First month

Well, we've landed - managed to catch a plane in between the flights being cancelled due to the volcanic ash. We rented a car - Vauxhall (Opel) - and drove out to Bristol. We have rented a self-catering house in a village just South of Bristol, called Backwell.

 

                                                 Our self-catering cottage in Backwell

Out towards the country but close enough to the city itself.

                                                  In Goblins Coombe

Mendip Hills

Our landlady was lovely - she's a mix of Welsh and Canadian with none of the typical English reserved nature we were expecting! We were told not to ask Iola about English taboos as she's broken them all! - LOL. I think she thought we were not quite all there but went to a lot of trouble to show us around and introduce us to people! The best place we could have found for our intro to the UK :)
We have bought another Volvo -  a second hand V50, silver, with heated (front) leather seats - would come to appreciate the heated seats soon!!