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 the South West of England

Although based in Monmouth for a week on our UK holiday with my parents, we spent our time visiting our children in Gloucestershire. We'd visited children 3 & 4 of 5 in Yorkshire the first week of our trip.

Child 1of 5 is in Gloucester, 2 of 5 is in Coleford in the Forest of Dean, 4 of 5 is in Lydney staying with his grandmother after his passing out parade while he was waiting for his new posting and 5 of 5 is at Boarding School in Tewkesbury.

We spent our time visiting castles, museums, the beach, cathedrals, walking down country lanes, through graveyards and stopping in pubs for lunches on route. We were tourists in our home country for 2 weeks.

We visited the kids in the day and took them out around the area they live in. We also took child 1 to hubbies mother who lives in Keynsham, Bristol.

It's only when we return to the UK that we realise how beautiful the country is and what we miss in our lives as expats. Old buildings, landscapes, woods, town centres instead of malls, the light evenings and a variety of weather. We were fortunate with the weather and it only rained for 2 of the days we were visiting.

Our last weekend was spent with friends of hubby who live in Dorset and we travelled into Devon also.

There wasn't enough time to see everyone and do everything we wanted to, there were many places we drove through on our way to and from the kids but just didn't have the time to stop off.

We'd love to have a holiday to the UK that doesn't involve so much visiting before we return there to live in a few years, as we know the reality of living somewhere new is just routine, pretty much like our lives in Dubai.