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| St Mary's Beddington Park |
The Christmas CDs have been put away for another year (tree is still up with two crackers still nestling there) and now it's time to look back at 2025, the places I visited and my highlights.
2025 was a strange year, full of ups and downs. There was family illness, a sick dog and a very expensive vet bill. Thank goodness for my free travel pass and Senior Citizens Railcard, as well as my National Art Fund Pass (best all-round card for me). My goals for last year were to complete the Thames Path and Caprital Ring. Neither of these things happened. Sometimes the weather messed up plans, sometimes family issues, and also I had a lot of other trips planned for my 70th birthday year.
I thought I'd pick some things from each month to highlight. Let's see how we go:
January - well, not much in the way of trips happened that month. It's usually too cold, and some places don't open until Easter. But I do have a highlight, and that was going along to ABBA Voyage for the second time. The arena is at the Pudding Lane DLR stop. Even I couldn't get lost. This show is so good I would go again if someone else asked me to go with them. I loved it. Being an ABBA fan helps, but it's amazingly put together. So clever. If you've never been, do. The ticket prices vary from day to day, so to get the best deal you may need to trawl through many dates. But it's worth it. No photos are allowed once the show begins, so this shot is taken beforehand. The arena is huge!
February - a trip to the Warburg Institute to view the Tarot Exhibition. A fascinating display of cards and lots of history. Finding the set of cards I possess was a little thrill (I haven't used them in decades). This exhibition was followed by a walk from Richmond to Osterley (Capital Ring), which was very pleasant. The next thing that month was a visit to Dulwich Picture Gallery to view the Tirzah Garwood Exhibition. Then there was a quick trip to see my brother in Eastbourne. Anytime in Eastbourne is great, even in the cold. Finally, there was a trip to Norwich to visit a friend. Sadly, I could only manage one night away, but Norwich is a place I love visiting, especially when my friend and I get together. There's much chatting and laughter.
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Tarot exhibition
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Tirzah Garwood and her husband Eric Ravillious
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Eastbourne
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March was a busy month, with the eighth Capital Ring walk, a visit to a concert (Ben & Dom who are two choir leaders I have sung under), Winchester Cathedral Light Show, a trip up the chumney at Battersea Power station and a day trip to Oxford for the Anselm Kiefer exhibition.
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| Anselm Kiefer |
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| From the top of the chimney, Battersea Power Station |
April was the first holiday of the year. I went with a friend to Freshwater Bay in the Isle of Wight. This is my favourite spot. The view from the hotel is beautiful. We visited many places and took a lovely walk to Yarmouth, such a quaint town with a castle. It's also a ferry port. There were trips to The Needles, open top bus rides, a visit to Tennyson's Garden and Sandown. Also that month there was a trip to Banstead Woods to see the bluebells and to Carshalton Ponds, a local-ish beauty spot (well, I call it that), and it's only a bus ride away.
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The classic view of Freshwater Bay
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June, my birthday month, and the expensive operation for Rue. I was doing the majority of the after care. On my birthday I went to see
The Salt Path, which I loved (controversy which was just breaking hadn'tstopped me enjoyting the film or the books). There was also a nice family meal and another day I played crazy golf (I love crazy golf). I visited Marble Hill House and the Secrets of the Thames Exhibition at Docklands. Finally there was a trip to Winchester to see the house Jane Austen spent her last days in. That was a highlight.
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| Secrets of the Thames |
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| Gardens, Marble Hill House |
July began with attending a play in Camden, part of the fringe festival. One of my writing friends had written it and was acting in it. It was a great evening. Then it was off to Stratford-upon-Avon for a joint 70th birthday holiday with a friend. We did the works - Shakespeare's birthplace, New Place, Ann Hathaway's Cottage, as well as a chapel, Trinity Church, a butterfly farm and a trip on the river Avon. Strangely, there were no Shakespear plays on, so we booked a comedy about Jane Austen's plays. It was hilarious. The month ended with a visit to Van Gogh's house in London.
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| van Gogh's house & garden |
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| Ann Hathaway's COttage |
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| Evening over the River Avon |
In August I went to Strawberry Hill House, but the main trip was to Helston in Cornwall to see family. The weather was brilliant, and it was nice to revisit some of the places we'd been to when the children were young. All of us went, as it was a big get together and I rented an apartment for us.
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| Porthleven, Cornwall |
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| A walk near the apartment, Helston |
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| Boating Lake, Helston |
September began with a trip to Chawton House, home of Jane Austen's brother. What a lovely house! There was a two-night stay in Leicester for a writing conference, though I spent the afternoon I arrived visiting as many attractions as I could, and finally a trip back to Winchester to attend the Taize service on a Sunday evening, something I had wanted to do for many years.
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Taize, Winchester Cathedral and Chawton House
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October I went along to the art exhibition at the RA featuring works by Anselm Keifer and Vincent van Gogh, which was really interesting and walk 9 of the Capital Ring (Greenford to South Kenton) which included a brilliant visit to Harrow-on-the-Hill.
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| Harrow-on-the-Hill |
November there was the Level 42 concert and the first chance to see some of the Christmas lights in London.
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| Level 42 |
December included a visit to Kew Gardens light show and a lovely Christmas meal with a friend at the National Trust cafe at Morden Hall Park.
Of course there were other friend meet-ups and little trips not mentioned here, usual spur of the moment trips locally or to London. There was a lovely visit to Beddington Park too. There were also cancelled trips due to bad weather and family issues.
I still want to finish the Thames Path. These last 40 miles to the source are the toughest due to the length of some walks, which my friend struggles with. So we are trying to break the walks up. Plus it's difficult to get to these places as transport is infrequent and tricky. But I'm determined we will complete it.
Already this January, one plan in the diary may have to change due to the weather. At the moment there is talk of heavy snow on Friday, but we will know nearer the time whether this trip is possible or not. I hope you've enjoyed this little run through of 2025 and I hope this year will bring some interesting trips to write about. You can find reports for the various trips mentioned elsewhere in my blog should you wish to know more or see more photos. Happy New Year. Stay warm this week.
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| Winchester Light Show |
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| Jane Austen's House, Winchester |
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