After a few days hard research and umbrella carrying, Sam and I got the train from Paddington Station to Bristol Temple Mead, a lovely old station that had hanging baskets with flowers out the front.
I think commuting in Melbourne would not be so awful it featured more fresh flowers! The reason for our visit to the west of England was to attend Cary Comes Home for the Weekend, a celebration of the man who was Archie Leach.
As anyone who has spent any time with me knows, I'm a huge Cary Grant fan and this weekend was seemed designed to perfectly meet my interests. There were some great academic talks in the morning followed by an afternoon tea at the Avon Gorge hotel.
This was the first time I have ever tasted clotted cream and oh my God!!! It's amazing. I can't believe I've spent so many years developing my scone-making technique when in fact I should have spent that time figuring out where to buy clotted cream in Australia. The scone should really just be a cream-delivery vehicle. I now truly understand the excellence of the cream tea.
Before tea was served there was a rare moment of sunshine. We dashed outside to take photos of the terrace on which Cary Grant famously posed:
It was very pretty. Then it started to rain again so we went inside.
There was a gorgeous little park next to my hotel. In the right of the photo you can see a building. That is the Temple Church, a ruined church that leans more than the leaning Tower of Pisa. It seriously looks like it's about to fall over! I couldn't take a better photo because I refused to go too close to it for fear of getting squashed but apparently it's perfectly safe. I don't believe it!
We went to the Drawbridge for dinner and I had a yorkie - roast beef covered in gravy and wrapped in a giant Yorkshire pudding. I don't eat meat very often but I just couldn't resist! It was pretty amazing, although I felt like I needed to eat only salads for the next two days.
It was a very fun weekend and a fun city to spend time in.
Next time: all the leftover bits!
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