Hemingford Grey

Hemingford Grey, a small village located in Cambridgeshire, UK, is one of my favorites.  John and I discovered a very good restaurant located here called The Cock.  You can take a quick stroll along the river before or after dinner, watch the sunset, or walk along the public footpath where you'll discover a beautiful church yard.

One of the best restaurants around.  Great rotating menu and friendly staff.  They are beginning to recognize us now.

I tried my first scallops and my first veal at this restaurant.  Loved them both!  Their desserts are incredible and don't miss the Muscat wine found on the dessert menu. 

 

Pretty pink house with the street right up to the doorstep.

Click on any photo for full view screen.

Adjusting to our New Surroundings

Things are going well.  We've had lots to do the past 2 weeks.  We bought our car which was huge. Driving has been an adventure.  But I've done a few solo drives including getting out of Cambridge and onto the Motorway.  Honestly, it was frightening.  I'm not at all comfortable with these multi-lane round abouts.   I'm sure with experience, it'll get better.  Just put a deposit down on a property, hoping to get in by July 1.  Though that probably won't happen.  We found out that our household goods won't be here until end of July.  We were hoping for much sooner, however, we got a call last week that the shipment hadn't even left the port yet.

We've spent our free time exploring some of the towns and eating at great restaurants.  So far, most of the places we've been have had great food.  Last night we went to the Old Bridge Hotel in Huntingdon for dinner.  It's a very pretty location.  I got a few pictures in just before another rain storm hit.

 

There's a point when you are on vacation that you are just ready to go home.  I've hit that point, missing my normal surroundings and belongings and friends.  Having the kitties here with me is helping because I at least have them as something familiar.  I'm enjoying all the sights, it's beautiful here.  I've got a few pictures of some of our walks.

 

  

  

 

 

House Hunting in the UK

We've been here in the UK now over a week.  Finding a house has been a priority.  We've spent a couple days viewing properties.  Our first few viewings were not good.  The homes were very small, cramped and dirty.  Another apartment style home was small, but cute, however they wouldn't allow pets.  We were slightly disappointed, but still had more appointments.  We are pretty sure we want a home near the city so we will have easy access to city life.  It will also be an ideal location for when all you visitors start coming!  This will mean John's commute will be much longer.  There are right now two townhouse properties that we are interested in.  They are very new and modern with 3 floors.   I was told this morning that the landlord of the larger one is very interested in us and would allow the cats.  Here are a few pictures of the property.

Living in the villages would allow a short commute for John, but not a lot to do.  We have looked at a couple homes but are leaning toward the city properties.

 4-bedroom townhouse

Entertaining room/family room looking out over deck and tree-lined back yard.

The kitchen includes a hidden refrigerator, freezer, dishwasher, and microwave.

Dining room area, which is bigger than it appears in the picture.

Deck two...there are three!

Master bedroom has built in wardrobe...a big plus here.

In between house hunting, we've been exploring Cambridge and some villages where we've enjoyed some good food and drink.  The Eagle is one of John's favorites. 

The Smokeworks turned out to be a great barbeque place which I'm sure we'll get back to often.

It's so beautiful here.  I still expect to wake up from a dream and find myself at home.  It's been a little overwhelming.  I'm finally feeling better and I'm caught up on my sleep so I'm not as tired as last week.  We've been doing a lot of walking which I'm sure will be routine while we are here.  We've been meeting people.  We went to a get-together with a neighbor of John's coworkers.  They were a wonderful and fun British couple and we hope to spend more time with them. 

After a long day of appointments, we sat on The Varsity roof terrace and viewed the city below.  

My new Samsung s6 took these photos...I think it does a pretty good job!