A trip to celebrate my 50th!  We had fifteen days in England and Wales, five days in France and six days in Belgium.  It was possibly the best holiday ever, with fantastic attractions, beautiful hotels and sumptuous dining.  The British part included intact and ruined castles, manor houses, stately homes, plus a couple of neolithic sites and military museums.  It was a historical feast, ranging from 3,500BC to WW2, with a particular focus on the Medieval period.  

The French section also had a stunning range of historical places, from the ruins of Norman era Chateau de Fere to the Australian War Memorial at Villers Bretonneux. Riems Cathedral and Chateau de Pierrefonds blew us away.

Rounding off the trip with a train tour of Belgium’s main cities, all of which were fantastic each in their own way, was just brilliant. Belgium is a travel feast, Europe’s best kept travel secret.  Incredibly rich history, great food and beer, and very friendly people!

One historical figure who is known to have been at many of the sites we visited was Edward of Woodstock, eldest son of Edward III, aka The Black Prince.  Given that we dubbed one outfit I wore a lot ‘The Black Prince’ combo, involving a new black jacket and black jeans , I can think of no-one better to name our trip after than this illustrious, if rather gnarly, character from history.

So hop in and check out the site. The map is a useful starting point, from where you can see where we went by clicking the locations shown. Enjoy!