Holiday to Bodelwyddon Castle, North Wales - 13th to 17th April, 2026
The holiday to North Wales was a Great success. We got to the hotel at around 3:30 giving us plenty of time to settle in before dinner. On Tuesday we visited Chester and added a Blue Badge Guide for a 90-minute bus tour around the city. Wednesday saw us at Erdigg Hall – a beautiful National Trust property. We stopped off on our way back to the Hotel to admire a beautiful Marble church ... close to our hotel but too far for some to walk so the coach driver took us there. Thursday was an early start as we drove to Porthmadog to take the Ffestiniog Railway to Blaenau Ffestiniog then by coach to Portmeirion. Our journey home on Friday was eventful as one of the water hoses on the coach failed. The driver managed to get us to a Service Station where we had an early lunch. 90 minutes later and the driver had repaired the leak and we were back on the road arriving back in Chinnor at around 4PM.
We had 52 people book for the holiday but 10 cancelled in the last 3 weeks (2 on the day before we left). 6 were covered by insurance, 2 sold their place to friends (also u3a members) but the 2 who cancelled on the day before we were due to leave did not have any insurance.
Our next outing will be in June to the Cotswold Wildlife Park. We will launch it at the next Speakers Meeting (and also the Boat Trip from Marlow to Henley).
Holiday to the Isle of Wight - October 21st to 25th - 2025
Click on the picture of the Red Squirrel to see the report.
Holiday to Holme Lacy, 31 March to 5 April 2025
Forty-six members recently went on a holiday to Holme Lacy near Hereford on 31 March 2025. We left Thame at 9.30am being our last pick up and with our regular driver, Sam, drove to Stratford-upon-Avon. We had a couple of hours free to wander around in the glorious sunshine. Some of us walked down to the river and had an early lunch at the theatre, sitting outside admiring the view and watching the swans and ducks on the river. We arrived at Holme Lacy mid-afternoon and after the usual anxiety of finding rooms, several members found the terrace and had a drink in the sun.
The next morning we were up early for breakfast at 8am, before boarding the coach for a visit to Hereford. Sam dropped us off and we separated to the shops, river and the cathedral. The cathedral has been there for 1,300 years. Norman pillars divide the 12th century nave from the 14th century side aisles. The cathedral is known for housing The Mappa Mundi, the largest surviving medieval world map which is displayed alongside the famous Chained Library. We were lucky enough to have a brilliant guide who told us about the library and the old and rare books held there. We had lunch in the secluded garden at the Cathedral, sitting in the sun and admiring the spring flowers, before returning to Holme Lacey.
We had time to walk round the grounds admiring the formal and Italian garden and the topiary of the elephant hedge before walking down to the lake. For those who did not go to Hereford, there were quizzes, line dancing or a visit to the spa.
On Wednesday, we visited Berrington Hall, a National Trust property near Leominster. The Georgian house sits within Capability Brown’s final garden and landscape. The house designed by Henry Holland was home to the Harley, Rodney and Cawley families. Again we had a very knowledgeable guide and were directed to see a dress fit for a king. She said it was one of a hundred of the most valuable dresses owned by the National Trust. We duly admired Ann Harley's stunning 'court mantua' dress, which arrived in ten separate pieces, the largest being the skirt/petticoat which consisted of seven panels and measured over three metres long. It took skilled conservators a year to painstakingly piece the rare dress back together again.
After having lunch there Sam took us to Hay-on-Wye where we stayed for a while looking at the various book and antique shops. Unfortunately, several were closed as it was still early in the season for visitors. After dinner we again made for the theatre, the cinema or the lounges.
On our final full day, we made for the Brecon Beacons and arrived at the Visitor Centre by 11.45. There was a café and excellent shop. Some of us took advantage of the continuing good weather and went for a walk where we were lucky enough to see two skylarks.
Sam took us on a different route back. There was disappointment that we did not manage to ride on a steam train, but it did not open until the week before Easter. We all noted the large amounts of mistletoe in the trees in Herefordshire, and discovered it is the county flower.
After another good dinner some of us visited the theatre for a celebration of Neil Diamond, a tribute show by Wayne Denton which we all enjoyed.
We left on Friday after breakfast for the drive home, stopping at Bicester Garden Centre for lunch and shopping. We arrived back in Chinnor early afternoon. A good break, helped by the fabulous weather.
Peggy Miles
Our u3a Holiday Cruising with Riviera on the River Douro in Portugal - October ‘24
This was a holiday of a lifetime. We cruised the whole navigable length (210 km) up the Douro from Porto to the Spanish Border from where we visited the ancient City of Salamanca. We turned at this point to return to Porto. Leisure cruising has only been possible on the river from the late 1980’s when five massive dams were built to stem the wild waters. These are mainly to harness the water power for hydroelectricity. Locks were created by the side of each dam to allow for leisure cruising. The river passes through some magnificent scenery and passes many vineyards set on its steep banks. Tours of the cities of Oporto, its sister Gaia on the opposite bank and Salamanca were visit highlights and are reported on below by Jill Ives and Mike Dix.
As well as these cities, we visited the Baroque Mateus Palace and its gardens. We also went to Lamego and its famous Sanctuary of Our Lady of Remedies Church which is impressively set towering over the city. Our coach dropped us off at the top but some of the more adventurous of us walked back down the 690 steps. The Portuguese arm of the Camino de Santiago passes by.
We went out to dinner at a Quinta which, as well as making excellent white, ruby, tawny and vintage port and good table wines, served us an excellent meal to go with them! We visited a 12th century hilltop walled village, Castelo Rodrigo, and nearby caught sight of 3 massive Griffon Vultures circling below us.
Of course we could alternatively sit out on deck, relax and watch the beautiful countryside passing us by, before the good staff on the ship served us our lunch, tea or dinner! And, if you weren’t too tired, there was always after dinner entertainment.
Peter Hetherington
Report on visit Porto and Gaia - South of the river, in Gaia, close to our moorings, we toured Calam Wine Cellar and learned some more of the history of port wine and enjoyed tastings. By coach we crossed the Douro and toured the city of Porto with its well preserved medieval streets. After admiring far reaching views we walked downhill from the Romanesque cathedral, visited the beautiful vestibule of the railway station with its magnificent azulejo tiles recounting the city’s fascinating history, looked at monuments and very tall, narrow buildings clad in colourful patterned tiles and historical pictures. Blue and white predominated.
Quaint cobbled streets led us down to the medieval riverside quarter which was vibrant with noisy people eating, drinking, and enjoying the atmosphere. We walked a short way along the north bank of the river, over the very impressive double decker wrought iron bridge designed by Eiffel and back to Giai and our ship, MS Splendour, looking at the attractive moored Rabelo boats as we passed by.
Jill Ives
Day 4 - Our trip to Salamanca in Spain. Our boat, the M.S Douro Splendour had travelled from Porto to where the Douro river met and in fact formed the Portuguese/Spanish border at Vega Terron. We had an early start, disembarking onto the coaches that had followed us throughout the cruise, and wended our way out of the steep river valley onto the plateau where the scenery changed completely from the endless rows of vines, almonds, and olives, to wide open country as far as the eye could see. We travelled for about 2 hours to reach Salamanca. We had some free time before lunch to briefly explore the city and then we were treated to lunch in the Casino, (a grand municipal hall).Lunch comprised Tapas on the tables followed by soup and a cold buffet with wine and water served as required. All very enjoyable. We were then entertained by two Flamenco dancers in a variety of beautiful dresses dancing to traditional Spanish music and another lady who accompanied them with Spanish songs, (with a little audience participation).
Flamenco
Called Spains “Golden City”, we started our guided tour of Salamanca after lunch in the Plaza Mayor, a grand central square which is a focus for many activities. The city is home to a magnificent University, the “Universidad Pontificia” founded in 1218 which currently has around 55,000 students. It also has two Cathedrals which turned out to be joined to each other, or as our guide described “semi-detached”. The first was built between 1140 and 1150, but in the 1500’s it was decided that a larger building was required so in1513 the new cathedral was started in the Gothic style and was finally finished in the 18th century. The city also boasts an art museum specialising in Art Nouveau and Art Deco with examples of glassware, figurines, bronzes, as well as paintings and furniture. There was also a Roman bridge and other plazas but due to time constraints we were unable to visit them all.
After an enjoyable day visiting a beautiful historic city, we rejoined our coaches to return to the M.S Douro Splendour. Mike Dix