cathedral. It’s a beautiful space and where author Jane Austin is buried. We took some back roads back to Andrew and Amanda’s house. It’s a very picturesque part of the world.
Amanda had a wonderful dinner ready for us when we got back. Roast chicken with all the fixings and two kinds of cakes for dessert. After two weeks of eating restaurant food, having a home cooked meal was a really nice treat.
We were catching a train to London and after saying goodbye, we headed to the train station where Andrew and Charlie saw us on our way. It was a really nice day and one of the highlights of the trip to spend some time with Andrew and his family.
It’s about an hour train trip from Petersfield to Waterloo station. The trip winds it’s way through some beautiful countryside. The train was quite busy with a large number of people heading to London on Sunday night which was a bit of a surprise to me. From Waterloo, we hopped on the Bakerloo underground tube line to Paddington station. From there it was a 15 minute walk to our hotel, our last stop on our U.K. trip,
