England

England is full of nice things, like Great Britain doing well in the Olympics and proper cream teas with clotted cream, and people who know what a cream tea is in the first place, the problem is you have to come to England to find clotted cream and a decent selection of teas. I was disappointed that the T shop in Wellington didn't have Darjeeling, how can a shop selling only tea, not have Darjeeling? I loved American food but the few occasions I found myself at a buffet, I would always heap several spoonfuls of cream onto my bowl only to find it sweetened and destroying its natural creamy flavour. 

Another nice thing about England are old things, old buildings, old vehicles and old villages. Old things are nice because they have some history, they can also break down and fall down, but this adds to their charm. Thankfully there are plenty of people who enjoy restoring and fixing all these old things, and a large group of these people had amassed at Beaulieu National Motor Museum and gardens for the 50th Graham Walker Memorial Run, (father of Murray Walker, the Formula 1 commentator). The run wound around 48 miles of the New Forest area and villages and then back to the motor museum. Each participant had a list of navigation instructions consisting of things like 'Cross Cattle Grid, then T.R S/P Sowley 1 quarter mile (M,A)' and 'T.R Grass Island with Oak Tree' and so on until one either broke down, got lost or reached the end of the run. The Morgan was excellent and despite my Fathers lack of faith in my ability to read instructions, we didn't get lost or break down. 

As the run took place from the motor museum, we had access to all the exhibits, one being The World of Top Gear, of course being Top Gear, the cars on display weren't cars as such anymore, but experimentation's, pushing the boundaries of what the car can be. Cars on display included the TGV12 'sports train', the indestructible Toyota pick up, the Snowbine, the Reliant Robin Rocket, a caravan airship, the Hammerhead i-Eagle Thrust, a fine selection of 'motorhomes', the reasonable priced car, double decker cars and Anne Hathaway's cottage. Plus a whole load more, my favourite being the Cottage.

The Top Gear Cottage