Made in Britain

And only in England do you see such sights. I had to double take to check this wasn't the real white van driver as I came sauntering round the corner with my creamy cappucino. Don't get me wrong I adore France but there's something about Britain that just makes me smile.



This trip led me to Borough Market among other places; to dogs driving vans, Neal's Yard Dairy inviting me to taste a rainbow of British cheeses and the best coffee this side of Italy at Monmouths. Wandering around this rich and amazing place I felt sad I never saw how wonderful Britain was before now. Thriving with business, we love making money and making light of the serious stuff around us. Yes, us Brits have a lust for life that no one else quite tops. From the Fat Delicatessan in Balham where we sipped Prosecco and nibbled juicy olives with fig cake to bacon butties at the side of the road, anything goes.



Part of my travels led me West to the patchwork quilt of my childhood made up of soft local diallects, rolling hills, quaint pubs and a traditional English wedding with fairy cakes and spotted bunting. And, oh what giggles in the West Country, a land where people laugh their socks off, hells angels let you stroke their beards down the pub and an afternoon turns into an evening over a cider.

All this just two hours from the city but a far cry from the capital with her shops so big your head spins. So alas, it was from fine dining to singing round the piano with old school chums and side splitting school girl jokes about domestic fowl...You'd have to grow up in the middle of nowhere to understand why when asked what eggs we'd like at breakfast in the hotel we'd reply, " Do you have any horse eggs? " and fall about laughing with the staff. Oh yes, a rip roaring load of fun with friends, family and complete strangers.

So, more about those other adventures later but for now this is a confession, a crush, a spilling the beans on my passionate affair with my homeland. What a diverse and wonderful place you are old blighty, just had to get that off my chest.