Abbotts Ann

What a lovely quiet village. Not many places around the UK that you are free from the world of motorways and heavily trafficked roads. Abbotts Ann is one such village.  

A very relaxing day. Painted Fran’s shed a greyish colour to match the garden setting. Did some reading, talking, drinking and eating - a good way to spend a day!

Had a walk around Abbotts Ann, a very quaint ancient village. First settled in around 50BC, it has seen Romans, Norman, abbotts and a father of a Prime Minister making significant contributions to the village over 2000 years. The name Ann comes from the Celtic “Anne” meaning ash tree stream. 

Fran’s house is the old school house built originally in the 18th century by the developer of the very first iron plough.  

London-Abbots Ann

A very quiet night in Hanwell. During the morning we joined Maddie at a small coffee place in Hanwell before venturing off to see some houses she and Kevan were interested in.  

Kevan met us a little later and then we made our way to Ealing for some lunch at a rather special burger place. 

On the way there,  we came across the Thurkkai Temple of Ealing's chariot festival. This Hindu chariot festival originated in Jagannatha Puri on the east coast of India and dates back over 2,000 years. 

Today we saw three large, brightly coloured “chariots”, being led through the streets accompanied by musicians.

Worshippers in traditional costumes followers the chariots. Spectators carried plastic baskets filled with offerings, such as fruit and coconut halves, for the gods.

We had a very tasty burger for lunch. Then we walked back to Hanwell, met James to hand over a case of our clothes before leaving for Abbotts Ann to visit our friend Fran. 

Leaving London on a Sunday afternoon we thought would be an easy task!  The traffic was horrendous but with some rerouting from Google Maps we were able to miss the worst of it. 

After a slow trip we arrived safely at Abbotts Ann where we spent the very pleasant night with Fran.