We love being able to spend Christmas with the British part of Angie’s family, so this year we headed back there. Christi’s family was in the middle of a major renovation project, however, so we booked a nearby AirBnB in Puttenham, a small village. The cottage was the perfect size for us. We arrived late after a long day of train travel, and were greeted by a beautiful welcome snack from the owner.
As usual for our time in England, mostly we hung out with family and did some walks in the countryside. Angie’s dad was also with us this year, and it was a lovely time just being together. Dad and Christi’s family were in an AirBnB in Guildford, so we all got to know a new neighborhood since we spent most of our time over there in their larger space.
Christi’s mother-in-law was staying with a neighbor while the renovations were happening, and she was kind enough to allow us to have Christmas Eve and Christmas at her house. We did our present-opening there. We also got to see how the renovations were progressing and tour the scaffolding over the roof.
This year we did also get to do some things outside of Surrey. Adam’s niece Rebecca lives north of London where she works as a nurse. We were fortunate to be able to meet her in London for a day to hang out and see a bit of the city.
We met Rebecca at King’s Cross station, which appeared to be the center of all things Harry Potter. There was a massive line at the platform 9 3/4 sign, as well as for the official shop. None of us are die-hard fans, so we passed those by. We headed out of the station to explore. As we were looking for a place to eat, we stumbled across the British Library. We had never visited it before, so decided to make a quick stop. It is a great place to have on our list for next time – the room with exhibits was filled with treasures! We saw Da Vinci sketches, a Shakespeare first folio, and the only remaining original copy of Beowulf, among others. Our hunger drove us back outside, otherwise Angie would have spent much longer looking at all the famous manuscripts.
We had a lovely day with Rebecca filled with walking, parks, food, and pub stops. As we saw her off at the station again in the evening, we were thinking about when we can get back to England and put it in our schedule to head up north to see where she is living and spend more time with her.
This year because we were staying in a different village from the rest of the family, Christi or Tristan would pick us up and drop us off. Christi and Angie have historically enjoyed a morning run together on these visits, but Angie isn’t running now, so they did a couple of morning walks, and Adam came along on one of them. The mornings were beautiful – crisp, cold, and frosty. Just perfect for a nice walk.
We have some old favorites that we visit for walks every year, like RHS Wisley and Puttenham Common. This year we did something new, and visited Waverley Abbey’s grounds. The kids went to Waverley Abbey School when they were little, but most of us had never walked around the grounds by the ruins of the abbey. The walk was delightful – interesting ruins and a lovely field and forest to explore on the grounds.
The time with family was wonderful and restorative. Next up – Paris!
