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The roads in We laid our fancy seats flat and slept for probably 5 hours. We woke up to breakfast being served and we arrived approximately 30 minutes early into Heathrow. One thing we failed to discuss yesterday was that the lavatories on the A380 are the biggest we’ve ever seen in the sky. Plenty of room to stretch out and even a full-length mirror! In retrospect they can’t compare to the incredible bathrooms in our Explorer suite but this one can be used at 30,000 feet.
We texted Judy and discovered they were already at the airport! We went through passport control and waited for our bags. Judy and Franco were waiting for us at the exit area in the terminal. We walked to their Range Rover in the Car Park and got underway for the 2 hour drive to their country home. The roads got progressively narrower until the hedgerows were lightly touching the sides of the car. Turns out that you can’t legally trim your hedgerows in the summer because they are the homes of lots of birds and they do like their birds over here. Along the way we received an education on the naming of UK roads.
The biggest ones, equivalent to freeways in the states are called Motorways. For instance, M1 and M4. The next level are divided highways, many with two lanes on each side. These are called A roads. We ended up on A443 on our trip. After than, you don’t get any letters but they turn into non-divided roads which are perhaps wide enough for two cars but barely. Next come roads, like Netherton Lane which takes you to country houses, which are barely wide enough for a typical car. To add more complications, there are “hedgerows” on either side of the road which are upwards of 12 feet or taller and they cannot be trimmed certain months of the year to protect the wildlife that lives in them. Scratchs on your car are commonplace. Fortunately, the trimming started while we were there so we got to see them both ways.
As we drove up to their home there were beautiful fields all around and lots of sheep. A neighbor uses the lower part of their land to raise sheep and there are currently about 30. Their property is beautiful and their home, originally built in 1570 as the main house on a farm and remodeled several years ago is beautiful. We took a quick tour and found our room upstairs. We had two rooms across a hall from each other with a large full bath in one and a powder room in the hallway. One we used for sleeping and the other for storing our many bags of luggage.
Judy and Franco offered a pre-shower beverage to Margaret (champagne) and while Margaret took a shower, Dale walked down the grassy hill to where the sheep lived and got to see the lay of the land. After Margaret was refreshed, they joined Judy and Franco in the kitchen for more celebratory beverages. Dinner was a fantastic multi-course extravaganza. Judy fetched their new granddaughter Sarafina and posed for some pictures. We also got a chance to meet her son Ross for a few minutes.
We fell into bed around 11:00 pm after lots of fun, laughter, wine (7 bottles went to the bin in the morning) and incredible food. We were asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow. Definitely a full and fun day with two more to go at Upper Norchard Farm.
Pictures and edits coming. The internet is slow on the ship.