Sand + Snow

Our Cozy Cube covered in snow.
It's been an uncharacteristically cold and snowy winter in the UK. In fact, Cambridge had its first white Christmas in almost half a century as a result of a pre-Christmas snowstorm: a whole 7 inches. While this is nothing compared to past winters spent in Virginia (or -dare we even mention- Massachusetts), any accumulation of snow in the UK that consists of more than a flurry is cause for a Snow Day.
Snowy branches against the morning sky.
Currently in the midst of our second significant snowfall (3 inches and counting) in nearly as many weeks, we find ourselves "snowed in" at home and, of course, slightly amused by the UK's inexperience (and incompetence) in the snow department. Will is taking the opportunity to work from home in our cozy (and warmer than his office) cube. Jackie, who would normally be in London today if the city wasn't shut down because of the weather, is reading, relaxing, and oh yes reviewing a 700+ page law textbook for her internship (at least she finds the material exciting!).

A well-traveled path along The Backs.
View over The Cam from Garrett Hostel Bridge.
Gardens at Trinity Hall
As much as we enjoy a good Snow Day, however, when it comes to snow vs sand, beach vs mountains, for us, sun, sea, and sand win hands down. When living on an island in the North Atlantic, where sunny days, temperatures above 80, and even excursions to the seaside are rare, the preference of one over the other becomes even stronger. Of course it doesn't help remembering that this time LAST year we were in South Florida. At the beach. Probably right at this moment. Beeeeaaaach.

The photo is relevant. Promise
Anyway, though the rocky shore and cool (read: freezing) water might not make it ideal for swimming, we have visited several lovely beaches across the UK during our 2 1/2 years here. Our favorite little seaside town, Southwold, in Suffolk is also home to Will's favorite English brewery (Note that I said English; his fav British brewery is on the Isle of Skye in Scotland aka the mostbeautifulpleaceintheworld. Keep this in mind should you ever visit these places. Try some beer, then buy some for Will. He'll pay you back. Promise.). Back in October (yes, we've kept this photos from you that long), we took a daytrip with our friends J + C to visit the brewery, as well as the beach (fish + chips were also involved).

See?
Beach Huts
Will At: the beach!
Whether you are partial to the sand or the snow, enjoy these few photos from Southwold (hint: clicking the post title takes you to the Flickr album), and, of course, from snowy Cambridge. Stay warm; summer is only a few months away!

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Devon: God's Country

Click here for Devon photos, or scroll down to 'snapshots' on the right-hand side of the page.
Ever since Streetcar came into our lives (see our Windsor post), we've been waiting for the opportunity to visit some of the more remote areas of England that are only practically accessible by car. Despite the blessings of useful rail travel, our scope for taking weekend trips was limited mostly to London and a handful of other cities, only. So, with summer growing closer and closer, we decided to do what any self-respecting Englishmen would do: head to the West Country!

In general, the 'West Country' includes the counties of Gloucestershire, Somerset, Devon, Cornwall, and others. Devon and Cornwall, in particular, are known as the 'holiday' counties because of their natural splendor, rural attractions, and sandy beaches. Knowing that we would only have a limited amount of time, we narrowed the scope of our visit to North Devon on the recommendation of one of Will's co-workers (whose family is familiar with the area). We chose this area because of its proximity to the coast (so we could see some sea) and to Exmoor National Park; a heavily forested wilderness.
Although neither one of us has ever been an avid hiker, we decided to change the game a little this time and experience the scenery. As you will see in our picture gallery, we were not disappointed. Coming from a place as flat as Indiana, Devon was exceedingly breathtaking. Impossibly steep gorges breaking down hundreds of feet into the sea; windswept hillocks teeming with sheep and cows; tractors, tractors, and more tractors. As Will's colleague warned us, time slows down in Devon. It did; we loved it. We started off at the village of Combe Martin with it's craggy bay and high hills. Following that, we drove to Braunton where we had fish and chips at Squire's (Award Winning!) fish restaurant. Having had a five hour drive from Cambridge, we had a picnic dinner in our room and called it an early night. The following day we headed East into Exmoor and the twin towns of Lynton and Lynmouth. From Lynton we walked along the precipitous South West Coast Path to the Valley of Rocks where we took our pictures with some mountain goats. We then came back towards town and walked down the (very) steep cliff into Lynmouth. From Lynmouth, we walked up the river into the National Trust's Exmoor property, Watersmeet. Like something out of a Stanley Kubrick movie, Watersmeet is a little house cum tea room in the middle of the woods. Only in England. After all that walking, we fortified ourselves with some delicious homemade pasties in Lynmouth, nearly killed ourselves walking back up into Lynton (the Victorians were smarter than us. They built a railway). From there we drove across the county to Hartland Point Lighthouse where we saw yet more, unique landscape.
This trip was also the first major test of Will's new UK license, as, on occasion, we had to turn down a single track or two. Nevertheless, everyone is fairly courteous about it and you just have to not be in much of a rush to get anywhere. In many ways, this trip was a tune-up for our big, Second Anniversary trip to Scotland; where, undoubtedly, we will be doing lots of single-track, rural driving. Of a brief technical note, we were driving a nearly brand-new VW Polo BlueMotion. In our 780 miles worth of driving we used 12.5 gallons of gas (approx.). You do the math. Note as well: Devon is NOT flat highway driving.

Oh and the food! We could go on and on. On our last night, we drove to Winsford, Somerset; a small village down, of course, a single track (we were stopped by shepherds so their flocks could cross! AND we forded a stream!). There, we had dinner in the Royal Oak Inn, a lovely old pub now gastropub. A gastropub is a place with a pub atmosphere (old furniture, wood paneling, beer) but gourmet food (wine, appetizers that aren't potato chips, no mushy peas). Will had a delicious meal of Winsford Lamb (yes, some relatives of the very same sheep we saw, perhaps!) and Jackie had an excellent vegetable dish.

We stayed at a lovely B&B called Bowden Farm. Our hosts were friendly and very hospitable. We're still getting used to the idea of a bed and breakfast; you're not quite a houseguest, but you're not quite staying in a hotel. It's kind of like Keanu Reeves; is he acting or isn't he? It's certainly more enjoyable. We're staying in B&B's throughout our time in Scotland so we should professional at it by the end of July.

Devon was an interesting trip. It was our first trip out into a place of natural beauty since moving to Europe, really. While we did more or less what we could in the area we stayed, we definitely felt like we could have stayed longer or, better yet, that we could go back.

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A Day Trip to the Seaside

We went to the beach! It was sunny! See?

No, swimming was not involved. Fish and chips were, however. It is proof that England does have some charming and cute places worth visiting (on a nice day). And, for the first time in our combined 46 years, we stood on a beach that did not face out into the Atlantic Ocean!

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