Past Trip: England 1998, The Barbie Tour

In 1998, we took our third trip to England. This time we were joining up with some members of the Land Rover Club to which we belong and we were going to the Billings Land Rover Festival and also touring the Land Rover Factory. It was also our youngest child's first trip to the UK. She had brought her Barbie and lots of outfits. Barbie had fun.

Barfly Barbie having a pint

Highlights:

• Ride back from the Land Rover Festival in a Jaguar (a real one)
• Land Rover Festival
• Land Rover Factory tour
• Watching the "Big Breakfast" almost every morning
• Castles
• Beer

Sights we Saw:
London (4 days)

Tower Bridge Barbie

• Hop-On Hop-Off Bus tour
• The Royal Mews - housing the Queen's state vehicles
• Buckingham Palace, Changing of the Guard (abridged version)
• Changing of the House Guards, the extended cut.
• Tower Bridge Exhibition
• Covent Garden
• Toy and Model museum

Household Calvary, The Blues and Royals, love those boots.

Tonbridge (1 day)

Heaver Castle Courtyard

• Heaver Castle (Gardens, water maze, hedge maze) One hundred additional rooms were added behind the main Castle in the form of a Tudor village. It included Visitor rooms, Servant's quarters and the Estate offices.
• Tonbridge Castle ruins

Sevenoaks (1 day)

• Knole House - Beautiful courtyards, much quoted fact "365 rooms, 52 staircases and 7 courtyards" I didn't count. Tis a big 'ouse.

Salisbury (1 day)

Cloister at Salisbury Cathedral

• Book shoppes
• An exciting jumble of half timbered black and white buildings and brick buildings and more modern structures.
• Salisbury Cathedral - Britain's tallest spire, sat through the end of a service, the choir was very good.
• Market

Avebury (2 days)
The Stone circle at Avebury is better than Stonehenge and it has a pub in the center of the stone circle to boot. We walked from Avebury to Silbury hill (1/2 mile) to West Kennet Long Barrow(1 mile) and then back to Avebury (1.5 miles).

• Stone Circle - you can walk around the stones and hug them and dance around them.
• Silbury Hill - a big hill covered with grass which you are not supposed to ascend.
• West Kennet Long Barrow - long chambered burial mound. 
• West Kennet Avenue - pairs of large stones leading away(?) from Avebury to another neolithic site, The Sanctuary. There are not any stones left at The Sanctuary though.
• Crop Circle - we went to investigate one and were chased by an in-bred farmer and I fell over a gate into a pile of shite.
• Alexander Keiller Archeology Museum - not very big, but was free because we had the Great British Heritage Pass. It actually had some interesting exhibits.

Oxford (1 day)
On the bus from Avebury, the younger was briefly stranded on the bus at the depot when she didn't stop reading when she was told. We got off and the door shut and she was briefly locked in. The old ladies queuing for the next bus all went "aaah". Later that day the eldest passed out while we were waiting to book a room at the Tourist Information Center in Oxford. She met a doctor though, too bad she was too young.

• market, I bought an alto recorder, it is only slightly less annoying than my soprano recorders.
• Guide Friday Hop-On Hop-Off  bus tour
• Blackwell's Bookstore

Northhampton (2 days)
Mainly stayed here to be close to the Land Rover Festival, it was the 50th Anniversary of the Land Rover. Walked around the town, saw one of Britain's 4 round Churches. Had lunch in a dark smokey pub "The Wedgewood" and walked around some more.

I applied for the Camel Trophy, but my application apparently failed to impress.

• Land Rover Festival at Billing's Aquadrome. Saw more Land Rovers in one place than I ever had before. Saw demos and new products for Land Rovers and lots of used parts. Even the kids had fun.

Expedition Barbie

Warwick (2 days) Pronounced "Warick"

• Warwick Castle
• Warwick 4x4 Land Rover Shop
• Cadbury Factory tour with a ride that reminded me of "It's a Small World"
• Land Rover Factory Tour and Special Vehicles Tour

Lodging:
Windermere Hotel, Victoria, London
  We had stayed here on our last trip and it started to be "our" hotel, till we discovered the London Elizabeth.
St. Mary's Guest House, Tonbridge

  Small fire the morning we left, the cooker had gone ablaze, thank goodness for fire blankets.

The Moorings Hotel, Sevenoaks
  The owners were none too friendly.
Hayburn Wyke, Salisbury
  These people were very nice and helpful and not just in comparison to the previous hoteliers.
The Old Vicarage, High Street, Avebury
  The girls had their own room and it was reported that the younger fell out of bed.  The Landlady had a lot of rules and was too busy plotting world domination to provide us with new towels.
The Beaumont, Oxford
The Coach House Hotel, Northhampton
Ashburton Guest House, Warwick
Barry House Hotel, London
    So bad we fled the next day to a hotel across the street.
The Alexandra Hotel, London

Pubs:
Shakespeare , London, lunch.
Henry VIII, near Heaver Castle, for a drink awaiting a cab.
Primrose, Tonbridge, dinner.

Haunch of Venison, Salisbury, dinner. I had a haunch of venison. There were no plumb or level surfaces throughout the whole building. They supposedly had a mummified hand found during some reconstruction. I forgot to look for it.
Red Lion, Avebury, lunch, dinner, dinner.
Folly Bridge Inn, Oxford. Dinner.
The Wedgewood, Northampton, now Momo. Lunch.
The Crown Hotel, now the Crown and Castle, Warwick. Dinner.
The Dickens Tavern, London.
The Sawyer's Arms, London.

14 days
$1 = 0.61GBP
1229 GBP expenses, 87GBP/day
1036 GBP lodging

1998 Trip Expenses (2 Adults, 2 children)
$2384 - air fare
$  630 - Britrail Flexi Pass rail pass 8 days in 1 month, (1 adult/1 child $315)
$2003 - daily expenses
$1688 - lodging
$6705 - Total