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We made the crossing Dunkirk - Dover on DFDS, the 14:00 sailing. It was to be another 'hunt & gathering' roadtrip with much to see during the 8 days on British soil. As always we'd be visiting castles & churches, brief visits to cities, browse bookshops, enjoy pubs but there'd be no room in the planning for 'birding'. Instead we visited an air show and three aviation museums. We had steeled ourselves for the ever appearing (daily!) events: "you can't, there isn't"; this varied from items not available at breakfast to a castle closed and for sale. And inspite of the disastrous condition of most secondary roads, we still love visiting England! I hope you will enjoy my report.

England, approaching the famous white cliffs of Dover.

The first accommodation, Guestling Hall. We arrived here while on transition to new owners and found bar &
restaurant closed and a very limited breakfast (no filter coffee nor continental breakfast).

Driving towards Headcorn Aerodrome for the Battle of Britain air show. I love the byways!

Stopped for this photo: an oast house (or oasthouse) or hop kiln, a building designed for kilning (drying)
hops as part of the brewing process. Oast houses can be found in most hop-growing (and former hop-growing)
areas, and are often good examples of agricultural vernacular architecture. Many redundant oast houses have
been converted into houses. The names "oast" and "oast house" are used interchangeably in Kent and Sussex,
but in Surrey, Hampshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire they are called 'hop kilns'. ¬Wikipedia

Visit the page of my report on this Headcorn Aerodrome Battle of Britain air show

Great airplanes but also made a few very fine purchases

Our accommodation in Dorchester-on-Thames: The very fine George Hotel

Besides a fine accommodation it was a good base for a day trip into Oxford. We had a very pleasant stay.

We stayed here during a heatwave, 29+30 June, alas England is not a country with a/c's...
Good thing we had the bar nearby!

Our room. The small ventilator was hardly able to cope with temperatures over 30 Celsius. Hope to return here.

Across the road was this fine church and I explored the grounds & cemetery.

Very nice pub bar, did modest meals too. Alas, no cash payments. Breakfasts were good, nice staff too.

There is an Aston Martin museum not far from here. The rooms seem all named after Aston Martin variants.

Enjoyed a fine performance by Rod Stewart @Glastonbury on the telly. Great show!

More music out in the streets: tribute to Jethro Tull
Actually this was near the Chiltern's Steam Trains: we were just in time to hear the loc moving itself down the
track, out of sight, with the 16:00 trip cancelled due to a fire hazard down the track, a fire crew was in place.
Another event labelled 'you can't or there isn't'. Well, this one could not be helped.

Another fine stay, near Shrewsbury, the Isle Estate, a working farm and manor house

The outside is deceptive, the interior is quite deluxe! Very friendly owners.

A few interior impressions

The breakfast room. There's also a sizeable lounge: one night layover wasn't enough to do it justice, to enjoy it all.

Our bedroom. In the morning we woke to the cries of the peacocks.

Very friendly owners and enjoyed a fine breakfast cooked to order.

The White Hart Hotel & Restaurant at Lydgate

I had received advise to explore the area Rochdale - Todmorden - Hebden Bridge - Halifax.
This hotel was a fine base to drive the area. We couldn't find a place to park in Rochdale ('you
can't or there isn't'), but Todmorden was very nice, Hebden Bridge too, and Halifax so-so.

Restaurant (a tad 'fine dining' which we don't like) & breakfast area. Second day went to a nearby pub for dinner.

This would be my lunch given half a chance! Scones, cream and jam with a large coffee.

Todmorden with a (flea)market ongoing. This was outside, but there is also an indoor market.
Found a few people willing & cooperative to have their portrait taken by me: PORTRAITS & PEOPLE

Remarkable titles grouped together: 'Jude' and 'Der Führer'...

Indoors, I love these covered markets!

Secondhand books but impossible to browse!

Besides the red telephone boxes there are these red pillar boxes for the mail, still in use.
We just had to post a postcard from here!

We get to Hebden Bridge here..

Because a market was in place we had difficulty parking the car, unable to work the meter
by an appropriate (British) phone app so we left it without paying and rather rushed our visit a bit.

A very nice place to go on 'walkabout'. In the bookstore I bought an excellent photobook, by
local hero Alice Longstaff (see MyBlog_2025q3)

Happy Valley Pride event

Israel's genocide of Palestinians in Gaza (and Westbank) protested

On the road to Halifax

Only moments we'd be passing here (we were 3rd car in line) two cars collided. The old gent getting out of the
car was dazed but as far as I could see no serious injuries. We turned back and enjoyed a fine scenic detour.

HALIFAX.
Another covered market, the Halifax Borough Market, but this one had many stalls closed and very few people in.

Having a look 'round

Piece Hall which I was recommended to visit but I found nothing much happening.

Perhaps that night there's be something to see and hear?

Around the corner I bought at Waterstones two half-priced paperbacks, well-pleased!

View from the parking garage where we had our car parked. Had a hell of a time to locate it!

Return trip from Halifax to our hotel in Lydgate

Fine views. The recommendation to explore this region was certainly justified!

Sunset seen from The White Hart Hotel at Lydgate

Visit to Pickering for the Yorkshire steam trains

Another 'you can't or there isn't'... No steamtrains running, none 'hangared' here. Out of season, even in July.

Consolation for us, across the road there was this secondhand bookshop.

Ripley Castle, seen from the coffee- and giftshop. Closed & for sale. Asking price UKL 21 million...
Only tickets for sale into the grounds, we weren't interested. Had coffees with this view.

We suffered through many roadworks, esspecially in the Liverpool region we had a lot of delays.
We made our way south on Day 9, with a lunch stop in Lincoln; use the link below for a few impressions there.

Our last night, in Wivenhou House, about 30 minutes drive from Stena ferry in Harwich

We had a good stay, probably the best nearby Harwich in recent years. Alas, we had to leave before breakfast.

I had breakfast booked on board the ship. A quiet sailing followed; I prefer Stena over DFDS.

THE END (but we'll be back..)

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en.wikipedia.org:_List_of_castles_in_England

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