England 2016- Beacon Hill

There is something very comforting about taking long walks when you are sad and stressed. In the days after my father-in-law passed away, Dan and I took several walks in the English countryside. The first walk was to the top of Beacon Hill, which is just a short drive from Dan's hometown of Newbury.

The weather was unusually sunny and hot during our visit. It was early June, but coming from Los Angeles, I think anything lower than 80 degrees is cold! Personally, I like to think that my father-in-law had something to do with making the weather nice for us, because dreary weather would have been too much to bear. Unfortunately, we had packed for cooler weather, so we were absolutely drenched in sweat during our walks. It doesn't take long to walk to the top of Beacon Hill, but it is steep. We kept stopping to take pictures ( really to catch our breath) along the way.

Beacon Hill overlooks Highclere Castle, which may sound familiar as it was used in the BBC Series, Downton Abbey. It was also where Dan proposed to me in 2013! Look closely and you can see both Highclere Castle and the stables.

The grave of the former owner of Highclere Castle, George Herbert the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, is located at the top of Beacon Hill. Herbert was a famed Egyptologist and was with Howard Carter during the discovery of the tomb of King Tut. Herbert died of an infected mosquito bite, which only fueled the rumor of a curse from the tomb.

Here are a few more shots from the top.

My favorite shot!

And the steep walk back down.

The walk to the top of Beacon Hill was beautiful and can easily be accomplished by anyone with a level moderate fitness. Make sure to bring sturdy shoes and water!

UK August-October 2013- The Swan and Kiki's Cafe

Swans are very popular in England. It seems like every town has a pub or inn with a "Swan" in the name. The Mute Swan, once a popular delicacy, is now endanger and is under protection of the queen. Swans strut around the city parks like they own the place, prideful with their name splashed all over everything and the queen having their back. Swans might be worse than flamingoes.

Enough about birds, on to the food.

As far as I know, Newbury only has one pub named The Swan Inn. Dan and I had a last adult only dinner there, before the kids arrived from Sweden.

The Swan Inn has a great vibe. Half of the restaurant still has a traditional feel, while the other half has been modernized and is very bright with large windows letting in natural light. There are bookcases on the wall and this restaurant feels like a place where it would be okay to linger beyond your meal.

We ordered off the special two course menu. To start, we shared the Cured Ham and Figs plate, a winning combo. My main was the Grilled Chicken and Blue Vinney Salad. Dan ordered the Pork and Herb Sausages. We ended with two scoops of Honeycomb Ice Cream for dessert. As I've mentioned in previous posts, the Honeycomb Ice Cream needs to find its way to America. I loved it and if anyone can point me to a place that sells it in Southern California, I'll buy you a cone!

At the opposite end of the restaurant spectrum, we ate breakfast at a greasy spoon called Kiki's Cafe.

Kiki's Cafe caught our attention because of their road sign trying to entice tour buses to stop at their restaurant. The restaurant is super tiny, far too small for a large tour group and they have a parking lot that couldn't hold more than a handful of vehicles, let alone a bus. Plus, other than maybe Highclere Castle, we couldn't figure out where a tour bus might be headed. It was weird, but it peaked our interest and after driving past it for a week, we had breakfast.

Kiki's Cafe does a cheap, no frills, hearty breakfast. It's good food and run by nice people. A great local find.

UK August-October 2013- Highclere Castle ( Our Engagement)

I'm a huge fan of Downton Abbey (who isn't?) and the real life mansion where the show is filmed, Highclere Castle, is located just a short drive from Dan's hometown of Newbury. When we visited last May, it was closed for the season, so I put it on the must-do list for our end of summer trip.

The biggest thing that you need to know before you visit Highclere Castle is it will be crowded. Extremely crowded. Claustrophobic crowded. The TV show has made this a very popular tourist attraction. They do sell advance tickets, but those were gone months in advance, so we had to rely on their daily allotment of walk-up tickets that are available in the afternoon. We crossed our fingers that we would be able to get in.

When we arrived, the parking lot was jammed with cars and tour buses. Highclere Castle rivals Westminster Abbey for the most crowded UK tourist attraction.

Highclere Castle is owned by the Carnarvon family, which garnered fame through the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, who had a keen interest in Egyptology and was instrumental in the expedition that discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamun in 1922. Currently the castle has an Egyptology exhibition, which is included in the highest level ticket price for twenty pounds. We opted for the thirteen pound tickets, that gave us entry to the estate and the gardens.

The fan-girl in me started to get giddy as we walked down the pebbled driveway to Highclere Castle.

As I previously mentioned, Highclere Castle is a tourist trap. If you're a fan of Downton Abbey, you will love it. The entire self-guided tour is centered around the television series. Several of the rooms have placards explaining which scenes/characters utilize the particular space. For example the sitting room had a placard with a picture of actor Hugh Bonneville and a statement about how Lord Grantham can often be found reading in this room. It's like visiting a movie set. I kept expecting Lady Mary to walk around the corner. There is very little information on the History of the property or on the architecture. It's a departure from the other castles/estates that we visited during our trip. It was more expensive, more crowded and far less impressive.

On the second floor, we found a framed floor plan of the building that referred to Highclere as "Highclere House". I have no idea when they started calling it a castle, but it felt like a fraud. This said, I have no idea what makes an estate a castle, other than maybe fortification? Highclere was not fortified. It had some sheep.

The fan in me loved seeing the house, but on a whole, it was a big let down. We were not allowed to take pictures inside, but I took many of the gardens, which were lovely. We managed to quickly tour them, before the storm clouds started dropping buckets of rain.

By far, the best part of our visit to Highclere Castle was when Dan proposed in a field of flowers behind the estate. It was gorgeous and the one place on the property where we had complete privacy. It couldn't have been more romantic or more perfect.

Lastly, Dan took this beautiful panorama shot of Highclere Castle.