by Mike and Patt Staley
High on a hill top, in a land far, far away, lived a beautiful maiden waiting for her love. Cool opening huh!
July 23rd, 2014 Shawn and Hannah Graham became Husband & Wife. The two families joined for 10 wonderful, memory making, happy, fun days. I told Jenn and Marcus that their sailing wedding trip in Greece would be hard to beat but Shawn and Hannah certainly made their wedding event even more difficult for Ryan and Hannah’s brother Steven. They are going to have to get married on the Moon to top these two weddings. Peckforton Castle is complete with turrets, castle walls and wine cellars. The castle has been turned into an event site, hotel and we stayed two nights. Our rooms were so beautiful they almost (I said almost) made you want to stay in the room and just pretend we were royalty but we pushed onward and climbed to the top turret and sang..... in honor of...... We tried to find fireworks as a grand finale but alas...an Owl had to do! And then there is Chester....
Chester is home to a glorious two-mile ring of medieval and Roman walls that encircles a kernel of Tudor and Victorian buildings, all overhanging eaves, mini-courtyards, and narrow cobbled lanes. Chester has the JP Polo Academy but when one has a Polo Field in one’s own backyard we decided that the City Walls would be more interesting. Walking around an entire city on original Roman Walls has to be a pretty unique experience. It takes about an hour altogether and en - route you pass the beautiful pink sandstone cathedral, the River Dee, Chester Racecourse, the canal and enjoy views towards Wales and the Clwydian mountain range on the Welsh/English border. It is easy to descend steps at various points to shop, pop into a pub or bar or visit a restaurant, which of course is what we did. The Walls go around the entire city. Walking along the walls reinforces all the authors descriptions of life in England eons ago.