Our visit on HMS Defender

Wow. Just wow. Last Saturday we headed down into Greenwich to join the queues waiting to go through security for a visit on HMS Defender. I'd spotted on Facebook that timed tickets could be pre-booked which seemed a better option than just turning up and queuing. I expected the Daring-class air-defence destroyer to be large - well it would be, wouldn't it? - but wasn't quite prepared for just how large.

OUR FIRST GLIMPSE OF HMS DEFENDER

As we boarded the boat to take us the short trip up river, the closer we got the larger she got! And yes, we were lucky enough to nab some seats right at the front of the boat! The next few pictures are taken through glass, but even so I thought they were worth sharing.

It's easy to see from these just how a huge ship blends in with its surroundings isn't it? Something you wouldn't have thought possible. And as we pulled up to the side of the ship - btw I should say now that I have no idea of the correct sailing terms to use, so please bear with me! - you really got to see just how large HMS Defender was.

I spent a lot of this visit looking up, even more so that usual. At 5ft 2" I spend quite a bit of time looking up, and I believe that people don't look up and see what's around them enough generally.  But even so I was looking up, a lot!

THIS ONE HAS A TOUCH OF THE DALEKS ABOUT IT DON'T YOU THINK?

We were welcomed aboard by crew members and throughout our whole visit it was a pleasure to talk with the crew, and for them to answer my totally newb questions, which for some of them I didn't understand the answer either, but luckily MOH's years in the ATC came in handy and he was able to translate. It was also nice to be able to thank them for what they do to protect our country. 

Up on deck, we got a view of the Cutty Sark that we don't usually get. That glass domed roof is the Greenwich foot tunnel, where you'll know that many of our cycle adventures north of the river start.

THE CUTTY SARK

We also got to see a missile - not live I presume! And this too was larger than I thought, but to be honest if you'd asked me how large I thought it'd be I'm not sure I'd have been able to tell you. Each of these cost £1 million pounds, that deserves another wow, so wow.

I do like a nice motto or mission statement, or what have you, and I was pleased to see that of HMS Defender's on their literature - and to be honest it's not a bad one to have is it?

"By Defence I Conquer - I will Defend the Realm"

The destroyer gave lots of quite square-ish angles too - by now we were at its rear and had walked through a large cargo hangar. There was lots to see throughout our whole visit, but I think being able to climb into and get up close to the helicopter was one of the highlights for me. And no, it wasn't just for kids to climb into - honest!

And with that, our visit was ended and we headed off toward the boat to ferry us back to shore. I did stop to admire the nameplate though, and it was a great last shot on board. Back on dry land and we headed towards Greenwich Market for lunch, as so many of our visits to Greenwich seem to end!  But it's not a bad way to end - this time we had a jumbo Chilli Dog which was looked too messy to eat standing up, so we hurriedly rushed towards Greenwich Park in search of a bench! And remarkably neither of us spilt any of it down ourselves. 

Some HMS Defender facts

• This is the eighth ship to bear the name HMS Defender
• She has seven sisters - Dauntless, Diamond, Duncan, Dragon and Daring, plus two as yet unnamed vessels. I've a hunch they may also start with a D...
• There are 191 crew on board

Thank you to all of the crew and people who made these visits possible - they really were fantastic.

The gardens - and tulips - at Standen

On last week's HDYGG Kriss from Wild About Here posted some gorgeous shots of the Tulip Festival taking place at Standen House. So as we were off to East Grinstead and hoped to have some time to visit a garden close by this jumped straight to the top of the contender list. And so we found ourselves sitting on the terrace in the sun Monday afternoon. Thanks Kriss!

As we wandered around the house and onto the terrace it wasn't the tulips that caught my eye though, it was the wisteria just starting to flower and how it's framed this window.  There's lots of wisteria here in Blackheath, so it must like the conditions - I'd love one in my garden, and it would look great growing over the wall of the cottage at the end of our garden. Although I don't think the owners of the cottage would have quite the same enthusiasm for it that I would!

The second thing that caught my eye was the tulips, so many tulips! Well 8,000 of them to be exact, although I didn't count them... There were though many varieties  displayed in borders and pots, a couple had escaped and were growing freely in the gravel too who'd've thought there'd be rebel tulips

The terrace was a pretty spot, with lots of colour from the trees, and plenty of pots too - some of which didn't have tulips in.

I spotted this growing in among the tulips near the front of the house, I'm not sure what it is and would be keen to find out - do you know? I like how its flowers are different shades, pretty isn't it?  

The views from the terrace and the nearby Top Terrace over the Ashdown Forest are just fabulous. They're the sort of views you just want to breathe in again and again

The camellias too were still mostly flowering, some looking more vibrant than others. Those that were fading still managed to do this elegantly, and even those fallen to the ground still looked pretty. I've decided that camellias really do have class

Peering into one of the flowerbeds we were in for a bit of a surprise, it seems they grow cats here too..

And if the colour overload of the glitzy tulips were too much there were much calmer daffodils, camellias, rhododendrons and blossom to feast your eyes on

But it wasn't too long before we encountered more tulips with a rather stylish arrangement of pots outside the grand front door in the courtyard, alongside the traditional bike.

We did go into the house, and that was a treat too but I'm saving that for another day along with the kitchen garden and our woodland walk. We'd missed booking onto a tour of the house so needed to wait until it opened, so what better than to sit among the tulips admiring them, taking in a few rays and imagining this really was our house and garden

We did have some competition for the bench though...

Sun on Saturday: Vila Nova de Milfontes

Not long after depositing our bags in our apartment, we were off out again heading towards Villa Nova de Milfontes, the nearest largest town for supplies and to eat. What is it about travelling that makes you hungry? Well in our case it was probably the crack of dawn EasyJet flight, our decision not to eat the plastic food on the plane and wait until we got there, and the large queue at the car hire pick-up!

After parking our lovely little white Fiat 500 - I'd definitely drive another one of these - we headed down the main street and first things first, food. This was our second time in the town, our first was during our first visit when we had an overnight stay. Then we had little time to explore as we'd walked along the Rota de Vicentina and to be honest extra walking was definitely off the agenda. Neither were we in the market for restaurants as that holiday we spent it eating, and walking, and a bit more eating for good measure!

This time though we wandered down the main street and choose to stop in one of the small local restaurants, and our view out of the restaurant was mostly this tree.  Sheer bliss!

One of the local websites about the town says it's a charming place between Lisbon and the Algarve and it's undiscovered by foreign tourists. While it's true there's not many, I wouldn't say it's totally undiscovered, but it's not well known. It's surrounded by a stunning coastline of rugged cliffs and sandy beaches and it's a bit of a hidden gem.

Our food - we opted for fish, well when in Rome (or even the Alentejo) and all that - was cooked on the grill in the restaurant. At this point we weren't sure what we were ordering and we really didn't care that much. When it arrived I preferred the look and taste of what MOH ordered and as that was put in front of me that's where it stayed!

After lunch we headed off to explore a bit more of the town, heading down towards the front, past many of the traditional buildings. This isn't a town with high rise buildings and for that reason it retains its charm.

We headed down towards the Mira River and the small port area - just look at those blues, and the cobbled road too.

The terrain close up is quite rocky, but it seems this tree was quite happy to grow there.

I was rather taken with this roof, although I think it'd seen better days - but with the purple flower (most likely a weed) it looked much prettier!

At the bottom of the hill we spotted these huts, most likely working huts of the fishermen not beach huts as we'd expect here in the UK. But I think their rustic-ness makes them equally as attractive as the painted ones we're more used to.

After a walk around, a sit down and more photos we decided we should head back up the hill and get those supplies we came for. But as soon as we turned we were immediately wowed with this view. So remember Vila Nova de Milefonts isn't for non-Portuguese tourists, and for that reason alone we love it!