England 2018: Beale Wildlife Park

Beale Wildlife Park is located very close to my husband’s hometown and every time we visit England, we would drive past the road sign. I often wondered about Beale Park and imagined it to be another Highclere Castle type of estate. It turns out, it is an actual park, with amazing gardens and animals. Beale Park is exactly the type of place that I love and we finally visited it on our 2018 trip.

On a Saturday afternoon, Dan, Jan (my mother-in-law), and I, spent a few hours at Beale Wildlife Park. The parking lot is massive, but luckily it was not very crowded, even for a sunny weekend.

Admission prices were fair: 11 pounds for adults and 9.50 for seniors.

I’m not sure about the connection, but the front of the park a single old poster for Titanic. It also had a sweet drawing and thank you message from local children.

Peacocks, whether art or the real-deal, were all over Beale Wildlife Park. They were definitely the park mascot!

We started by walking around the various themed gardens, which were in transition between spring and summer. The abundance of statues, especially lion statues, was quite impressive!

We took a refreshment break at a quick-serve restaurant in the park. British cakes and sandwiches are the best. I don’t know why they are so much better than their American counterparts?

Refreshed, we moved on to the animals. The animal section, which included many smaller animals, like birds and guinea pigs, also had some monkeys. The lemurs were adorable. I always love animals, but this is where the concentration of visitors had gathered, including many excited children, so we just took a brief look. This part of the park, also had a children’s train and playground.

I can imagine that if I lived nearby, that I would be a frequent visitor to Beale Wildlife Park. It is a wonderful place for the whole family, a great escape from urban life. The park is big enough, that you can explore the grounds and truly feel like you are alone with nature.

England 2018: Windsor Castle

For many years, Windsor Castle had been on my bucket list and I was finally able to visit it during my 2018 trip. I had been to the town of Windsor twice, including standing across from the castle at a pizza shop, but this was my first time being a proper tourist at the castle.

My mother-in-law, Jan, was my companion for the trip. I had been staying with her at her home in Newbury, (about forty-five minutes from Windsor) and my sister-in-law, Ali, generously drove us to the castle. It was a very wet morning, just a few weeks after the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry to Megan Markle. Wedding decorations still filled the streets of Windsor and I think this lent an air of festiveness to the town. It also meant that there was a lot of security present, so much so, that my family made a comment on it being unusual.

I’m not sure how crowded Windsor Castle normally is, but we waited nearly two hours to get inside. It was jammed. The queue snaked around the town and we got quite soaked from the rain. Thank goodness my mother-in-law, who passed in 2019, was an adventurous spirit and always a good sport about joining me for activities. I have so many great memories of my time with her. One of those memories was from this day and involved carrots. More on that in a minute, here are a few pictures that I took during our time in the queue.

So carrots…during this trip, my mother-in-law received her local farm produce box and it included an abundance of carrots. We basically began to eat carrots for every meal, including one meal that was simply roasted carrots. She brought carrots in her purse for a snack at Windsor Castle and while in the queue, she brought out a full-sized, a straight from the farm carrot and started eating it. I must mention that my mother-in-law was a vegetarian for most of her life and she could be an eccentric personality. She ate half the carrot and stuck the remainder in her coat pocket, forgetting about it.

We continued to make our way to the entrance.

I purchased our tickets, mine was 23.50 and Jan’s ticket (senior discount) was 21.20. We had an audio tour included in the admission price. Jan was not fond of audio tours, so I found myself not using mine either, as I wanted to share the experience with her.

Prior to entering the castle grounds, we had to go through an airport-style security screening. I suspect this is what creates such a long queue and as such, I definitely recommend arriving to Windsor Castle prior to opening. To do it again, I would have arrived an hour before opening.

Jan went through the screening first and they discovered the carrot in her pocket. Instead of throwing it away, she just started eating it, holding up the line. The people behind us were grumpy, but the security guard couldn’t have been more kind. He told her to take her time and that he preferred carrot cake. He gave her a chair to sit on. When she was finished and walked through the screening, he told me that he thought she was fabulous. I felt grateful that he didn't rush us or make Jan feel stressed. it really set the tone for a wonderful visit to Windsor Castle.

The castle grounds are gorgeous. Since we ditched the audio tour, I didn’t know the significance of half of the things that I was looking at, but I admired them all the same. Windsor Castle was built in the 11th century and it is still an active royal residence. It has the distinction of being the oldest and largest occupied castle.

One of the biggest attractions is St. George’s Chapel. Photography is not allowed in the chapel, so I couldn't capture the spectacle and grandeur. It still had decorations from Harry and Megan’s wedding, making it even more spectacular. St. George’s Chapel has held many royal weddings and many members of the royal family are buried inside.

No matter how cold and rainy, ice cream is always a welcomed treat!

We saw plenty of soldiers walking around too. Classic!

We visited the state rooms, the public/ showroom part of the residence and saw Queen Mary’s dollhouse. The state rooms were beautiful, but not necessarily any more memorable than any other palace that I have visited. The impression might have been stronger if I had done the audio tour and had context.

Queen Mary’s dollhouse was amazing. It was also what had made the biggest impression on Jan, when she had visited Windsor Castle many years ago. Built in the 1920’s, the dollhouse is magnificent. This is not a child’s dollhouse, but a one-of-a-kind collectible that was created from the talents of many artisans. It is massive ( the largest dollhouse in the world) and multilevel, showing both the servants and masters living spaces. No detail is left out and it even has both electricity and running water. It is absolutely stunning.

The exterior of the castle was being renovated, but a clever facade kept it semi-concealed.

Our last stop was the Middle Ward Shop, where I purchased a commemorative Harry and Megan heart- shaped Christmas ornament. My husband is from England and I’m American, so we get a kick out of the Harry/Megan, British/American connection. In London, we bought a royal wedding commemorative plate and flag. We have created a Harry and Megan display on our bookshelf.

We spent two hours at Windsor Castle (not including the time spent in the queue) and we could have easily spent double the amount of time. I look forward to returning and doing the audio tour.

Across the street from the castle, we found The Duchess of Cambridge Pub and met my sister-in-law. This is a lovely pub and even though it is named in honor of Prince William’s wife, Kate, it did have decorations to celebrate Harry and Megan.

The town of Windsor is filled with delightful restaurants and shops. I look forward to visiting on a future trip and exploring the area more. If you have young children, Legoland Windsor is a must-do. We visited it twice, when my step-kids were younger and they loved it. Check out my multiple reviews of Legoland Windsor here. Part One, Part Two, Legoland Hotel.

England 2016- Bombay Sapphire Distillery

Bombay Sapphire gin is famous worldwide and it happens to be manufactured in the middle of the countryside in the town of Whitchurch, England. Bombay Sapphire offers a tour of their Whitchurch facility, which is a bit like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, but for adults. Although the factory is very close to Dan's hometown, he had never visited it. Nor had his best friend, Paul or Paul's wife Caroline. The four of us took the tour on a crisp June afternoon.

Here are pictures as we entered the facility. It was the middle of the week and not very crowded.

Here I am with Caroline and Paul.

We prebooked our tour for fifteen pounds each. This was a great value for the experience, it even included a cocktail at the end. While Dan collected our tickets, we read up on the water turbine.

Our first stop was the main courtyard, where we viewed the historic buildings that were repurposed when Bombay Sapphire took over the Laverstoke Mill ( a former paper mill) in 2011.

This bench has a dual function: it has a button to press and a speaker, so that you can hear about the mill while you have a rest. I love the sleek design. The entire facility is a gorgeous blend of modern and historic.

Pictures of the historic buildings.

A message from the law.

We headed inside to learn about the origins of both gin and the Bombay Sapphire company. In its early days, gin was used as both a medicine and as a very cheap way to get drunk. One of its nicknames was "Mother's Ruin," and it was considered to rot your gut. Lovely. Although the displays mentioned gin's seedy past, they quickly switched gears to show a modern gin with Bombay Sapphire leading the way. We saw beautiful etched glass that was part of a Bombay Sapphire competition and we saw the brand's bottles through the years. The signage is part of the old factory.

My favorite part of the facility is the beautiful glass greenhouse. The shape is unusual and stunning. Inside, we learned about several of the ten botanicals that are used to make Bombay Sapphire.

Our Bombay Sapphire education continued in this building.

When we picked up our tickets, we were given a special map. Inside this building, we used our map to build our personal flavor profile. The task was to visit various stations and smell a jar. If we liked the fragrance in the jar, then we were to use a hole punch to note the scent. In the end, the range of favorites was used to predict they type of mixer that you might enjoy best with your gin. It was a really fun experiment and as we went, we learned more about the botanicals that Bombay Sapphire uses to infuse their gin.

The final part of the tour was guided and took us into the distillery where all of the magic happens. Prior to entering the building, we were given a strict warning and had to turn off all electronic items, including watches and fitbits. Everything! We didn't have to sign a waiver, but we were definitely told that we were entering a potentially dangerous area. Yikes! I was a little nervous, but it also added to the sense of excitement.

Bombay Sapphire is a unique gin product. They are the only gin that infuses by using alcohol vapors that pass over the botanicals, thus creating a product with a more delicate flavor profile. They are very proud to share this distinction.

We learned that they use the cheapest vodka from Russia, but that they focus on the high quality of the botanicals and clean water. The River Test ( featured in Watership Down = Lit reference for the win!) runs through the property and it's one of the purest water sources in England.

If you're a germaphobe you might want to skip to the next paragraph. There is a part of the tour where we were allowed to taste the alcohol with an individual botanical infusion. It was such a high level of alcohol concentration, that we were only allowed to taste it by dipping our finger into a cup and tasting a drop. And yes, that is one cup shared by everyone in the tour group. Everyone was dipping into the same cup. When I'm offered an experience, I will usually just go for it and I wasn't going to let the gross-factor prevent me from trying the gin. I'm happy to report that there is no way that any germs could have survived. It was potent! One little taste and my tongue was on fire.

Dan learned that he has a very good palate and could discern all of the botanicals. Maybe Bombay Sapphire will recruit him? I can think of worse job than having to taste drinks all day!

At the conclusion of the tour, headed to The Mill Bar. Our tour fee included one cocktail of our choosing, but of course we had our personal flavor profiles to guide us. I've never been a fan of gin and it's generally something that I avoid ordering in bars, but the cocktails at the factory changed my mind about gin. They were fabulous!

Caroline was our designated driver and they not only offered her a free soft-drink, but she was given a to-go bag with mini bottles of Bombay Sapphire. I really appreciated the thoughtfulness they had towards both safety and keeping the designated driver included.

If you're in the area, I highly recommend a visit to the Bombay Sapphire distillery. It's a beautiful facility and an educational day out, even if you don't like gin. Like me, you might even change your mind about gin!