England turns on the summer

Yes, that's right, for two weeks The Baguette becomes The Toasted Teacake, as Lew and I crossed the ditch for a "holiday" in England!
We started off in Clevedon with my parents, where I lived from age 12 -18.  I can still hear my teenage voice....."Clevedon is SO BORING......there's NOTHING to DO.....its such a DUMP"!  Not surprisingly, 30 years down the track, I find Clevedon really interesting, especially the architecture.  I suppose having taken so many photos of French buildings, I can look at Clevedon in a new light.  It really "took off" in the Victorian era, when it became a popular seaside resort, so many of the houses and buildings reflect that style.
Clevedon is on the west side of England, on the Bristol Channel....so you can't really call it the seaside....

But there's a pier....

And a "beach", though only the hardy English holidaymakers would risk contamination in Clevedon's seawater...note that they're only risking their ankles....any further immersion would result in certain death; when in doubt, stay on the deck chair!

This house was always regarded rather suspiciously by us as children, as being a potential witch's abode or haunted house...

This huge place was originally a children's home, before being converted into 19 flats...

Like France, there's a fair selection of interesting doors....but that's where the similarity between Clevedon and France ends..abruptly...

However, if you want to see the best of English seaside resorts, lets head down the coast a little way to Weston-Super-Mare.  This is where you see the English really pull out all the stops to impress....

Fancy a donkey ride?  It's only a 5k trek through the mud to reach the sea...

Or maybe you just want to relax on a deck chair for the bargain price of 3 pounds?

But hopefully you've brought your bucket and spade (otherwise its 5 pounds to buy one) as we were here for the sandcastle sculpture exhibition.  Amazing sculptures appear on the beach every summer, with a different theme each year.  This year it was "Hollywood", so with that in mind, you might recognise some of the following characters...

No, I wasn't sure about him either - apparently its The Godfather.

All very impressive, especially seeing as it was just sand and water.  There's nothing to protect the sculptures, so if it rains, they have to be repaired the following day.

Next stop, Salisbury, on our way further south to Lymington.  Salisbury is home to the cathedral of all cathedrals - if you only see one in England, this is the one to see.  At first glance, its not as impressive as some of its European cousins.

 However, once inside it's quite spectacular in its simplicity and stature.

Interestingly, Salisbury cathedral is one of the few religious buildings in England to start charging an entry fee.  This is thinly disguised as a "suggested donation", but the amount is clearly 'suggested' to be 6.50 pounds, and seeing as there's a desk, two attendants and a turnstyle, there's no way you're going to get in without 'donating'!  I suppose we noticed it more, as during the week we visited, the news was full of details about the Church of England's various investments of 5.9 billion pounds!
It was (almost) worth paying the entry fee to look at the font - a very modern version, filled literally to overflowing at each corner, and providing a perfect mirror image in the water.

Leaving Salisbury, we continued to Lymington, to spend a week in James and Lavinia's English residence.  Tune in again soon for the next thrilling episode of....The Toasted Teacake!