Serendipity, Jane Austin and A Pool Of Penguins

The Fox Inn, Ansty, Dorset

So we are back after a wonderful little holiday which had the rare added ingredient - for holidays in this country at least - of absolutely beautiful weather. The first two days we spent at the Fox Inn in the Dorset village of Ansty which I discovered after extensive research on the web (Google Search : "Dorset", "Inn", "Dogs"). The village was one of those idyllic places that rarely exist outside "Visit Britain" travel documentaries : thatched cottages covered in honeysuckle, contented cows grazing in green pastures, and Morris Dancers prancing around outside the village pub. The Inn was originally the home of Charles Hall one of the founding partners of the Hall and Woodhouse Brewery and the original brewery was just across the road. The story of the brewery is an interesting one so I will return to it later in the week.

The Cobb Harbour, Lyme Regis

 For some reason, the middle part of the holiday turned into something of a tour of Jane Austin locations. One day we were in Lyme Regis and were able to walk along the famous Cobb harbour. I had never been to this part of the Dorset coast before and this short stay certainly flagged it up for a longer visit in the future.  After Dorset we spent a wonderful couple of days staying with our friend Sue in Ewell, just south of London. Again, the weather was fabulous and we spent another memorable day at another Jane Austin location, Box Hill (this wasn't intended to be a Jane Austin tour, the locations were down to splendid coincidence). 

The North Downs from Box Hill, Surrey

After Surrey we went north to Oxford and spent another couple of wonderful days staying with our good friends Jane and Edwin. On the Saturday we attempted to exorcise the memory of England's dire performance against Algeria with a trip to Oxford Botanical Gardens, but fate denied us a parking spot so we drove up to the Cotswold Wildlife Park instead. Serendipity smiled on us and we had a glorious time watching rhino's graze and penguins swim. 

Penguins at Cotswold Wildlife Park

Whilst in Oxford I managed to bring a couple of my outstanding blog projects to a conclusion - the updating of the old Victorian Carte de Visite and the Candy-floss machine - but to see exactly how those turned out you will have to wait for a later post. The holiday finished with a fine garden party in Oxford to mark Jane and Edwin's birthday and - when we eventually got back to Huddersfield - The Lad coming home for the night for a Fathers' Day treat. 

I took a good few photographs during the week and I will be featuring a selection of these on my Daily Photo Blog over the next week or so. It was a fine holiday, but - as always - it is good to be home again and catching up with all the news from around the world. I look forward to setting my Blog Roll rolling once again.