On to Penzance were Ian made the comment as to why did everyone walk round with their hands in their pockets. "Its because it's cold" I replied. Mum was not easy wanting to stay in her beloved Trust houses, expensive, whereas I had to watch my budget. We had a Devonshire cream tea in Clovelly where Ian lost his pocket money, then visited Alan's granny getting caught behind a herd of cows which we all thought was very funny. Then Uncle David and Doreen at Craven Arms, nr Shrewsbury. Doreen baked the most fantastic gooseberry pie and David was very generous to Robert and Ian which made up for the loss at Clovelly.
The trip in North Wales was marked by Robert calling Nana an old bag! I guess he was finding her abit of a trial. We had lunch with Aunty Rhoda on the prom at Rhos nr Colwyn Bay then Liverpool and Ilkley and I guess that was it. Mum may have gone on to Oakham.
1988 I embarked on my first solo visit to U.K? I guess the family were more independent but I would have left someone in charge of domestic arrangements at home for meals etc. Bob was still in a very busy job. The purpose of the visit was to attend M.T.G.S centenary celebration and it also coincided with George and Rhians 40th wedding anniversary. I had been a bridesmaid at their wedding,and I was also going to visit David and Lindsay in Oakham just for a day, from Sheffield.
Anyway I really enjoyed it, discovering that there were advantages travelling on your own. You could do what you wanted. I even went to a London show on my own Cats and sat next to a Canadian guy. I stayed in the Regent Palace Hotel, a budget hotel but so convenient, situated just off Picadilly Circus, beautiful Art Deco decoration but old and rickety lifts and no en suite bathrooms which in those days didn't bother me at all as I did not have to get up at night to use the bathroom. It remained a favourite of mine because it was such good value and was in such a convenient position.
I had a Britrail pass again something that has remained a favourite because again it was such good value. Reading my diary and looking at my scrapbook I am amazed at what I managed to fit in. Meeting up with Mimi and Margaret Pottinger in London, Rail to Edinburgh staying with Lucille and Donald , York, Viking exhibition, Ilkley, Sheffield, Dinner at The Peacock for George and Rhian's anniversary ,Oakham, a nice meet up with David not discussing difficulties with mother, then car hire , Sandringham, Wales Vera, Devils Bridge, Southport, meeting Sheila and Alison again, a great school reunion and Lake district Lorna . It was truly amazing finishing at Manchester for the plane home.
I think my next trip was in 1991. Bob had been funded to go to an amputee conference in Dundee so first we decided to do a Western Isles cruise to my beloved Skye. Don had been in Japan and met us in Glasgow, that is all really part of another story but he joined us although couldn't come on the cruise, he climbed Ben Nevis instead! At the end of that trip I picked up Mum in Cambridge, she must have stayed with David and we travelled to Wales to see her sister at Machynlleth. She always liked to stay at The Wynstay in the main street and always booked dinner bed and breakfast and always paid for us to have single rooms which meant I could stay up late watching T.V and reading.
We took Vera and Idris to Aberystwyth , visited Llandre and the lovely old church yard with the celtic crosses. Mum liked to have her coffee and lunch at nice restaurants whereas Vera and Idris were happy with the station café! They were a lot like Hyacinth and her sister and husband, a programme that we all loved.
Next to the hotel was the lovely china shop run by the bachelor Welshman, Mum flirted outrageously with him. He did have the most beautiful stock of china but had no idea how to display it and it was all wrapped in newspaper half in and half out of its boxes. She did buy there the Herand ducks which I love. We visited that shop on every visit to Machynnlleth. I also liked the second hand book shop, and Ann's fashion shop which sold nice jumpers etc and of course I've still got them
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| The Coffee shop at the Woollen Mill |
One day we motored to Bala to meet up with Maimie and Harold. Maimie was Mum's cousin and a good friend to us all. I loved her dearly , she was younger than Mum by about ten years and always understood how difficult Mum could be? Then a visit to Welshpool to meet up with David and Annette finishing with afternoon tea at the Welsh wool shop at Dinas Mawddwy. The next day we did Newtown and Powys Castle which Idris had never been into despite living so near.
Another day we explored Corris now home of a craft centre but the place where Mum had spent her childhood holidays with her cousins Hollis and Irene. A more bleak place you could not find. It was situated in a valley between slate coloured hills which had been partly mined with piles of tailings everywhere and it was usually raining. When in Corris I was usually entertained with the story of when Mum and Irene let the pig out of its stye when they were little girls on their annual summer holiday. Of course the pig took off through the village having a grand time!
These holidays in mid Wales were very enjoyable , the country side is beautiful and they would be the best of times I spent with my mother. All the places we visited I love, the lovely views of Cader Idris, from various angles, perhaps because they bring back memories of my childhood. Mid Wales is very under rated
In 1993 Fiona had been working in Vienna so mum and I did a trip to Wales ending up in Cambridge for Mum to stay with David while I had a four day trip to Vienna to see Fiona who then came back with me and we did a little east coast tour Ely, Boston,Lincoln, Burghley, Southwold. Mum abit difficult on this trip ,no trust houses to stay and I know I spent one night sharing a room with Hans who had joined us and Fiona. However we did have a lovely family meal at The Crown Hotel Southwold, Mum was always generous in her entertaining. We then went to London and Fiona and Hans left us and we followed a couple of days later.I had a couple of nights in London, not one of Mums favourite places but I remember it as a nice trip. On each trip I tried to do something new and on my list, that time it was the Victorian and Albert. Mum had no interest whatsoever sitting in the coffee shop. How different it would have been with Dad.
The next trip was 1995 for an Edinburgh reunion. Ian accompanied us on this trip. Our first stop was Oxford Blenheim then Warwick castle, Penrith, Gretna Green , Oban, Perth, Edinburgh Peebles and then I think Mum saw David and family while Ian and I had four nights in Paris while Mum saw the family in Cambridge.
Next we did a trip back for Vera's 90th birthday, only a two week one this time. I did not have a lot of time to spare, Vera Mum's sister was bedridden by then with carers coming in three times a day. We thought they were lovely girls and that Vera and Idris looked better than they ever had been, foodwise and Idris even had some new clothes and their house was much cleaner. However when Vera died a couple of years later it materialised that they had been milking their accounts. It was a happy visit although Vera was mostly away with the fairies telling us she had been out with mother having a picnic on the prom at Aberystwyth.
Our next trip did not involve Wales. Mum was 94 truly remarkable to undertake such a long trip at this age but she coped well. Anna and her partner Simon had had a little boy Finlay George so Mum was introduced to her fourth great grandchild. Lindsay and David entertained us at Southwold and found lovely accommodation for us near them at a local pub. As usual we had some nice meals and David took us on a lovely tour of old Suffolk churches which were remarkable. Then we went up to Liverpool to see Maimie who was not at all well at this stage mainly heart and kidney failure. However we had a nice meal with her at Millcroft road and then took her out for a meal at our hotel Speke Marriot after I had taken her a drive to Ottespool Prom. I had just time to send her the photos we had taken before she died a week or two after we got home
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