What now for This West London Life? If we're not going anywhere, what will I write about? The lunch we were throwing for family and close friends to mark The Boy Child becoming a teenager? Cancelled. The Road Trip to Bruges in Belgium during the Easter holidays? Cancelled. The return visit to Jersey at the … Continue reading Social Distancing and What It Might Mean for Content
There's something special about Disraeli's house, Hughenden. It's where we find ourselves when we need to hit our reset buttons.
As with the two other 6x8 travel journals from our travels this year, I created all the foundation pages before we went to Normandy. And just like with those other journals, I used Project Life style cards from In a Creative Bubble. Album spine damaged either at the wholesaler or en route to the stockist. … Continue reading Road Trip to Normandy | The 6×8 Travel Journal
It's all very well visiting the towns and beaches from the Normandy campaign, but I also felt that our visit wouldn't have been complete if we hadn't paid our respects to Britain's war dead. The cemeteries offer an opportunity to pause, reflect and remember. Bayeux War Cemetery Cpl Sidney Bates, VC, lies in Bayeux War … Continue reading Road Trip to Normandy | Bayeux and Ranville War Cemeteries
Pegasus Bridge, originally called Bénouville Bridge, is a crossing over the Caen Canal just outside of Caen in Normandy. In the early hours of D-Day the bridge was, along with the nearby Ranville Bridge over the Orne River, the objective of members of D Company, 2nd (Airborne) Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, a glider-borne force. … Continue reading Road Trip to Normandy | Pegasus Bridge
Look closely at the tower ... The small Norman town of Ste.-Mére-Eglise is famous today because it lay at the epicentre of the D-Day drop zones for the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions. In the early hours of 6 June, 1944, a house in the town square was burning. The German commander ordered the … Continue reading Road Trip to Normandy | Ste. Mére Eglise and the Airborne Museum
High up on the bluffs above Omaha Beach lies the American Military Cemetery. The 9,386 marble crosses and Stars of David constitute the most striking American presence in Normandy today. The 30,000-square-foot visitors' centre provides displays and films which help to provide a visual connection to the D-Day events on Omaha Beach. Numerous photographs and … Continue reading Road Trip to Normandy | The American Military Cemetery at Omaha Beach
The town of Arromanches-les-Bains was chosen by the Operation Overlord planners as the site for one of the two Mulberries, the artificial ports planted offshore to handle the movement of men and supplies before established ports could be captured. The remains of what was called Mulberry B are still clearly visible on the beach. For … Continue reading Road Trip to Normandy | Arromanches
During the half-term week at the end of October, we travelled to Bayeux in Normandy, France for a few days. Pont de Normandie Our plan was to visit the sites of the D-Day Landings and Bayeux was the perfect town in which to base ourselves. Bayeux claims to have been the first town to be … Continue reading Road Trip to Normandy | Bayeux
We met up with friends recently in the glorious Oxfordshire countryside. The meeting point was the Great Barn in the village of Great Coxwell. The barn is the sole surviving part of a thriving 13th-century grange that once provided vital income to Beaulieu Abbey. Built from Cotswold rubble-stone walling, the barn is an impressive reminder … Continue reading Great Coxwell Barn
