Travel and HDYGG in Worcester

During our travels in the UK, Peter and I have not only visited the areas where our family and friends live, but we've also revisited areas where we've previously lived and worked.

I've not been into Worcester since 2013 when I spent most of my time at the courts and with solicitors evicting tenants from our property in Malvern. Prior to that I worked in the city at the college. Peter's last visit here was prior to us leaving the UK in January 2011.

In some ways nothing has really changed, but we both noticed the addition of  a travel lodge at the cricket ground and the demolition of the old one in the city. 

We've only visited the Cathedral a handful of times, the last time was probably for my Graduation in 2007.

The city centres are full of brightly coloured flowers and displays, we've really noticed how many trees there are in the cities and how much green and open space there is, something we don't see a lot of in Dubai and we're very much enjoying.

Gardens around the UK, Dubai, South Africa and Canada with #HDYGG

September took hubby and I to the UK for just over 2 weeks. The main purpose of our trip was child 4 of 5 passing out parade in Catterick.

I travelled for the first few days on my own, arriving in Birmingham and travelling up to Manchester, then over to Bradford where I stayed on a farm, a day out in York with child 3 of 5 and then collecting hubby from the train station in Thirsk.

We then drove down to South Wales where we were based for the rest of our stay with an overnight stay in Lyme Regis with friends.

I haven't seen any other weather other than summer for over 12 months, since moving from South Africa to Dubai in December last year, although winter in Dubai when we arrived it is very similar to a UK summer but without the rain. I visited the UK late April for my niece's wedding and the weather was wonderful and then spent 3 weeks in Canada. I'm off to South Africa next week where it's the end of spring and start of summer.

The gardens I've visited the past 12 months have been wonderful from the Dubai Miracle Gardens in Dubai, Catherine's Garden in Canada, Spring in the Western Cape and of course my Mum's garden twice this year in South Wales.

The towns and cities I've visited were still all in full bloom and looked wonderful.

Birmingham

Allotments in the car park in Saltaire, Bradford

Tewkesbury

Gloucester Cathedral

Bridport, Dorset

Beer, Devon

Thirsk, Yorkshire

York

The Gardens at the B&B in Bradford on the farm

The garden at the B&B in Thirsk

With our daughter on a stroll through Keynsham, Bristol

The Country Lanes of the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire

Woodland walks and berry picking

These fir trees were planted by my Mum and Dad at our old house in York in 1976

The Crematorium in Newport where my Gran's ashes are

Log piles

Farmers Markets

My mum's garden

A visit to Yorkshire

Last month I visited the UK for a couple of days on my own before hubby flew over to join me for child 4 of 5 passing out parade with the British Army. I flew into Birmingham and drove to Manchester for the first night to visit relatives then the following day I drove to Yorkshire.

I lived in York from the age of 5 - 11, child 3 of 5 has lived in Leeds for the past 2 years and child 4 of 5 has spent the last 6 months in Catterick. In the past 2 years I've visited child 3 a couple of times in Leeds when I've been in the UK and on a couple of other trips he's come down to my parents in South Wales.

Hotels in Leeds are very expensive and then there is an additional charge for parking. As my son was working long hours, I decided to stay in a B&B on Model Farm just outside Bradford and after checking in, I drove to nearby Saltaire for a walk around the village which is a World Heritage Site and visited the converted Mills.

As I was travelling solo I didn't update my whereabouts until I had moved onto my next destination, I missed out on a few coffee invites, but the most important thing was that I stayed safe while travelling solo.

My son was fed up with Leeds city centre so after collecting him from his new apartment with fantastic views of the Leeds-Liverpool canal we set off to York for the day.

We walked York's city walls, did a spot of shopping and had lunch by the River Ouse. He caught the train back to Leeds and I drove into Thirsk where hubby and I were spending the night.

I had to collect hubby from the train station at 10pm and arrived at Kirkgate House Hotel around 6pm. It was a shame Thirsk was closed as it was a lovely town and I walked around the church, the park, the town and round in a big loop.

After the passing out parade we drove back over to Manchester for the night to visit hubbies family and the area he grew up in. We arrived in South Wales on the Saturday and spent the rest of our holiday in the South West.

The weather had been wonderful for the few days I was in Yorkshire, it was lovely to see so much greenery and flowers after being in the desert.

For the past 5 years most of our time away from the house has been spent indoors. In South Africa, apart from safaris and dog walks, we were in malls due to safety issues. In Dubai we are indoors when out of the house due to the relentless heat.

I really appreciated being able to walk around the villages, towns and cities and can certainly see now why so many tourists visit the UK from abroad every year.