Finally! Our little vacation away with the kids. To minimize any screaming, moaning from bored, car-sick kids, we decided to travel during the late night so that they'd be sleeping throughout most of the travel. We left our home at 2.00 am, bundling the kids up still in their jammies and a warm blanket. I took the first 'leg', driving on the French side. From Antony to Calais, the journey took less than 3 hours and we arrived a little early at the Eurotunnel. We took our time to have toilet breaks and by then the kids had woken up too, so we got them out to stretch their legs and changed their clothes. There was a little telly tubbies ride and the girls were enjoying themselves while Daddy got some coffee and pain ch
ocolate, when I looked and saw that it was time for us to get on the train!! We scrambled quickly to ge
t into the car, pass customs and got on the train. Bibou was super impressed that our car was going into the train. She awed and wowed that we were going under water too! The tunnel crossing took about 35 minutes, during which Bibou and Daddy took a walk (mainly for bathroom breaks). Soon we’re on the other side already! Moving all our clocks 1 hour behind, we set off, Daddy taking the steering wheel, trying hard to remember to ‘keep to the left’ now… especially at round-abouts!! You KNOW that you’re in UK – the weather was just soooooooooo different! The temperature was a couple of degrees cooler and boy was i
t ever damp, constantly constantly grey! In fact, 
the weather throughout our trip was really quite dismal. And the worst part of it all was that I’d brought only light summery clothes for the girls and I. We were all wearing the same sweaters day in and out! And now that we’re back on this side of the channel, it’s been sunny and warm(ish! – we STILL haven’t gotten our heatwave yet this year). The damp weather, however, has taken its toll, and I'm now feeling under the weather again! (pun intended !!)
Anyway, so we set off. The girls, fortunately, went back
to sleep! Obviously, we’d arrived in the UK rather early – and couldn’t check into the B&B
that I’d booked. So we headed towards Windsor where we’d planned to spend the day visiting. We did arrive at the castle too early; doors only opened at 9.45 am (we arrived in Windsor at around 8.00 am!) so we wandered around and found a little café that served some nice hot tea (hot chocolate for Bibou) and scones and real clotted cream YUMMY! We also found this small little garden which had a hopskcotch game. Finally, we got into Windsor castle for our visit. It is huge and very impressive. I enjoyed the state apartment visit the best, though I couldn’t en
joy as much as I wanted to as Angel was tired and cranky by then (strollers were n
ot allowed and she was all over the place). I had to rush through most of the rooms without listening to the audio guide. What was most interesting though was the St. George’s Hall, which is a huge, long hall (reminds me of the Hall of Mirrors at Chateau de Versailles). The beautifully timber roof ceiling was decorated with the coats of arms of past and present members of the order of the Garter (I had to look this up, but it is the English order of knighthood. On a whim, Daddy asked the custodian of that room if there were any D’Arcys … and there were! Two in fact… one, Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy de Darcy who was actually beheaded due to high treason in 1538 (read all about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas
_Darcy%2C_1st_Baron_Darcy_de_Darcy#cite_note-tudor-0). His coat of arms was blank as he was ‘fallen’ …as with all the knights that were fallen. The other Darcy was Thomas Darcy, 1s
t Baron Darcy of Chiche 1551, nothing interesting, just the name, but his coat of arms was on the wall and the background on it was the same as Daddy’s ring. All very interesting indeed! By this time, the kids were tired and hungry so we rushed out, in time to take a picture with the non-moving guard (and also to stare in astonishment at the huge queue to enter the castle) and then off to find some food. We found a pub (funnily enough :)) just across the castle, plonked ourselves down and had ourselves some very lovely fish and chips. Daddy had his very first pint of Guinness which the girls all wanted to try also (Angel like
d it!!!)
After lunch, it was finally time for us to check into our B&B, which is a farm. It was a very quaint sweet little place, all full with lovely animals – a horse, a pony (named Woody), 2 dogs, (Bonnie and China), a rabbit, 2 guinea pigs and some cats. The girls totally enjoyed themselves! And Bibou couldn’t wait to ride the pony. When our lovely landlady had some time, she saddled Woody up and let Bibou have a go… She was sooo happy and proud, … she even got to trot!!
ocolate, when I looked and saw that it was time for us to get on the train!! We scrambled quickly to ge
t into the car, pass customs and got on the train. Bibou was super impressed that our car was going into the train. She awed and wowed that we were going under water too! The tunnel crossing took about 35 minutes, during which Bibou and Daddy took a walk (mainly for bathroom breaks). Soon we’re on the other side already! Moving all our clocks 1 hour behind, we set off, Daddy taking the steering wheel, trying hard to remember to ‘keep to the left’ now… especially at round-abouts!! You KNOW that you’re in UK – the weather was just soooooooooo different! The temperature was a couple of degrees cooler and boy was i
t ever damp, constantly constantly grey! In fact, 
the weather throughout our trip was really quite dismal. And the worst part of it all was that I’d brought only light summery clothes for the girls and I. We were all wearing the same sweaters day in and out! And now that we’re back on this side of the channel, it’s been sunny and warm(ish! – we STILL haven’t gotten our heatwave yet this year). The damp weather, however, has taken its toll, and I'm now feeling under the weather again! (pun intended !!)Anyway, so we set off. The girls, fortunately, went back
to sleep! Obviously, we’d arrived in the UK rather early – and couldn’t check into the B&B
that I’d booked. So we headed towards Windsor where we’d planned to spend the day visiting. We did arrive at the castle too early; doors only opened at 9.45 am (we arrived in Windsor at around 8.00 am!) so we wandered around and found a little café that served some nice hot tea (hot chocolate for Bibou) and scones and real clotted cream YUMMY! We also found this small little garden which had a hopskcotch game. Finally, we got into Windsor castle for our visit. It is huge and very impressive. I enjoyed the state apartment visit the best, though I couldn’t en
joy as much as I wanted to as Angel was tired and cranky by then (strollers were n
ot allowed and she was all over the place). I had to rush through most of the rooms without listening to the audio guide. What was most interesting though was the St. George’s Hall, which is a huge, long hall (reminds me of the Hall of Mirrors at Chateau de Versailles). The beautifully timber roof ceiling was decorated with the coats of arms of past and present members of the order of the Garter (I had to look this up, but it is the English order of knighthood. On a whim, Daddy asked the custodian of that room if there were any D’Arcys … and there were! Two in fact… one, Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy de Darcy who was actually beheaded due to high treason in 1538 (read all about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas
_Darcy%2C_1st_Baron_Darcy_de_Darcy#cite_note-tudor-0). His coat of arms was blank as he was ‘fallen’ …as with all the knights that were fallen. The other Darcy was Thomas Darcy, 1s
t Baron Darcy of Chiche 1551, nothing interesting, just the name, but his coat of arms was on the wall and the background on it was the same as Daddy’s ring. All very interesting indeed! By this time, the kids were tired and hungry so we rushed out, in time to take a picture with the non-moving guard (and also to stare in astonishment at the huge queue to enter the castle) and then off to find some food. We found a pub (funnily enough :)) just across the castle, plonked ourselves down and had ourselves some very lovely fish and chips. Daddy had his very first pint of Guinness which the girls all wanted to try also (Angel like
d it!!!)
After lunch, it was finally time for us to check into our B&B, which is a farm. It was a very quaint sweet little place, all full with lovely animals – a horse, a pony (named Woody), 2 dogs, (Bonnie and China), a rabbit, 2 guinea pigs and some cats. The girls totally enjoyed themselves! And Bibou couldn’t wait to ride the pony. When our lovely landlady had some time, she saddled Woody up and let Bibou have a go… She was sooo happy and proud, … she even got to trot!!
I love these photos that I took of the kids in the car. They were really quite good (I guess I was so worried about the traveling that I was expecting the worst). Bibou, as usual, is always 'scared' about being in the car as she gets terribly car sick, so we 'drug' her up - we give her some 'nasuicalm' which is a French 
travel sickness medication for kids. Works like a charm. In any case, most of our car journeys are long - at least 1/2 hour and because the days were really long and tiring, the kids are often fast asleep once they get into the car.Videos
Bibou on Woody the pony, with Marian, the owner of the B&B we stayed at.
Bibou trotting for the first time! It was funny... esp when her helmet kept falling down her face ;)
The best thing about the farm were all the animals. Here's Bonnie with the girls. Even Angel was just thrilled about playing with her.
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