Category Archives: Surrey

Rolling blog: back to Yorkshire…

28 Saturday Dec 2019

Posted by in Rolling blogs, Surrey, Tilford, Travel, West Yorkshire

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08:15.

We’ve been up since 07:00 having breakfast and finishing packing up the chalet to begin the drive back to Yorkshire later today. This could be interesting as Dawn and her parents may have left a lot of presents behind, but they’ve gained a load too and now there’s me and my camera bag to fit into the vehicle! This could get cosy!

Fortunately, the weather’s looking OK. We’ve a mild but cloudy day to look forward to with no rain forecast anywhere on the 4 hour drive back to West Yorkshire – although as we’ll be stopping off on the way for coffee and lunch we’ll be on the road for longer than that. Let’s see how this goes…

10:00.

It all fits! Mind you, you should see what’s in with the rest of us in the passenger saloon…

So, it’s goodbye to the chalet that’s been our home for the past week.

Next stop, coffee with Darren & the kids in Farnham…

11:45.

Fuelled – up on coffee, pain au raison and having bid adieu to the Surrey branch of Dawn’s family it’s time to hit the road, thankful that we’ve dodged the elderly idiot in a Bentley who nealy caused a crash in the Waitrose car park! Well, it would be, wouldn’t it?

12:35.

We’ve just come off the M4 at Junction 13 to head cross-country on the A34. Apart from the ever-busy M4 the roads have been surprisingly quiet allowing us to make good time.

13:15.

Well, the A34’s lived down to expectations! Despite the general lack of HGV traffic on the roads this route is a main freight artery to/from the busy port of Southampton. Add in the fact Oxford’s saturated with cars and the A34’s the town’s by-pass we’ve now got snarled up in heavy traffic.

14:50.

We made it through the traffic before flitting along an equally congested M40 for one junction then headed up a less busy A43 to reach the M1 where traffic was heavy Southbound but reasonable (for the M1) heading North.

We’re now having a pit-stop at Watford Gap services. The busiest of the eateries here is the one I never use anyway – McDonald’s, where folk tap in their orders to touchscreens before queuing for their burgers. Whilst Dawn and her folks relaxed in the adjacent Costa coffee I went for a wander and took this shot looking North up the M1.

The M1 at Watford Gap. Surprisingly quiet.

19:06.

Home! The rest of the journey wasn’t bad at all. Traffic thinned out the further North we got and the only surprise was when we passed above the car parks of the Meadowhall Shopping Centre outside of Sheffield. They were absolutely rammed!

Leaving the M1 at Junction 35a we headed over to Huddersfield to drop off ‘the folks’ and their bags, then (considerably lighter) we drove cross-country back to home. Despite it being Saturday night, life in West Yorkshire seems quite subdued. Most of the restaurants and pubs we passed were mostly empty. Presumably people are hording what money they’ve got left from the Christmas excesses for New Year. I can’t say either of us are going to be painting the town red tonight either. The moggie needs some TLC and there’s plenty to sort out before year (and decade) end…

Christmas draws to a close.

27 Friday Dec 2019

Posted by in Musings, Surrey, Tilford

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Today’s our final day in Surrey before heading back to Yorkshire tomorrow and it feels like the country’s starting to emerge from its festive hibernation. Trains have resumed running, the stock markets have re-opened and the shops have resumed their sales after having a less than merry Christmas. That said, you could tell that social media was still suffering from a slow news day. My timeline was full of folks outraged by a QC admitting he’d killed a fox with a baseball bat to protect his chickens whilst others were having an attack of the vapours because the “Gavin and Stacey” Xmas special on TV had used the original lyrics of the Pogues song which included the word “faggot”. Ho ho ho…

After a slow start due to the gloomy, overcast weather the four of us ventured into Farnham to collect some groceries and also check out some of the sales. The town’s not blessed with the panoply of outlets that nearby Guildford can boast of but it still has more than many. I managed to pick up a very nice long-sleeved polo shirt from ‘Fatface’ for £20, which was 50% cheaper than a few days ago. To be honest, I’d rather have piles than go shopping, but when needs must at least getting a bargain takes the sting out of things!

Despite the sales Farnham seemed fairly subdued. There certainly wasn’t the frenetic activity I’d seen just before Christmas when it seemed folks were stockpiling for the Zombie Apocalypse more than anything else (Firearms excepted, obviously). The busiest place we encountered was the nearby by-pass which had all the haste of a funeral cortege.

We’re now back at my brother-in-law’s after a quick visit to the local pub. The parents are dozing in the TV room, the kids are holed-up in their bedrooms playing on various electronic devices and I’m sat in front of the fire with the dog whilst typing this. Meanwhile, Dawn and Darren are busy in the kitchen preparing chicken chasseur. I’m on stand-by for washing-up and veg-peeling duties if needed but they seem to have everything under control.

Such is Christmas here in Tilford…

Surrey sojourn.

24 Tuesday Dec 2019

Posted by in Flooding, Musings, Surrey, Tilford, Travel

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It’s Christmas Eve and the Platt family and I have congregated in Surrey, where Darren, my brother-in-law lives with his family. As it’s Darren’s son Sam’s 12th birthday we’re all off to a Spanish restaurant in Guildford to celebrate.

Considering the time of year the weather’s surprisingly mild – if wet! The amount of flooded roads and sodden fields has dropped since we arrived a couple of days ago, but there’s more rain forecast, which could make the traditional Boxing Day stroll a bit of a challenge. You need wellies, not walking boots around here right now.

Even without the rain it’s a challenge to get around as Tilford is partially cut-off do to one of the two bridges over the river Wey that provides access to the village is closed for rebuilding. A temporary pedestrian bridge has been built to allow folk to get to vital services like the local pub, but for vehicles the detour adds miles to the journey. The bridge is expected to remain closed until late 2020, which is causing a lot of grief. I’ll add some pictures later when I get time.

Rolling blog: Heading North again

04 Wednesday Apr 2018

Posted by in Surrey, Travel, West Yorkshire

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Our Surrey sojourn ends today so the weather’s decided to change. We were greeted by clear skies and sunshine this morning although we were actually woken up by a bat! Somehow one of the little critters had got into the barn, waking Dawn up by crashing into a window blind as it flew up and down the room. I had to get up, open the door and wait for it to find its way out before deciding it wasn’t worth going back to bed and fired up the laptop to edit all the rail pictures I took in Guildford yesterday. The town’s a busy junction on the main line to Portsmouth. There’s two lines to London (one via Epsom) plus regular services to Reading, Redhill, Ascot and Haselmere as well as a daily Arriva Cross-Country service to/from Newcastle upon Tyne. Here’s a sample of what will appear on my Zenfolio website this evening.

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450548 threads its way through the complex trackwork at the entrance to Guildford station yesterday

We’ll be driving back later this morning so I’ll write a rolling blog of the journey. Looking at the weather forecast it seems we’ll be leaving the sunshine behind in the South and heading into heavy rain back home, which means it might be an ‘interesting’ trip.

Before we left we had to pop in and say goodbye to someone. Regular readers of this blog will know that my sister-in-law Jo Platt lost her long battle with cancer last December. Jo’s buried in the churchyard in Tilford.

12.06

The good weather didn’t last. By the time we’d reached the M4 we were back in low cloud and rain. Soon we were engulfed in spray as we negotiated the roadworks for the few miles we were on the motorway.

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The situation wasn’t much better on the Northbound A34. There’s a lot of water on the road. What there’s also a lot of is dead badgers. We saw over half a dozen on our way up the A34 and A43.

14.01.

We’re currently taking a break at Watford Gap services. The place is packed with cars and lorries on the Northbound side, plus this visitor which took me completely by surprise. Luckily, Dawn saw it arrive.

15.48.

We’ve just pulled off the M1 at jn 35a. It’s good to be off the motorway. It’s been very busy and the road conditions have put a strain on Dawn due to the heavy showers, spray and motorway muppets needed her full attention.

Looking at the lumpen skies we’re in for more heavy rain yet.

You can tell it’s a bank holiday, it’s raining!

02 Monday Apr 2018

Posted by in Food and drink, Surrey, Tilford, Travel

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Well unless you’re back in Yorkshire and other parts of the North where it’s been snowing. Here in Surrey we’ve not seen any of the white stuff – just plenty of rain. Due to the weather we’ve had another relaxing day which kicked off with brunch in Farnham where the family were met by a friend and her sun for a leisurely brunch.

Afterwards we returned to Tilford where the local pub (the Barley Mow) was having an event to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Royal Air Force. The Farnham Brass band played in the beer garden whilst inside a variety of musicians, singers and dancers entertained in the warm and dry! I had to feel sorry for the brass band as the conditions were less than ideal. With Easter being late this year you would have hoped for better weather, but then – that’s bank holidays for you! Here’s a few pictures from the pub.

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The fact the beer garden’s empty and the band are wrapped up warm gives the (weather) game away…

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Good job ‘Singing in the Rain’ was part of the bands repertoire!

The weather may not have defeated the brass band but it certainly encouraged us to retreat into the warmth of the pub where we stayed to hear ‘The bunker girls‘ (who’d come all the way from the Isle of Wight) belt out a few old tunes.

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‘The bunker girls’ belt out a few tunes…

We’re enjoying another foodie evening tonight as we’re off to a Thai restaurant in Guildford…

Happy Easter folks!

31 Saturday Mar 2018

Posted by in Photojournalism, Surrey, Travel

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Greetings from soggy Surrey! Yesterday was a bit of a washout as the rain meant my camera stayed in its bag all day. Instead I had a relaxed day with my wife’s family doing nothing much at all – although I did manage to re-edit a few archive pictures, just to keep my hand in. I still have several hundred old pictures that used to be on my former Photopic site that I’ve not had chance to add to my new Zenfolio website. That said, I’m lucky, 99% of my pictures were backed-up on hard-drives so when Fotopic suddenly pulled the plug I didn’t lose out – unlike many people who hadn’t kept their pictures safe elsewhere. I still curse the people who destroyed the vast Photopic website. It was a rich social and historical archive with a worldwide base that’s been lost because they had no idea of its historical value. Here’s one of the pictures I was editing. Class 42 number 42-2718 (Luxembourg number 5519) at Eisenach, Germany in the early hours of a February morning in 2007.

FDG05167. 5519. Eisenach. Germany. 11.2.07

Today we’ve been up early, preparing the evening meal before we join a group of friends for an amble around Tilford which (inevitably) will end up in a pub somewhere. I’ve been helping Dawn prepare this leg of lamb which will be slow roasted whilst we’re out..

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I hope you and yours have an enjoyable Easter. I should be back later with a few more pictures…

SUNDAY UPDATE.

Despite the gloomy weather yesterday’s walk had a good turnout, especially amongst the younger members of the Tilford troop who had a wonderful day rushing headlong through all the massive puddles we encountered en-route. The fun they had in such innocent pleasures took me back to my own childhood. The rain stayed away right until we stopped for a break at a local pub (The Duke of Cambridge) then the drizzle arrived briefly, but cleared before we moved on to the final leg which took us back into the village. Here’s a few pictures from the walk.

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Strolling along the banks of a very full River Wey

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The depth of some of the puddles meant a snorkel would’ve been more useful than wellies…

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A game for all the family…

Enjoying a post walk drink at the Barley Mow, Tilford.

Whilst we’d been out walking, the lamb had been cooking slowly for several hours. When we got home and checked the oven, this is what we found…

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Cooked to perfection…

Dawn had prepared a two different desserts to finish off the evening. The Lemon Meringue pie proved especially popular and didn’t last long!

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Taking a break in Tilford

08 Saturday Aug 2015

Posted by in Air Travel, Surrey, Tilford

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We’re spending the weekend with my partners brother and his family down in Tilford in Surrey. It’s one of those very pretty English villages loved by crime writers and airline adverts. There’s cricket on the green outside the local pub. How many hostelries are there when you can you sit outside facing the crease, supping a pint whilst keeping a wary eye out for the occasional errant cricket ball that careens off the pub like a cannonball? Another side of the green is bordered by a meandering stream where the kids go to splash & swim whilst their parents sit with picnics & prosecco. The old single track, stone arched bridge across it is guarded by a huge world war 2 concrete pillbox which would make a great location for ‘Dads Army’ – or a local branch HQ for UKIP. On the far side of the green is a lovely village hall which was designed by Sir Edward Lutyens (his ambitions didn’t stop with village halls as he later went on to design that jewel in the Empire’s crown & capital of the Raj: New Delhi). It’s all, terribly, terribly English!

Quintessentially English, cricket on the village green outside the local pub

Quintessentially English, cricket on the village green outside the local pub