Our Home Town

This is our home town, or more accurately village as its population is around 250. It's mostly hidden in the valley, but you can see bits of it sticking up.

Eastbury is a beautiful village in West Berkshire, about 50 miles west of London. For those of you who don't know this area or possibly even this country, here's how you find it. Click on the little maps for a better view.

Eastbury stands on the River Lambourn, although the river has a tendency to dry up and disappear during the winter.

Although the village used to boast three pubs, a garage, a post office and several shops - and even a railway station if you go back far enough - we're now down to three attractions: the church, the village hall and the one remaining pub: The Plough ...

... which serves excellent beer and home-cooked food (any chance of a free pint for the advert Dennis?). The church contains a most unusual engraved glass window in memory of the Great War poet Edward Thomas who had connections with the village.

The whole Lambourn Valley area is famous for its racing stables and studs, and racehorses being ridden to and from the gallops on the downs constitute the main traffic hazard in these parts. Mind you, they are a beautiful sight in the early mornings.

Our House

Eastbury is full of old and interesting houses, and ours is no exception. We've only been here a little over a year, and have had a wonderful time putting a new ridge on the thatch ...

... knocking down the ghastly 1970's fireplace to reveal the original version and installing a wood burning stove ...

... lining and raising the height of the chimney ...

... replacing the original and somewhat rotten windows in the chapel, putting in a new oil tank, having fitted bookshelves made etc. etc. There's an old saying  to the effect that 'if you want to bankrupt a man, give him a thatched house', and we're beginning to understand the reality behind that. Still, it's a lovely place and full of character.

Incidentally, it's called Frisky Place, after one of the previous owners - Moira 'Frisky' Briscoe - who was well known for her parties and enjoying a good time. Before that it was just boring old Elm View, but we much prefer the new version. In keeping with the racing connections in the area, it's also been owned by two very well-known jockeys - Nicky Henderson and Oliver Sherwood - both of whom now own racing stables in the area.

The original part used to be a two-up two-down cottage (or possibly a pair of one-up one-downs) dating from around 1750. The pretty arched windows unfortunately aren't original (we believe they were put in sometime in the '60s or 70's), but look very nice nonetheless.

Attached to it on the right is a Wesleyan Methodist chapel dating from 1876 ...

... and on the left is an extension built in 1962, which blends in surprisingly well.

In the year before we moved in, the garden won the Lambourn Valley Spring Garden prize, so we were a little worried that we wouldn't be able to maintain the high standard expected and thus get thrown out of the village. Fortunately, it's a nice easy garden to look after, so although we haven't quite kept it as pristine as Ron and June who created it, it still looks pretty good and we're still here.

It seems a shame to leave it all behind for a while, but at least our house-sitters Kevin and Triona will get the benefit and look after it lovingly for us (if they know what's good for them).

First stop Canada ...

Home to stay (for a while)

Arrived in Heathrow at 6.25am local time, 1.25am body clock time, which was a bit disorienting. Had a short wait while some medics got on, as someone had been taken poorly during the flight, but fortunately it wasn't too serious. Our trip home was remarkable: bus to Reading immediately, 5 minutes wait for train to Newbury, taxi the rest of the way, arriving at about 9.00am.

Unpacked, got the car going (although with no MOT or tax, and dodgy suspension), defrosted fridge and freezer, cleaned toilets, did shopping, saw doctor about Christine's shoulder, got curry from Nippy Chippy takeaway (now Indian rather than Chinese to our delight), rebuilt laptop with new hard disc and extra memory, started reinstalling software, picked up emails at 1.30am, bed at 2.30am. What a day.

Well, it's all over now. Like any major change in your life, such as going to college or starting a new job, when it starts you can't imagine what's going to happen tomorrow, let alone in a week's time. At the end, though, you look back and it just seems like yesterday when it all began. You try to think where the last months have disappeared, but your mind can't take it in.

We've had a terrific time, and appreciate how lucky we are to have had this opportunity. We've seen more of North America than 99% of Americans and Canadians, met some great people, found new relatives, eaten more burgers and doughnuts than can possibly be healthy, and taken over 5,000 photographs which we'll now have to sort and prune down ruthlessly before boring our friends to death.

We hope that people have got some enjoyment from looking through this site, and haven't gone too green with envy. If you get the chance, do it or something similar: you won't regret it.

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