Stephanie Came to Visit .....

Stephanie on the M5. See the telephone in the
background. Welcome to England!

We have had a very busy week. It always seems like a busy week. A week ago Sunday, I rode the slow, slow ferry, overnight, to Portsmouth and went straight to London, to pick up my mixer, our winter coats, and surprise ... surprise Stephane from Gatwick Airport Sunday morning. I though we would get to church, but after talking to Elder Record in the mission office I went to the South Terminal and waited, and as luck would have it she didn't arrive. So I checked the arrival board and found no flight from Las Vegas via Virgin Atlantic Airways , so I consulted the local kiosk (a word used all the time here) and took the shuttle to the North Terminal. Without any power on my phone or the back up charger (remember it was a long, long 13 hour ferry ride). Stephanie got here quicker than I did! I looked around for a few minutes and then miraculously Stephanie was right there beside me. I actually wasn't sure how I would find her. But after two terminals and an extra 45 minutes we didn't have time to get to church in Crawley and all wards start at 10:00 so we wouldn't have made it anywhere ... so disappointed! A week without church is a pretty low week! We headed off and thought we may get to Windsor Castle, but a short distance later on the M5 we heard a loud pop, almost like a gunshot and the road became very noisy. Stephanie said, "Maybe it is a flat." So I slowly left the largest road in England and moved to the left ... yes a flat tire! But, as tender mercies go we had room to pull over and there was an emergency phone about 200 yards ahead on the side of the road, so Stephanie made the trek to call. "Did we have a break down company,' we were asked. I didn't know, because I had never broken down and didn't even know what a break down company was. I searched through the glove box and found a card and a phone number. The lady on the other end called the company and we waited on the guard rail, because they told us not to wait in the car. We tried to find humor in the situation ... I know we should have made it to church! One of the speed cameras was right in front of us and the lady told us she could see us in the camera. I tried to waive at the cars, but Stephanie shut that down quickly. About 45 minutes later, we were off on a smaller spare tire to see if we could get the tired fixed. Leatherfield, first stop, neither of the "tyre" shops were open, so I made the decision to go slowly on non-major roads to our next destination. It took so long because non-major roads are so slow.

Grassmere House in Salisbury our first night. The best of three nights accommodations.

Stephanie @ Salisbury Cathedral

Our Costco run for the branch and for the missionaries to Bristol (sort of). Notice the Manitoba Strong White Flour!

We went to Castle, Salisbury Cathedral and Magna Carter House ( that was pretty amazing), Old Sarum, Stonehenge, the Roman Baths and the Jane Austen Center in Bath (we both thought that was underwhelming). Then before we left we were off to what the google maps told us was nine miles to Costco in Bath. It was open until 8:30 and Stephanie had to be back to take a call at 9:00 p.m. It was not nine miles and if we hadn't found a quicker way home, we would have never made it and oh yes, we had twenty minutes in Costco to get it all done. I forgot some things, but we are a lot better off. We can only buy like 8 heavy paper plates at a time on Guernsey. I should be okay for a little while.

My scones and clotted cream shop

On our way back to Poole to take the quick ferry Wednesday morning, I wanted to take Stephanie to some family history sites. MAJOR ACCIDENT! I wanted to take Stephanie for scones and clotted cream in this shop called "Toast" in Honiton, Devon and stop at a wonderful design shop that is next door. I knew I was pushing the time, but off we went. I also knew that if I headed south we would be okay as our ultimate destination was south anyway. We started off on those small roads, but I quickly veered off to the larger road when I saw the sign "Honiton." It took longer than I thought and by the time we got there all the stores were closed. I was trying to cross the street, going uphill, when I turned around to press the walk button. My heel got caught in a cobble and I could feel myself falling backwards, downhill. I tried to catch myself by holding on the walk box, but that didn't work and I fell backwards hitting my head very hard on the old cement brick building to my left. I was on the ground and a couple appeared from nowhere. Stephanie had been across the street waiting to cross and she was just as fast. My head began to swell on the left side in quite a large area and it was very tender and sore. The gentleman who came to my rescue said it had turned quite red and possibly I should have it checked. I hadn't lost consciousness, and I could get up and walk so I decided against his good advice and we proceeded up the street. It is getting better, a week and a half later, but still tender. I am still a little concerned, so at some point when we go back to the mainland I will a have it checked because I do not want to find out that I had a bleed, or have something happen later related to it. I won't have it checked here because they have no national insurance here on Guernsey and anything major they take to England anyway .... I did tell Stephanie where to go if something happened to me.

The Design Shop

Design Shop#2

Oh how you know I love a good fabric!

... and anything else design related

Nothing opened and still a few hours of daylight so we asked directions to Poole and headed back to Hemyock so I could check out "Tedburrow"

where my Great Great Broomfield Grandparents lived when they died (on death register). Steve and I had passed the sign before but didn't know if it was a house or a hamlet or something else. We drove up the fairly steep, narrow, dirt road and stopped at the first old house, where the sign said, "Tedburrow Farm." The gentleman had only lived there fifteen years, but he told me that Tedburrow was a collection of about 6 houses, excluding the newer ones down the hill. There was the Browning farm just up the road and at least two older building that had slate roofs. We headed up the road, but could not find the two slate roofed homes and time was running out. I would need land record research to determine the home. We headed back to Hemyock for dinner at the Catherine Wheel. The only commercial building in Hemyock ... fish for me and fish and chips for Stephanie. Strange occurance at the Catherine Wheel! I told the bartender that my Great Grandparents were married across the street at St. Mary's Church. He told me that there are still a number of Broomfield's in the area. Another man was sitting at the end of the bar and when we left he stopped me and said that just last week there were other people, he thought from Essex, inquiring about Broomfield's that had lived in Rose Cottage around the corner. James Edwards had told me that not too many years ago there were others inquiring about Broomfields. Out of the woodwork .....