From the Peak District we head south again to stop with Karen’s aunt Barbara in Solihull near Birmingham. We decided to have a day out in the local area.Our first stop is Coventry, which for Mark is another trip down memory lane as he had spent three years there when at the University of Warwick. The centre of Coventry is modern, well relatively. Unfortunately many of the buildings are characterless, dating back to the 1960s when architects seemed to have a love affair with concrete and angular designs. Large sections of the old city of Coventry were decimated, including the Cathedral, by the Luftwaffe during the blitz of World War II. The Old Cathedral, officially known as St Michaels Church, was built in the 14th Century and remained a church until the creation of the diocese of Coventry in 1918. Luckily some the old building survived the bombing and the ruins of the old Cathedral have been turned in to a memorial. Next to these ruins has been built a new Cathedral, which unlike most of the surrounding buildings is a wonderful example of modern design. We spend sometime wondering around the roofless ruins of old St Michaels before Mark, Jack and Emily decide to climb the tight spiral staircase to the top of the tower. It is180 steps in all to the top and it is not an easy climb! From the top there are stunning views across Coventry, and the grim 60's architecture does seem a lot better when viewed from this angle.
We quickly decided there was not much else to spend time doing around Coventry so we hop back into the car and take the short journey down to Kenilworth, a small town dating back to before the time of the Doomsday Book (a survey commissioned by William the Conqueror in the year 1085 A.D). The town is full of quaint houses, many dating back centuries, with thatch roofs. The whole place is quintessentially British and of course one has to celebrate this essential British-ness in traditional way – a visit to a tea room. Oddly enough Karen and Mark are not your traditional English tea drinkers, preferring coffee. But when in Rome!! We spend some time savouring our tea and enjoying the sensations and sights of our surroundings
.
Leaving the tea room we take a stroll around the older part of the village. Mark and Karen (Jack and Emily less so) are most excited by the sight of a traditional bright red telephone box and post box standing proudly alongside each other like two sentries guarding the town. When Karen and Mark were growing up these were common sights but sadly nowadays these are mostly relegated to being decorations in bars and restaurant or sitting rather bizarrely in someone’s garden as an out of place ornament. Perhaps we should start a campaign to recapture some of these traditional emblems of the British and return them to their natural settings. We need to maintain the symbol-diversity of our cultural heritage. The British people must rise and go to those pubs and peoples gardens and get back our post boxes and telephones boxes. This could be a whole topic to start a blog on.
We take a short walk down to the grounds of KenilworthCastle.This is one of England’s most spectacular castle ruins. Kenilworth is most famously associated with Robert Dudley and Queen Elizabeth I. Elizabeth kept Dudley’s last letter to her in a casket by her bed until she died. The castle was founded by Geoffrey de Clinton, Henry I's treasurer, who began the massive Norman keep at the core of the castle in the 1120s. Over the years KenilworthCastle was strengthened, so much so it withstood an epic siege in 1266, when rebellious barons held out against Henry III's siege engines for six months, succumbing only to starvation. The castle operated as a fortress through the English Civil War (1642 – 1651) but after that fell into decline. Today the ruins are a reminder of the castle’s glorious past, and many of the structures still stand but are incomplete. We planned to visit WarwickCastle the following day so restricted our tour to walking around the outside of the castle walls. Although Jack and Emily lived in the UK for the first few years of their lives and had visited castles before they could not remember them so this was almost a new experience.
Hello we are the Hoblets, an almost sane family of five Brits; Mark, Karen, Laura (19 years), Jack (10 years) and Emily (8 years). . The Hoblets have been living in the USA since 2003, four and half years in New York and two years in Ashland, Oregon. Laura now lives in Eastbourne in the UK. In 2007 we did a years tour of the USA, Canada and some of Latin America, before settling in Oregon. In June 2010 we decided to go travelling again, initially across the USA and then onto Europe.
The blog is intended to keep people in touch with where we are and what we are up to.
We are open to any ideas of places to visit - please let us know.
From the Peak District we head south again to stop with Karen’s aunt Barbara in Solihull near 
decimated, including the Cathedral, by the Luftwaffe during the blitz of World War II. The Old Cathedral, officially known as St Michaels Church, was built in the 14th Century and remained a church until the creation of the diocese of 
We quickly decided there was not much else to spend time doing around Coventry so we hop back into the car and take the short journey down to Kenilworth, a small town dating back to before the time of the Doomsday Book (a survey commissioned by William the Conqueror in the year 1085 A.D). The town is full of quaint houses, many dating back centuries, with thatch roofs. The whole place is quintessentially British and of course one has to celebrate this essential British-ness in traditional way – a visit to a tea room. Oddly enough Karen and Mark are not your traditional English tea drinkers, preferring coffee. But when in 
Leaving the tea room we take a stroll around the older part of the village. Mark and Karen (Jack and Emily less so) are most excited by the sight of a traditional bright red telephone box and post box standing proudly alongside each other like two sentries guarding the town. When Karen and Mark were growing up these were common sights but sadly nowadays these are mostly relegated to being decorations in bars and restaurant or sitting rather bizarrely in someone’s garden as an out of place ornament. Perhaps we should start a campaign to recapture some of these traditional emblems of the British and return them to their natural settings. We need to maintain the symbol-diversity of our cultural heritage. The British people must rise and go to those pubs and peoples gardens and get back our post boxes and telephones boxes. This could be a whole topic to start a blog on.
The castle was founded by Geoffrey de Clinton, Henry I's treasurer, who began the massive 
No comments:
Post a Comment