Our UK Trip in September of 2023
We had a really great 2-week trip to the UK in September of 2023!!
Sandy heard in early 2023 that our very close friend, Jackie Stetina, was planning a huge surprise for her husband, Steve Kerr’s 70th birthday
(who sadly passed away in late 2024)
& asked us to join her “secret” party at his historical familial Scottish place,
Ferniehirst Castle
which is in Jedburgh, Scotland… details are day-by-day below!
Thursday, September 7th
> We rode down to Atlanta airport, checked in and departed on time at 9:55pm… we flew overnight to Heathrow, London on Delta flight 32 and we each slept a little on the plane! | |||||
Friday, September 8th (Our visit with my brother Alan & family)
> We landed around 11am after breakfast on the plane & a nice flight, picked up our nice rental car ( SiXT ) and drove out to Alan & AyKeung in Maidenhead, spending the afternoon with the family ![]() ![]() LTR: (top) Don, Sandy & Alan (bottom) Hannah, AeKyung & Danny > Our 1st Air-B&B, called “Littlebrooke” (on Ray Park Road, a short walk to Alan’s house) opened up at 3pm for us to check in… we slept quite well!! | |||||
Saturday, September 9th
> We departed with Alan around 9am for a visit at Highclere Castle… a fabulous tour of the place used in the Downton Abbey series! Here are some snaps of our visit:
> We then went out for the afternoon, stopping for a (delightful!!) late lunch ![]() Snapped as we parked ![]() > AyKyung later made a lovely dinner for us at their house! | |||||
Sunday, September 10th
> Our day started with breakfast being provided at Alan & AK’s house, from “La Chèf de Delight”!! We then headed out (with Alan driving) for a walk… but it was raining! Stopped for lunch at The Bull and Butcher pub, which is near the windmill ![]() > In the evening we drove behind Alan & family to a nearby Indian Punjab restaurant in Slough, called the “Exotic Karahi” for an awesome dinner!! I washed it down with a large Kingfisher beer ;) |
Monday, September 11th (Visiting the Cotswolds)
> We arose & checked out around 8:30am, driving west to Castle Combe via the M4, etc… those damned “skinny” roads in England were (as ever!!) *very* hard for me to drive!! A snap of one of the older cottages ![]() and some of the flowers around town:
> We took a nice walk around the village of Castle Combe; I snapped Sandy ![]() > I then managed to trip on the step as I left the toilets ![]() Luckily enough, Sandy had bandaids & some woobie-cream, immediately helping prevent any infections ;) ![]() > I limped back up the hill ![]() > We checked into our Air-B&B at 1 Mouse Trap Lane ![]() ![]() We then walked around a little, albeit a tad tricky with my bruised knee/lower back!! > We wanted to have a late lunch at the pub right next to our B&B, the Mousetrap Inn… if you click & watch the video, rotation ends up at our B&B!! Sadly, they weren’t serving so we walked (well, I limped!) into town & had lunch at The Willow > We later walked to the Rose Tree Restaurant by the river in town for dinner by the river… a delight!!
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Tuesday, September 12th > We traveled (in light rain) to Blenheim Palace, the largest palace in Britain, which is Winston Churchill’s family home—it was used to film the Bridgerton series ![]() ![]() We visited and Sandy caught several snaps:
I also caught a great (published) view of the palace & gardens… |
Wednesday, September 13th (Visited Yorkshire)
> We checked out & departed around 9am, driving 1st to the nearby Upper Slaughter village where we parked at St Peter’s Church (where I stayed in the car) Sandy then had a lovely walk to Lower Slaughter & back (view the map?) ![]() > We drove on for a couple hours up to the city of York… our 1st visit en rout was to the destroyed Abbey
> We drove into York, parked & went into the city…
> We got on the “Hop-on-Hop-off” bus to ride around town
> We stopped off of the bus for a visit to a Viking memorial, the Jorvik Museum where, after walking across the actual residual relics (held below glass in the original grounds), we took the ride seeing several areas… snapped a few views of a a great ride!!
> After the visit, we were waiting for the bus in front of Clifford’s Tower ![]() > We left York, driving north to Aislaby & checked into our Air-B&B… a view of their gardens from the upstairs room ![]() > Dinner a little later out at the Middleton Arms in town, where I had Curried Chicken!! | |||||||||||||||
Thursday, September 14th (our trip mid-point!!)
> After breakfast we drove to the Rievaulx Abbey on the Yorkshire Moors, another destroyed place… Sandy left me in the car (as I wasn’t walking too much!!) and went into the Abbey, capturing some of the most stunning snaps (online) of her visit! |
![]() The Abbey |
![]() Another view |
![]() The arches |
![]() Sandy looking back in |
![]() The Yorkshire Moors |
![]() A stone wall & sheep |
![]() The hills |
![]() Flowers |
![]() More flowers |
![]() A close up |
Friday, September 15th (Visited Scotland)
> We checked out & drove up to Jedburgh (via Whitby on the coast, ~3.5-4 hours), checking-in to Ferniehirst Castle…
> There were stairs everywhere (some were simply **agonizingly** small!), others just really difficult w/my smashed left knee -but- we got a good room! > View the collection of snaps that were caught over the weekend!! > Evening festivities began with Jackie & Steve arriving, surprising him upon his entry!! (click to download the video/view) We then celebrated & went out for a pub visit & an Indian Dinner | ||||
Saturday, September 16th
> A Continental breakfast was provided for us by the castle kitchens... great coffee!! > Sandy spent the day out (I stayed in as I was not in walking mode!!), visiting Jedburgh Abbey and Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott > At 7:00pm the festivities & dinner with Jackie & Steve started; click the Bagpipes to watch him play? Awesome young lad!! | ||||
Sunday, September 17th
> We had a Continental breakfast again (same), said farewell to all & packed up/checked out > We left for Edinburgh at around 9am (driving in the rain), parked and took the Hop-on-Hop-off bus & a walking tour of Old Towne
> Stayed overnight near to the airport in The Bridge Inn where I had an enjoyable pint or 2 at the pub & dinner!! Slept well, too!! |
Monday, September 18th (in London)
> Up early at 7:00am, we turned in our car & flew down to Heathrow, British Air flight 1439… pretty tricky as there were delays!! > We landed at 10:50am, jumped on the Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station & checked in to the Hilton Hotel > We took a 2-mile stroll into Hyde Park, visiting Diana and Kensington palace
> After we relaxed, we had dinner at the Carriages Restaurant in our hotel, starting with a (deeeeelicious!!) Burrata cheese, cauliflower wings (Indian flavored) & an awesome Ceaser Salad with a splash of chicken… embedded anchovies too—urch!! | ||||
Tuesday, September 19th
> We met up with our friends, Jim & Bev and has some afternoon fun at St. Pauls Cathedral, etc
> After bidding farewell to our friends, we headed for our booked 5:00pm dinner at Clos Maggiore, a French restaurant with an awesome wine list! > After dinner, we headed to the 7:30pm show “The Book of Mormon” at the Prince of Wales theater where we had booked seats -- great show, very funny! | ||||
Wednesday, September 20th
> Sandy departed our hotel at 9am for a 2+hours visit to the Churchill War Room
> At 11:30-ish I met Alan & AK at the Mad Bishop & Bear for lunch (right next to our hotel!)… Sandy joined us after her visit & we had a lovely session!! > We then spent the afternoon / evening relaxing!! | ||||
Thursday, September 21st (our last day)
> We departed early for LHR on the Paddington Station express, arriving on time > After checking in, we ran into Aaron Kerr at the airport ![]() > At 4:15pm or so we arrived in Atlanta, went through customs, Global Entry, etc successfully > Took a Taxi Home, but traffic took us 90+ minutes!! Such a rush to arrive!! |