I'm back from my UK Visit

Stained Glass Window St Elphins Parish Church

My trip to the UK was packed full of events.  As soon as I arrived I was whisked off to a christening for three of my niece’s children.  The church is very old and some of you may recognise it as St Elphin’s Parish Church which has been in Church Street, Warrington, Cheshire for centuries. It’s an Anglican church, the actual site has in fact been a place of worship since 650, and the original church was constructed by Sir William Boteler in 1384.  Much of it was damaged during the civil war and the tower was rebuilt and other restorations took place over many years including the addition of the spire, a naive, an aisle, church bells and the clock. The church spire is 281 feet (86 m) high and is the seventh highest in the country.

St Elphins Parish Church

As a child I spent a lot of my Sunday mornings lying in bed listening to the church bells and many of our school and special community events were held there. I have witnessed many weddings, funerals and christenings at St Elphins and I was pleased to see that the church is still very much part of the community.  It's beautiful stained glass windows and lectern are still there. The path to the church is paved with old headstones and the church gates are wrought iron which lead out to the cobbled street outside the church where as English tradition has it, there is the tradtional pub too called the Ring O Bells.  Further along Church Street there are two more traditional pubs, The Marquis of Granby and The Bulls Head in which I have spent many an evening in these very fine establishments. (Far too much time - husband)

St Elphins Church Yard

Again, when I was a child much of this area had the traditional Tudor style black and white houses and small shops, little is left now apart from the three pubs and the Town House Restaurant that proudly boasts on a plaque outside that it once was visited by Oliver Cromwell.  In fact Oliver Cromwell has pride of place still in the form of a statue outside Warrington Academy building on Bridge Foot, Cromwell fought at the battle of Warrington Bridge against Scottish Royalists in 1648.

St Elphins Church Gates

Warrington lies on the crossing by the River Mersey, apparently this was used by the early Romans and much of Howley and Warrington is steeped in history. Many ancient objects have been found around the Parish church and I remember during the building of the nearby estate, a holy well was found and originally the area would have been part of St Katherine’s college; hence the name of the new housing estate that currently occupies this area, St Katherine’s Way.

I could actually waffle on relentlessly about this area but I am mindful that this is a blog and not a history channel!

Portmeirion Village

After spending a few days with my family, we took the kids off to Wales for my stepdaughter’s wedding at Portmeirion.  It rained before the wedding and after but thankfully not on the actual day, our daughter was a bridesmaid and the day was beautiful without any hitches and the grounds are simply outstanding at Portmeirion.


Built in North Wales the village was designed and constructed by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1975 in the style of a Mediterranean village. It was the location for the famous English TV cult series the Prisoner.

Portmeirion Village

The wedding ceremony was performed in Hercules Hall and the wedding breakfast was at the hotel, which is idyllic, placed at the end of the village besides the estuary.  The village is superb having the most gorgeous gardens and is the most breathtaking venue in the area for a wedding or special event.

The following day it poured down and we made our way back to the North West of England.
After a couple of days we then embarked upon our trip by train into London for the INWA convention.

Horses at Buckingham Palace

Our two children have never been to London, and have never seen Buckingham Palace so I arranged to be at the convention for half a day each day so we could take them to the many tourist attractions.  WOW, it was hot - 90 degrees hot - the hottest October on record.  My daughter became quite ill and doesn’t cope well with heat or confined spaces, the tubes were a nightmare!

Buckingham Palace

We stayed at the Victory Services Club at Marble Arch which was a handy location and not too far from Hyde Park, the first trip was made to Ripley’s one of my daughter’s favourite establishments as she is obsessed with anything strange or macabre!

Whilst the kids were with dad tramping the streets I got to attend the INWA convention and met my fellow Nordic Walkers from around the world.  I have to say I was slightly overwhelmed by the prospect of meeting so many people, but I was made to feel very welcome by the British Nordic Walking team and all the other attendees, a special mention here for Sue, Active Edge and Mervyn, Nordic Walking Cambridge, who were very friendly.

Houses of Parliament

I attended some interesting presentations and learned a lot , for which I am thankful to June and Paul Stevenson from Nordic Kiwi for allowing me the opportunity to attend.

The kids enjoyed visits to Buckingham Palace, the Science Museum, the Tower of London and many other sites, and it’s when we returned to the North West yet again that we found that our daughter was in fact quite poorly with tonsillitis, she was so good and never complained all the time we dragged her around Westminster in the terrible crowds and heat.

Some of North Shore Nordic Walkers at Orewa

It was an excellent trip, exhausting and yet another tearful goodbye to family and friends at the airport at Manchester, followed by a terrible week of jet lag back in Auckland.

I was however, glad to be back and raring to go with my poles so I organized a trip to Orewa for North Shore Nordic Walkers on Sunday, and it would seem that I brought the sunshine back to NZ, at least for Sunday.  It rained when we all met but as soon as we arrived at Orewa Surf Club the sunshine broke through and it remained that way all around the new walkway.  We were out for almost two hours and the weather was superb, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Spring has finally arrived and that we have more Sunday sunshine.

More information and sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Elphin's_Church,_Warrington

http://www.warrington.gov.uk/content_documents/Documents/Planning/Church%20Street%20conservation%20area%20appraisal.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Cromwell

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portmeirion