Just so we could have a round at Pirates Cove Crazy Golf we've had a long weekend in the Great Yarmouth area. It was a great Crazy Golf course, well laid out, with an edutainment side to it as it had placards recording the history of Blackbeard and Captain Morgan and the like - the moral seemed to be piracy is not a good long-term career choice. The 18 holes were varied, but not too difficult. We would have got round quicker but found ourselves held up by being indirectly behind a slow foursome. Before this on the Saturday we also did Merrivale Model Village which is a model village as the name suggests. We got our hands stamped as we went in, the mark has faded after a day or two. Fun enough for an hour! Saturday evening we managed to eat at "Brewers Fayre" despite the Satnav misleading us. On the Sunday we went to the service at Gorleston Baptist Church, very welcoming and good value for money as the service went on past noon. We were glad we had booked the Harvester for 1pm! So hot I went for fish and chips. In the afternoon we went to Somerleyton Hall which is a stately home still owned by the family which made its wealth making carpets. I do enjoy seeing such places, what is possible if you have the money to do it, but the gulf between me and the class of people who have such homes jars. We didn't attempt the maze, but did attempt the variegated scoops of ice cream available in the cafe. The blue candyfloss ice cream was novel. I've left to last the place we stayed at, Leanda Lodge. For the right people this would be a great place to stay, but for us it didn't work so well. The weather was very hot and it was uncomfortable being inside, stuffy - but we were deterred from being outside as the owners had black Rottweilers with names like Lucifer. One Rottweiler was huge. Even having the windows open was problematic as the owners had two parties while we were there including barbecue so noise and smoke. They had a large parrot prisoner in a cage which we only realised after we heard someone saying bye bye but not a visible someone. Other oddities included light switches hidden behind fridges, a gravel driveway our wheels spun on, and taps needing to be unwound several times to come on. But some visitors loved Leanda Lodge.

A long weekend in the Lowestoft area, seeing the "Africa Alive!" zoo and the "Time and Tide" museum in Great Yarmouth among other attractions.

Before our long weekend in Hunstanton we dropped off Tabs and Amelia (who hid in my cupboard as the spare room bed was shut) at "Grange Cattery". This took longer than normal as there were roadworks in Waterbeach near the new housing being built on the old Army barracks there. It may be even slower next time as they're going to resurface the road to "Grange Cattery" - it is much needed as that track undulates beyond bumpiness. We got supplies at Tesco including a Chinese meal we enjoyed later in the garden at the holiday cottage in Ringstead. An easy drive there, the most stress came when parking the car in front of the garage for No. 5 as I didn't see the number! The cottage was comfortable and well appointed, a cosy lounge. We had to enter a number on a keypad to get the keys, using the keys was fiddly and the doors were a bit stiff. There was a bottle of wine left for us which we had a glass of to accompany the Chinese meal in our quiet evening in. A dismal start to the Saturday - the rain was heavy enough to wake me, and kept on pretty much relentlessly during the day. The bathroom mirror has a blue ghostly LCD clock in it, we couldn't find the egg cups so had to improvise tearing up an egg box! Our first bit of tourism was the Hunstanton Sea Life aquarium where they branded us on our hands as having paid - the branding was readable the next day despite several acts of hand washing. Sea Life wasn't that big, but a variety of stuff to see including creepy-crawlies and adorable otters. I almost lost the lens cap off my new camera and had to search for it. We also strayed to see an Lestrange Old Barns arts and crafts place which was hard to park at, and which was without a cafe and facilities we thought it might have. More interesting was the Village Stores across the road from our cottage which also sold old things, Virginia got a glass fruit bowl and two attractive cards there. We walked to see the Gin Trap pub to check out how far it was - an easy walk. Our meal there in the evening wasn't bad - friendly enough service and a popular place with people being turned away who hadn't booked. It got crowded later on with people in Scottish attire (but without Scottish accents which was strange). Ironically Sunday, the day we returned to Histon, was bright and sunny. The roads were very busy with cars and motorcycles and scooters all headed somewhere, perhaps to a fair at Sandringham.

Our long weekend in Stratford started with another telephone call from a carer about Dad managing to fall out of bed despite having a bar fitted by Phillip last night (who I envy being so good at practical things). I went to Milton Tesco after seeing Mum's grave on the anniversary of her death four years ago, and got some supplies for Dad and us on our holiday. A little bit of a rush to get Tabitha and Amelia to the Cattery so Phyllis can look after them til Monday (we forgot the tablets for Tabitha!) and then off on our weekend break. And right into a traffic tailback from a fire on the A14... We stopped at Cambridge Services (which is still being built) for a visit to KFC (I ordered more than I needed) and then rejoined the A14 traffic jam - when that eventually melted away we had an easy drive to Stratford with the Satnav reliably leading to the Macdonald Hotels Stratford Swan's Nest Hotel there. Which happily had parking (I like to worry about things). The hotel was very well situated, we could walk everywhere we needed to go! It was good enough but I wouldn't give it four stars. The hotel had wi-fi - to make this work one had to register / login each time. We ate at the French bistro restaurant in the hotel, I had French onion soup then chicken which were richly cooked perhaps too richly cooked for me. The chef was rather too fond of salt. We kicked off Saturday with breakfast in the hotel - cereals and croissants not worth the price of the buffet at £9.50 really. We walked into Stratford and did some shopping at Marks and Spencers then visited the Stratford Butterfly Farm. Plenty of butterflies! Hot and humid making my glasses and camera lens steam up. Mayan decor, not too badly done. There were insects and snakes and also a colony of leaf cutter ants commuting over ropes - the previous colony died out after chewing their way through power cables and the queen getting electrocuted. Well patronised by those ignoring the signs about touching the butterflies. When we emerged it was raining, but only light rain and we were within a stones throw of the hotel. We had sandwiches at the charming Fourteas - a forties themed tea room where the waitresses were suitable accoutred, the tea came with egg timers, and the menus were 1940s ration books. Another hit was the Stratford MAD museum, an unmissable collection of kinetic sculptures - vibrant and eye catching. Made me miss the ball bearing clock I had once - and remember a visit to see work by the artist Jean Tinguely. Hotel laid on a fire alarm for us, then we went for an evening cruise on the Countess of Evesham down and up the River Avon. They steered the long boat with skill through the three locks, where we were lowered or raised at the speed of bath water emptying. Saw a swan carrying two chicks on its back, on the return the insects in the boat lights swirled like krill in the ocean, wan ghosts of plastic bags were caught in the trees. A four course meal, reasonable charm. Back late though after 11pm and Virginia's lens dropped out again! The return journey was rather stressful. After going to the service at Stratford Baptist Church we found one of the tyres on Virginia's car had been deflated. So pumped it up, and followed the Satnav up to Coventry to find the route we should take closed off. We retreated to a Starbucks back the way we came, and then hesitantly tried the A429 then A445 north to skirt the Circean city of Coventry. Washed out when we got home, not only by the rain which fell.

We take a trip to Somerset, seeing Cheddar Gorge and Wookey Hole.

A long weekend in Derbyshire, taking in Denby pottery on the way. We stayed at Willersley Castle despite the Satnav's efforts.

A long weekend in Bath admiring Roman bath technology and the Jane Austen tourist trail.

Virginia and I had a long weekend in Stratford-on-Avon. We booked Tabitha and Amelia into the Jobil Cattery in Histon so not far from us, and booked ourselves into "Brook Lodge", a slightly more comfortable Bed and Breakfast place in Stratford. Jobil Cattery was adequate, perhaps a bit bare bones, but did for the weekend. True we didn't ask the cats their opinion! The journey didn't take long to get there, partly because all the service stations we tried to stop at for a bite to eat, and a comfort break, were closed as regards eateries. In the end we checked into the guest house, then had oversize plates of sandwiches at the Bell Inn in Shottery. As we were in the area we decided to cross Anne Hathaway's cottage off the list. The cottage has undergone revision over the years. When Anne Hathaway grew up in it was two rooms, open hearth fire vented through the roof. The guides were very pleasant and informative, they explained that people lived on bread rather than potatoes as they didn't have potatoes then. They didn't even have carrots as we now know and love them, the garden had skirrets growing which were poor weedy root vegetables now superseded in the modern diet. The guides also commented on Shakespeare's life with Anne Hathaway, giving a contrary opinion to the populist one that Will ran away to London to write plays and act because he was tired of his 8-years older wife. Shakespeare did marry young (at 18 when 21 was the norm) but stayed with Anne apart from the half-year seasons when acting took him away. Perhaps as people remodel buildings to suit their fancies, so we have remodelled Shakespeare to suit our fancies of how the bard should have been.

We spent a long weekend seeing Stonehenge and Longleat and Avebury Stone Circle.

We went to Norwich to see where I grew up, the streets that imprinted themselves on my dreams. Booked into a spanking new Holiday Inn Norwich right by Norwich City's football ground, our room even looked out over the pitch! The ground, and the immediate area, had changed from when as a schoolboy I used to go and stand on the terraces and watch matches. Now seats everywhere no standing. We walked round the football stadium and saw that Delia Smith had a restaurant there - as the price was £32 a head decided to eat in the hotel's restaurant! The staff at the hotel were friendly and helpful, our room was well laid out and well lit (unusual in a hotel room.) The bathroom had an artistic look to it with the wash basin raised proud. The prices were artistic too, and breakfast wasn't included (£12.95 each!) There was annoying piped music in the corridors, and I didn't sleep well with the noise. We also needed the air conditioning on to stay warm. On the Saturday we caught a number 35 bus from a nearby superstore up to Castle Meadow (only £1 to hop on and off a kindly bus driver told us.) Happily it stayed dry while we were walking around Norwich centre as Virginia had left her waterproof behind. Saw the Castle Mall which was new to me, a split-level celebration of shopping, then went around the Castle itself. In the Castle there was an exhibition of art by Cotman, some of which rivalled Turner in their expressiveness. A lift of metal and glass thrust itself up out of the ground by the castle, as out of place as Dr Who's Tardis inside an Aztec temple. We went to the Bridewell Museum - I like particularly seeing recreations of old shops and the Bridewell had a pawnbroker and chemists. The chemists included in its wares dried spiders. Went to Jarrolds department store for a cup and a slice of cake in the crowded cafe at the top. I remember the anxiety of getting separated from my parents in that store. Next was going to the Cathedral (taking in a bag of roasted chestnuts as it was a holiday.) My old school (the Upper School part) is right next to the Cathedral, we used to have assemblies in the Cathedral - I remember rousing renditions of "Jerusalem" at the end of terms. I sang not that confidently in the Chapel choir rather than the Cathedral choir, used to have to wear a surplice and ruff on Sundays. Once a year we would go on a trip down to London to sing at a do at the Worshipful Company of Dyers there. Had a sightseeing tour of London thrown in. A statue of Nelson (who ran away from King Edward the Sixth's grammar school) stands in the upper close - once a year we had to do a ritual round the statue. Most of the upper close hasn't changed but they are building next to the Cathedral. I paid £3 to be able to take pictures inside the Cathedral, I remember particularly being up in the galleries when a joint performance (with Norwich Girl's School) of the mediaeval mystery play "Noye's Fludde" was done in the Cathedral. We walked along winding flint walled lanes to see the Lower School - now with a security fence it didn't have in my day. It has been rebuilt too since a fire destroyed the buildings I knew. Walked back to see St. Andrews Hall Norwich where we used to have School speech days - my mother tried to stop me fidgeting during them. The last speech day I ever went to I did receive a prize! But then had to dash away as the family was unhappily moving up to Yorkshire. After St. Andrew's Hall we went on to Strangers Hall which was one of the places we had outings from school. Saw the Maddermarket Theatre on the way back to Castle Meadow too. Saturday was rounded off with a meal courtesy of room service. The restaurant was fully booked until 9pm they said, and even if we sat down at 9pm it might be 9.30pm before food might be transmitted to our table. Got home on Sunday to find Tabitha had been sick in several places. The cats do enliven our lives.

Virginia and I spent a long weekend in York, an old city with Roman / Anglo-Saxon / Viking and Norman pasts. York is haunted by old buildings and walls and ruins and history. Ghosts too to judge by the number of "Ghost Walks" on offer. We first went and saw the National Railway Museum. Being able to see such a range of engines in one place is great, technology in that era looked so good with all the levers and dials and tubes, but the highlight for me was the warehouse of railway related material. Items from china to clocks to models of liners. In their heyday the railway companies not only had trains and lines but also hotels and ships. We visited York Minster after the Remembrance Day services. I climbed the tower (275 steps, very narrow spiral staircase) to see the eagle eye view over York. My knees and I wondered if I would make it up! Surreal was the Chapter House, with the seats set into the octagonal stone walls. We saw the interesting Victorian Street in the York Castle Museum, and took the ride in the Jorvik Viking Centre. This well done ride through a mockup of Viking York (which they called Jorvik) reminded me of the better rides in Disneyworld EPCOT (now mostly replaced by rollercoaster routines.) The staff had good information to impart. I learnt of a Viking board game called "Hnefatafl". One does live and learn.

Virginia had an inner urge to see Legoland so we went down to the Windsor area on the August Bank holiday weekend. Not an ideal weekend as it was the last weekend in the school holidays, and the bank holiday weekend to boot. Not an ideal weekend as the B&B we stayed in in Englefield Green was a lemon. Tiny dilapidated room. Fellow 'guests' who returned in the early hours to play loud music. We did however see Savill Gardens (enjoyable), Legoland (best seen with the heart of a child,) and Windsor Castle (getting in was like boarding an airplane,) and had Sunday lunch with an aunt so mission accomplished on that front. Getting into Windsor Castle was rather like boarding an airplane, but security checks are understandable. Once inside the scale of the place, and the serried ranks of portraits and china and swords and rifles and ornaments impressed. As they were meant to. Some houses are just for living in. But Windsor Castle is not. The size of the place, the solidity, the opulence, the order of the place are all designed to make an impression. To intimidate, to strike awe. But behind the pomp and circumstance there's only ordinary mortals.

Virginia and I spent a long weekend 24th to 27th June in the North Norfolk area. On the way up we visited the Thursford Collection during a real downpour on the Friday. There we saw the nifty footwork of resident organist Robert Wolfe on a Wurlitzer. How can the brain control so much? We overdosed out on stately homes of which there are plenty in the area. We saw Blickling and Holkham and Felbrigg but I confess these in my mind all blur into each other. The old faded paintings, libraries of uniformly bound books, false doors through which servants entered, deer parks, ice houses, elaborate silver tableware, sugar nippers, manicured formal gardens seem to be the form for the houses of the nobles. We stayed in a guest house in Little Walsingham which is even more historical than a stately home. A site of pilgrimage for over a millennium, it had a mixture of shops including statues and icons if you wanted to take some holiness home with you. We had a good tarragon chicken in the Black Lion on a very wet day

Virginia and I went for a long weekend down in Kent, staying in a B&B in Canterbury (cold cold, screws loose on door handle, light not working). We had two meals at the Old Gate Inn, a convenient hostelry near where we were staying in. I admired the way beautiful waitress Katya smiled there, like feeling the glow from a brazier. We went to church in Tenterden where Ginny went to the Sunday school – good service and the Minister was getting involvement from the people. Low brow which suits me. Saw Ginny’s old school in St Michaels before doing Leeds Castle bitterly cold wind so Ginny didn't head for the maze. We indulged ourselves in history - recent history such as the Second World War represented by the tunnels beneath Dover Castle. Impressive room housing the repeater equipment. The unsavoury lives of those who have been called Kings of England were instanced at Leeds Castle (interesting seeing where the great powers of today the G8 have met.) The buried time of the Romans underneath the shops in Canterbury. Like going back in time. Canterbury Cathedral itself is like a historical scrapbook, an ever-changing monument.

Virginia and I had a long weekend in "Eastbourne". This resort on Britain's south coast seems to be a favourite resort for the elderly - Wallace Arnold coaches disgorged OAPs into hotels where they stayed sitting in chairs. Mixed weather - some fine sunshine but also rain - we got wet and had to take refuge in a fish and chip place to have an early supper after seeing the pier. The pier was a little rundown but had a shop making and selling glass ornaments, I got Virginia a small glass elephant (admiring the skill of the young girl wrapping the glassware). Enjoyed a museum of shops of yesteryear as well as the Science Park at the old Herstmonceux Observatory. Some marvellous machines to play with - one turned gears and wheels and conveyors using water power.

A break with my sister's family in the Peak District. We went down Poole's Cavern where you can almost watch the stalagmites and stalactites growing, such is the water dripping down. Our shoes got coated in calcite! Heard that in times past a flasher lurked in Poole's Cavern, but in times past a flasher was someone who trimmed the edges off silver coins to make ingots. Naughty! We also saw the Crich Tramway Museum a great place to visit. Big business in a way judging from the books on trams on sale. Nostalgia has made trams and steam trains now cherished whereas in their heyday necessary evils?