New Forest!

WOW - that took us a long time! The move is almost done - furniture purchased, bags unpacked, odds and ends purchased, and pictures almost on the walls.

But the best thing is - we finally have internet again. It has been quiet here not being able to check email, or the news, or dooce.com. As we don't get the chance to pick up the phone to family and friends, and our phone sits quiet on our side- email is the best way to keep in touch. Being out of it for almost a month was a bit challenging! So I am very happy to be back!

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Our start to 2009 has been quiet on the travel front - we have been playing golf, rowing, recovering from a 3 month long cold and enjoying England.

We did take a weekend to visit the New Forest, Hampshire. On the way to the New Forest, we stopped at the Little Chef, (a british version of a road-side Dennys.) This Little Chef was special - because it had been redone by a Michelin star chef- Heston Blumenthal. I'll let TJ tell you all about it as it was a highlight of the trip for him.


We stayed at the Hotel Terravina, started by the former owners of the Hotel du Vin chain, Gerard and Nina Bassett. Gerard is also a Master Sommelier, Master of Wine, and holds a Wine MBA award.

We were there for one of their wine dinners, this one a champagne version with Charles Heidsieck. You can read about it here.

We had a tour of their wine cellar, and chatted with the host from Charles Heidsieck, who happened to be about our age - and from New York. He spoke with recognizable french + english + new york accent. Small world.




The hotel is described as 'boutique ambience blended with a passion for great food & wine'. When speaking with Gerard, he mentioned that he styled the hotel and dining room in the style of Napa and Northern California. Can I move in?


The New Forest is a huge undeveloped forest with wild horses and large flat fields and woods. I ran each day and got lost twice - enough so that I almost missed the wine dinner. Picture me running in the rain, in the mud, in the dark...all the while frantic that I'd miss a champagne dinner. Sprinting through the dark forest I really thought this might be the end of me - and that TJ would find me the next day, flat by the side of the road, my last gasp being,
"champagne." Funny stuff.

We ate well, slept, relaxed and drove back to London thoroughly refreshed.

Where have we been?

Moving - up to Hampstead...although we don't have nearly as much stuff as we did in the US, somehow we've expanded immensly from the 17 bags at Heathrow arrival.

We are closer to this place, which you can read about here...and we'll be back to posting reguarly, shortly once Sky visits to install and we get some needed rest!