Noel & Sam's Wedding, Aug 21 - Sep 9
Mike and I were in England for nearly three weeks to attend Noel and Samantha's wedding in Windsor - and, boy, weren't we lucky with the weather!
Dad and Harrison in Tickety Boo Cupcake Room.
Mike and the Chesworths outside a couple of Primrose Hill drinking establishments.
Benjamin on the terrace of our suite at the Regent's Park Marriott.
We caught the bus to Hampstead.
And cooled off in the grounds of Keats' House.
Back home to play in the garden.
Next to Windsor, Berkshire, where we met up with Mike's family the night before the wedding.
We crossed over the River Thames on our way to Eton.
Eton College was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI and is one of the original nine English public schools.
Eton High Street.
Windsor Castle is the largest inhabited castle in the world. Dating back to the time of William the Conqueror, it is the oldest castle in continuous occupation and one of the principal official residences of Queen Elizabeth II.
A pre-wedding beer for Mike, Noel and the Best Man, Vinny.
The wedding took place at the Guildhall, Windsor's town hall, situated near the castle. It is a Grade I listed building designed by Sir Christopher Wren who grew up in Windsor.
Our nieces Rebecca, Clare and Ciara playing with the confetti.
And here they are with (from the top) Keiko, Miki and their grandfather.
Me and my sisters-in-law.
The Dunnes at the riverside reception at Sir Christopher Wren's House. (The shades were Mike's idea, of course!)
He had his hands full at the sit-down part of the reception.
Me and my new sister-in-law, Samantha.
And all the Dunne girls.
Back to London for a Bank Holiday walk along the Thames: here we're on Millennium Bridge.
Ciara and Isabella in front of St Paul's Cathedral.
The first of several pub lunches, this one at the Wheatsheaf in Exning, Suffolk.
Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire, formerly a priory built by Augustinian monks.
We walked through part of the extensive landscaped grounds, including the dahlia garden.
The 18th-Century Lode Water Mill, on the edge of the gardens, sells flour to visitors.
Katherine, Joseph, Charlotte and Harrison in Cambridge.
Mum and Harrison.
Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire is known as "the ship of the Fens" because of its prominent shape that towers above the surrounding flat and watery landscape.
Next door is St Mary's Church where Mum and Dad got married in 1964.
We ate at this pub in the tiny village of Dunwich on the Suffolk coast. At its height, Dunwich was one of the largest ports in eastern England, with a population of around 3,000.
However, in 1286 a large storm swept much of the town into the sea. A further 400 houses were swept into the sea by another large storm the following century, and the remainder of Dunwich was lost to the sea over a period of 200-300 years through coastal erosion.
Here are the remains of Greyfriars, a Franciscan priory, and local legend says that at certain tides church bells can be heard from beneath the waves.
Buildings that sit on the present day cliffs were once a mile inland. Most of the original buildings have disappeared, including all eight churches.
We drove up the coast to Walberswick. You can just make out a man ferrying passengers in a rowing boat across the river to Southwold.
Mike revisited some of his old haunts in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. Top: the Wine Vaults which was the first pub he worked in (at age 16!). Bottom: St John Fisher RC High School (where he was studying for his A levels at the time).
Then a beer and a curry with his Dad and brother Steve - look at the size of that naan bread!
We spent our last night in Bury with Charlie and Jay.
