General Chat

My mate and I sat in the pub opposite the theatre in Southsea, having left the car in the street.

We were just saying how much it felt like living in the 1950,s when,quite by chance, a woman went by pushing a coachbuilt pram.

So many places I haven't visited yet...I think my favourite may yet be among them :-)

There are those places that are associated with childhood, holidays in Wales and living in the Isle of Man. In the IOM my favourite place was Glen Maye, it is a real fairy glen, wooded and waterfalled, I do hope it hasn't changed.

There are lots of pretty places I have travelled through ,but there is something about London I find irresistable, it has a heartbeat, enterprise, history, architecture, the arts, beautiful parks and ...the river, there is something about the river that called to me long before I knew my ancestors worked on it :-)

So many places I love.
Mid/North Wales.The beautiful estuaries of the Mawddach and Dovey.PortMerion,Borth y Gest,where we spent so many happy hours on the beach.
dorset around Bridport/charmouth area which we visited to see Oh's aunt who lived there.
cornwall /Devon with which I have a rather special yearning to go back to as my maternal ancestors came from there.It has a certain olde world charm.
I used to work in Llandudno and went up the Orme a lot and on a nice day you could be anywhere in the world with breathtaking views and peace and quiet.
I have been to Oz,USA,Europe,but there is nowhere I would like to live apart from here in Wales.

Northumberland ..............fabulous golden sandy beaches,beautiful countryside

and historic castles...it's also just across the borders to Scotland & The Lake

District. :-) :-)

From what SueMaid and TonyOz say, there's much of the Newfoundland about Australia. ;)

I couldn't say Newfoundland is my favourite place in Canada because I spent too little time there -- 24 hours back in 1971. Arrived after a day-long ferry ride, hitchhiked up the eastern coast in a foggy drizzle alongside old, old mountains, getting a ride with two young men who took us to Corner Brook, miles out of their way ... maybe expecting something more for their trouble, but never even hinting. The youth hostel, a tent camp, had been blown down in the wake of a hurricane, so we stayed at a local church hall that had picked up the slack. Next day we decided to do laundry in town. When the mnibus driver heard we were "from away", he wouldn't let us pay the fare.

Of course it was the people of Newfoundland who took in hundreds of stranded US travellers on September 11 and made them family.

And the fish and chips -- although we couldn't afford such things when we were there, the fish and chips shops in Ontario are almost all run by Newfoundlanders. ;)

The Wye Valley....look at my photo on left, this is the view from the old railway bridge in Penalt, the Boat Inn is within 50yds, best pub on the Wye banks. As you travel towards Monmouth there are fields of sheep and horses and more open country views:o)) beautiful:o)
We come from Sussex and loved the Sussex Downs and love Chichester and surrounding areas too....but this is home:o)

jude

i love Kent the best the life styles so layed back
not like my life here in the noth east
and the weathers much warmer

I think its easier for me to say the places I don't like ,--towns and cities ,give me any part of the countryside

but I do like the canals where ever they are

Stan
We have a canal in this far south east corner. It was built by the military,in order to defend this coast from the French and now is a great haven of wildlife.
I do like this area where I live and much of Sussex too.

As I read this thread, I know there are many places I'd like to know better or even visit for the first time.

Gwyn

English waterways are so ... civilized. Most here in Canada are wilder and rockier. That has its own beauty, but it's just kind of ... messy.

Grassy banks, trees ... where I grew up, in London, Ontario, there are areas like that along our Thames river -- parkland with meadows and willow trees at the edge of the water. That's how I think all rivers should look.

Just like in this 1946 poster of the Wye Valley! --

http://www.urban75.org/photos/wales/posters.html


Quick clicks -- this is the scenery you see on a cruise of the Thousand Islands on the St Lawrence River --

http://www.thousandislandslife.com/Portals/Properties/images/News-Articles/2010/Apr-photos/WLW-bb4cf65cbcf3_CB38-1000_islands_wallpaper_April_2010_small_thumb_1.jpg

but you can see why I prefer the parks along the shore of the river, given my rather twee taste --

http://photos.igougo.com/images/p499513-Ontario-Park_on_St.Lawrence_River.jpg

Just an English country garden girl at heart, the windblown twisted pine trees of the Group of Seven have never done it for me. ;)


I want some pix of those Australian places!

I love the coast at St David's in Pembrokeshire and the Cornish coast, but luckliy the place I love best is where I live in Herefordshire in the Bromyard area. It is beautifully quiet and much of the countryside is remaniscent of earlier times with small fields edged by hedgerows, which dance with white cowparsley at the moment.

A short walk up a local field and we have views towards Worcestershire over cherry and damson orcchards and common land with the Malvern Hills in the distance. A few yards further and over a ridge are views towards Bromyard with quiet sheep, a old stone barn small rolling hills. Further on from on the downs you can see as far as Wales and Hay Bluff and the common land is covered with wild flowers. So peaceful and quiet even on a Bank Holiday.

Janey.....Canada sounds wonderful too, l would love to visit there and Australia, New zeakand, Nepal, Peru...all sorts of places. l've been to USA a few times, loved Yosemite and the Californian beaches (not a beachy person though) aswell as the Mountains in Colorado:o))

jude

just going to look at the links and will change my profile pic to Symonds Yat, Herefordshire, 15-20 mins from here:o)

Now that poster is amazing, the viaduct is the one we see from our house:o))))

Your photo Ontario park, looks just like a seafront view at Southsea Hants:o)

jude

I too would like to see more of Canada. We have travelled by road from Vancouver to Banff and from there we drove up to the ice fields and it was all beautiful. We have been to Niagara and the falls are awesome but the place of Niagara is not! Husband has been to Toronto but I don't think we have seen the real canada.

Ah, "the real Canada". Well, I've lived and travelled all over Ontario (nearly 8 times the land area of England, although most of that isn't habitable or visitable) ... visited various parts of Quebec often and lived on the St Lawrence east of Quebec City for a summer, been all along the St Lawrence to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, over to Newfoundland, then in the other direction along the north shore of Superior in February to Winnipeg, and one flying trip to Edmonton/Calgary by plane ... but I've never seen the mountains and coast of BC, or the vast flat expanse of Saskatchewan (No.1 tells me the air is other-worldly) ...

I'm not sure I've ever seen the real Canada either! :D

I had a beau back in the 80s who was from the west coast and went to school on the east coast. In both places they curl, a "sport" he was adept at that most Ontarians regard as ridiculous. He thought Ontarians were soft, not real Canadians. I took him to see Niagara Falls one weekend. He was prepared to mock. In BC, they have *real* waterfalls, not like whatever puny specimen Ontario had to offer.

British Columbia waterfalls ...

http://www.bukisa.com/articles/27405_five-amazing-and-spectacular-canadian-waterfalls

Niagara Falls ...

http://www.gothereguide.com/niagara+falls-city/

It was raining when we got there, and of course it's always misty around the falls. I parked about 3 blocks downstream from them, and we walked along the river through the rain and mist. The thundering noise got louder and louder, and he got quieter and quieter. Oh ..., he said. Oh! Well maybe you do have a real waterfall in Ontario after all ...

I've stood on the bit of land that sticks out into the river right before the falls, on the right-hand side of the falls, once, and I won't do it again. Four of the biggest lakes in the world are pouring themselves over that cliff -- and occasionally breaking chunks of it off ...

I have to say I've never enjoyed the other attractions the city has to offer, though. ;)

Has to be Cornwall. Have been visiting every year for past 35 yrs. only found out 15 yrs ago that this was where my ancestors came from, now I know why I felt so at home there.

Carol

Janey I found standing looking at the falls was really weird, there was a sort of 'pull' that had me standing well back. I have read about this with people who don't like heights, they feel they are going to be pulled over, but I have never had that feeling before. I think it is the rush of water as it goes over the falls so fast. My OH was there once when it was all ice, he said it was a fantastic sight.

I was born and lived in the Lake District until 11yrs ago when I moved to the New Forest, Hampshire.....

I just love where I now live, the sea is within easy reach, with some lovely beaches, although I did miss mountains and stone wall's at first!

I have been lucky enough to travel the world, one of my best favourite places is Portstewart, Northern Ireland....I spent 5 month's there, the place and people were a joy...

My very best favourite place is Hong Kong, where I spent 2 yrs....wonderful, loved every thing about it...

Misty x

I was born in east sussex and have lived in west sussex nearly all my life.......we have beautiful countryside around here, and lovely beaches where the tide goes out along way to leave vast stretches of sand.

Have been in the past on holiday to the west country Devon and Cornwall and love that part of the country, the lovely little coves, with clifftops overhanging always seem like they come from days gone by.

Have visited the Greek Islands a couple of times and seen some amazing sunsets over the turquoise blue water......


But the most beautiful place i have EVER been in the world in The Blue Mountains about 100 miles? West of Sydney Australia....they absolutley took my breath away...


Nicky

Carol with numbers -- my mum and I visted England in 1994 ... about 10 years before I discovered her father's father's families were rooted for 100s of years in Cornwall, in the Linkinhorne to St Stephens by Saltash area -- so it never occurred to us to go there on our whirlwind 2-week visit!

Next time!