Our beautiful UK adventure

At the beginning of this year we got a generous invite from good friends of ours, to stay a week of our summer vacation at their home and visit some beautiful English places. Late July we started our journey by plane, traveled quite a bit by train and were finally picked up at Peterborough station by car by our good friend Simon. Reminds me of the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles, but a lot smoother and a less frantic ;)

After a Micheline star welcome diner with a delicious home made pear crumble with cream and home made ice cream as desert, we had some drinks and talked about what we would do the next day (a visit to Peterborough centre), before going to bed.

My Gear

As the weather in the UK could go either way (sunny or rainy) I decided I had to bring my Panasonic GX8 together with the Panasonic Leica 25 mm f1.4 (both weather sealed). One camera with only one lens was the plan. But I got cold feet and also brought the Panasonic 20mm II f1.7 and the Panasonic 14 mm f2.5, afraid  25mm (a 50mm in full frame) would be too tight to capture it all. I should have left those 2 lenses at home, as I only used the 20mm on our first day in Peterborough and the 25 for the rest of our vacation.  I love the image quality of the 25. Hereunder you'll find some of the images I shot on this trip.

Peterborough

Peterborough Cathedral is the place to see, when visiting this city. A beautifully presevered building with an incredibly rich history. One of the caretakers told us the fascinating story off Catherina of Aragon, first wife of King Henry the VIII, who is buried in at this location. But that was not the only remarkable thing in this church. ​

There was a red sign inside the church asking visitors if they rather have god on their side or the force. Notes pinned on that sign from visitors, showed most of them chose to have the force on their side. So why that sign? Well, there was a Star Wars exhibition being held inside the church, with various items from Star Wars movies and series on display. 

After this interesting visit, we left the courtyard of the cathedral and checked out the surroundings. 

I could almost feel how it would have been, to be the king of this castle. 

Cambridge

The next day we explored Cambridge. I was in Cambridge before. Twenty years ago to be exact, on a vacation with my sister Miranda. Sometimes I vaguely recognised locations my sister and I visited way back in September 2003. It was fun looking at the pictures I still had from that time and recognising some of it. 

Cambridge is a beautiful city with lots of interesting typically English shops, some of which were very colourful.

Some of the streets were festively decorated.

We also had a fun guided boat tour, trough the crowded canals. ​Sometimes (almost) bumping into other boats being steered by (other) tourists.

The tour guide on the boat was very knowledgable and knew how to tell his stories in an interesting way, packaged with a lot of humor.

In the 20 years since my last visit, hardly anything had changed. I tried to shoot a similar picture of one of the streets I visited before (see below). On the left you see the picture I shot with one of my first digital cameras (the Olympus C-350 Zoom). On the right the picture I shot with my current digital cam the Panasonic GX8. The houses look the same, but it looks like the road had it rough ;)

The day ended with a nice diner, at a great restaurant with a beautiful roof top view of the city.

London

After not being in the UK for so many years, a visit to London just had to be part of the trip. Also a city I visited way back with my sister Miranda, this time in 1999. Miranda and I stayed in London for a week and had a great time exploring everything the city had to offer. She shared some pictures with me via WhatsApp while I was there, which reminded me how good a time we had. 

We explored the city and enjoyed the weather. It was warm and sunny, in total contrast to the weather at home in the Netherlands where it rained the entire time while we were in sunny England.

We visited the usual suspects, Hyde park, Buckingham palace, Harrods etc.

But it wasn't for long, before the weather slowly got worse and worse and worse...

Even with the monsoon like rain, we enjoyed London, which ended with a delicious diner at a Thai restaurant.

Burghley House

​There is so much to show and tell about our vacation. I shot hundreds and hundreds of photos. But I'm going to end this blog with the beautiful Burghley House.
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​They say that the beauty on the inside is that what counts, and this is certainly the case with Burghley House. Even though the outside of the building looks amazing, the inside is even more stunning. I have never seen so much art, paintings and beautiful objects in one place.

Our tour started in the kitchen, which was filled to the brim with copper pots and pans and lots of curiosities. 

They former occupants obviously liked to eat some exotic stuff. Not only moose, but also lots of turtles (some of which had their little scull mounted to the wall). Poor little guys.

After the kitchen there was room after room filled to the brim with art.

Loved the rich fabrics and embroideries and the painted ceilings.

We also explored the gardens, while it started to rain.

This was a trip with so much to see and experience, of which I only shared a fraction in this blog. Thanks to our good friends, who let us stay at their home, our excellent tour guide and incredible cook (and my photography buddy) Simon who made this a holiday to remember!