The much anticipated Pheasant

Tonight I roasted the pheasant I was given by some good clients. Typically they are roasted, and wrapped with bacon.

The finished product, a little tough and dry, but very flavoursome

Liv refused to let me make gravy out of the inside bits.

Osborne House

Next we were off to Osborne House, the summer residence of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. It was designed by Prince Albert and based on italian villas. Queen Victoria died there in 1901, surrounded by her 73 collies, she was a bit of a weird one that Victoria.

Quarr Abbey

On the weekend, we managed to drag ourselves outside, in between storms to see some of the the local sites on the Isle of Wight. First stop was Quarr Abbey, a former Cistertian monastery. The monks still live and work here and all the grounds are open the public.

Pigs getting fat for Christmas...Mmmm

The new abbey

The only sunshine we've seen for a month

More of Dorset - the 24 hour holiday!

Dorset

Thatched roofs by the sea!




A cold, sick and unhappy Liv

Lovely sun and Lyme Bay

Dorset

We went to Dorset for 1 night before our trip was cut short by a bad case of the English cold! We both became very unwell and decided to come back home after one day. While it lasted it was great. Dorset is gorgeous - a hidden secret without many tourists. We stayed in a village called Beaminster at the place below called Pickwicks of Beaminster. We joined in a curry and charity quiz night but we came last!

Lyme Regis - famous village on the Lyme Bay, it was glorious sunshine but very cold.

More Isle of Wight Countryside

Gorgeous English countryside on the southern coast of The Isle of Wight.

Isle of Wight

We are now living and working on The Isle of Wight which is off the south coast of England. To get here you catch a ferry from Portsmouth. Below is our house "Daisy Cottage'', it is very nice inside - a real house with spare bedroom etc and a huge conservatory which gets really warm on sunny days. Our house is about a 5 minute walk from the vet clinic where we are working.

Below are some pictures taken on the southern coast of the Isle of Wight. The countryside on the island is very attractive, especially down on the southern side. Althought the island isn't very big, there are no major roads and getting around takes a long time in bad traffic!

The Greatest Photo Ever

When we visited Pisa, there was only one thing i wanted; A photo of me holding the leaning tower up. Everyone was doing it, and I wanted one just the same...This is what Liv produced, and it is a testament to her brilliant photographic skills.

The Moment You've all Been Waiting For

Here are some photos of Liv's engagement ring. We recently had it resized in London as Liv had fat fingers in florence, and when we returned to the UK the ring didn't fit any more.

Dubrovnik

We spent the last 5 days of our trip in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The old town was attacked badly during the war in the early 1990's and has been rebuilt by world heritage - which you can notice from the new terracotta roofs you see when up on the city walls. The city is surrounded by large walls and you can walk around them and view over the city and sea.

Below is the main street of the old town at night.

A typical side street in the old town, very steep!

Dubrovnik

Pictures of the old town of Dubrovnik

Austrian Lakes

Some pictures from the lakes and mountains tour. It was a bit of an over 50's tour but there was another young couple! Our tour guides name was Wolfgang! The town below was really pretty with all the colourful buildings and we stopped for apple strudel and hot chocolate! One of many apple strudels during our time in Austria.

Salzburg & Lakes

We spent 2 days in Salzburg and really enjoyed it, probably should have stayed longer. We went on a lakes and mountains tour just outside salzburg but didn't do the sound of music tour. The shops and streets in Salzburg were gorgeous, note the christmas shop below - there was also and easter egg shop which just sold gorgeous little decorated eggs! We went to Mozart's birthplace and house - really commercial.