Beedubya

Coronation Street has it's 50th Anniversary this year!! I am still addicted as ever I was. I bet they get it in Malta too.

pcmaccallum

ED I hope work is going well.

Husbands family said a good place to look for rented places in Ayr was the Ayrshire Post. They also said there is a good bus service from Ayr to the holiday camp but i think you will know this already.

Another thought could you maybe get short term accommodation at the holiday camp so you dont have such a commute. Then you would have time to look around for something more suitable long term.

Take care Chris

Englishmum

The Cotswolds villages are lovely, with honey-coloured stone houses, dry stone walls it comprises Gloucestershire up to the south Warwickshire border and parts of Oxfordshire. Bourton-on-the-Water is pretty but a tourist trap (lots of coach parties, Japanese and Americans on tours, OAP coach holidays etc.). Upper and Lower Slaughter, Broadway, Chipping Campden, Chipping Norton, Northleach etc. (Chipping is an ancient word for 'market'). There are many Roman relics in the Cotswolds (the Fosse Way, a Roman Road passes through it...I often drive along it on visits to England and you can tell the Romans built it as the road is almost straight along the whole length of it, with hardly any bends) Property is very expensive as many Londoners have bought weekend homes in the Cotswolds, driving out the locals. This part of the country became prosperous because of the wool trade.

A few years ago we were fed up of trekking round to visit relatives and friends around the UK on our trips home, so one year we rented a grist-mill in a Cotswolds hamlet (on an estate) and got them to visit us for a change! There are many cottages to rent on the estate, including some just for two people.....a nice place to stay for a special celebration. We liked walking up to the pub at the entrance to the estate, hearing the owls hooting at night, all the cattle and sheep freely roaming at the exit to the estate on the country road to Stroud, all the lovely walks in the vicinity (we walked to Uley Bury, the nearby Iron Age hill fort)...and the food at the Cyder House restaurant next to the Manor house was sublime.

Anyone can just drive through the estate and dine there (lunches and dinners) and the gardens are also open to the public:

http://www.owlpen.com/index.shtml (the whole website is an interesting read with gorgeous photos of the local countryside)

http://www.owlpen.com/grist_mill.shtml (we stayed in this....lovely!)

http://www.owlpen.com/OwlpenReviews.shtml

http://www.owlpen.com/location.shtml (maps of the Cotswolds/attractions)

(I can imagine it's beautiful right now with the daffodils blooming and lambs frolicking in the fields...)

Luckyone

Hi there,
not sure the part about your years in Canada etc is correct in order to get a full UK pension. If you take a look at the attached link there's a bit more to it than that. It's to do with how long you've been out the UK versus how long you've been back etc etc.

You do need to have a good read but whether or not you'll qualify for a full UK pension is not as easy as your post might suggest.......at least not the way I understood the attached link from the UK. Maybe Austratlia is different from Canada eh?

Too important an issue to get wrong methinks.......


http://www.dwp.gov.uk/international/...social/#canada

aes1

Oh yeah Horlicks AND Coronation Street - what more can a girl want! Well, maybe the rich brother of that millionaire you are going to find, Barb And Rodney, yes, chocolate digestives are the best!! But don't get me started on chocolate though, I consider myself a connoisseur! I did go 7 years without any chocolate at all once though - what was I thinking?????

Fish n Chips 56

The Cotswolds, Bourton-on-the-Water, OMG thats all I need to hear, I was there last July, tourist trap yes, but still I Love it, had an awesome ice cream cone there, British Ice Cream Still Rocks.

You cant beat the British Countryside.

Also went to Holmfirth in South Yorks, Just love cute village thing and that old world feeling, Holmfirth is where they film "Last of the Summer Wine", Had a drink in Sids Cafe and a small bite to eat, later had some marvelous Fish n Chips from a Chippy just around the corner from Sids, been there before, Its always Great.

Mrs Sully

Thank you for the web pages of lovely places to stay. Like you we exhaust ourselves on every holiday trying to catch up with everyone, I think renting one place and letting people visit is the way to go. If only to minimize the packing and unpacking And yes it is nearly 5am - couldn't sleep

Easterndawn

Hi Everyone, Still at my training session in Berwick, had a good day with 15 other reception people from 3 other sites in Scotland. The three of us from Craig Tara went for a drive around the town, what a lovely little town. Visited the building called the Henry V111 gun tower, built in 15 hundreds.

Unfortunately, Chris they don't have accomidation at Craig Tara for staff this year, just my luck. So will have to get my butt in gear and start looking for something, my problem is of course the deposit for a flat which is usually one months rent and an be two.

Will be back home tomorrow night, glad to hear of everyones good luck and those of us who are still waiting for things to start moving on the house front.

pcmaccallum

[QUOTE=Easterndawn;8404834]

Unfortunately, Chris they don't have accommodation at Craig Tara for staff this year, just my luck. So will have to get my butt in gear and start looking for something, my problem is of course the deposit for a flat which is usually one months rent and an be two. QUOTE




Oh no that's a shame, thats a lot of money to find for the deposit. The other option is if anyone lives your way although i know it's a little way out maybe you could share fuel costs. I will keep my that you find something suitable. Luck has been with you up to now so hopefully it will all work out. Remember everything happens for a reason i know it will all work out in the end.

Take care Chris

trottytrue

Easterndawn are there any caravan sites close.

pcmaccallum

ED I'm sure you have looked at some of these agents already but there might be some you haven't. If you have any questions about areas we might be of help.

http://www.primelocation.com/uk-esta...agentType/resr

Chris

trottytrue

Nolimits.... I think classes should be oligatory for all those moving to another country. Small things you never think of can really get to you and if you have small children to them. I just never realized that moving to a country that had the same language as the Uk could be so vastly different. Often people made fun of me for pronoucing works incorrectly

Jasper123... you are right after a few years you give in and do what the majority do then you get into trouble with those at home who think you have become "Americanized". But I found it just easier. I dont do it with all words. I still hang on to some. Also I still have my accent. I have still not heard when my citizenship ceremony is going to be.
I do have an observation on people at home. Sometimes I would get really annoyed how come they went on with their lives while I was having such a bad time and how come as I have gotten older the letter writing had dropped off. But what can I expect they all have lives to lead and have their own sets of problems so I have constantly to remind myself of that and remind myself that I am not so much going home for friends and family but for me myself and how I feel even when I move home I might not live close to them. I know reading the newspapers tends to report alot of doom and gloom but then I think thats a worldwide thing.

Mrs Sully...You are doing the right thing. My grandchildren are still very small but they come visit and then they want to go home they have their own circle of friends. In a way I am glad we dont live to close as we would probably end up babysitter like the other Grandparents and they have just bought a place in Florida to get away from it all. I am happy to send surprise parcels through the mail and other things that please them I know my children loved that when my Mother sent them parcels.. I figure that once children reach School age they move on. I want to be able to go shopping on my own take day trips, go to the theatre and enjoy those friends that I have left and maybe make some new ones.

The Cotswolds are beautiful we spent a few weeks there a couple of years ago. I loved it. But to be realistic I could not afford a home in that area unless housing takes a dive.

Magistrate.... I hope everything goes well with the house I will keep my fingers crossed for you and say a prayer to St. Joseph

dunroving

Sorry, I have checked online and for some reason, the brief article wasn't archived. It was in Sunday's Times (7 March), written by Nina Montagu-Smith, titled "The best deal is ... your state pension" (just in case anyone else can locate it online).

[duh, should have used Google - don't know why the Times Online search engine didn't locate it ...]:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/mon...cle7052246.ece

Mrs Sully

Thank you TT, sometimes you just need to some reassurance. We plan to go home on our holiday in August for 6 weeks and have a look around. Next year is the big year when my husband retires so we really need to get into the planning mode. It is all a bit scarey but each time I read a post on BE I feel a bit better and know I'm not alone in my concerns.

Mrs Sully

Thank you so much for the link. I accessed the article and have decided they should make retirement planning a University of the Third Age course (maybe they have). All those figures and stats at a time in our lives when we thought all that was behind us I have saved the link as a 'favourite' because I think there will be much more info to come.

Another dilemma, is it better to buy sterling before leaving Aust for the UK given the exchange rate or better to wait? I'm going to research buying a one way airline ticket from here then a return in the UK, just a thought