For Olly and Noah

Sorry that you could not be with us for our men's trip to Tunisia, Olly and Noah. Although we were on the same continent we were still more than a thousand miles apart on opposite sides of the Sahara desert. You may (or may not) be interested to know that there are good old British Land Rovers in Tunisia - I took this photo out of the car window as we were going along at 50 miles an hour and the Land Rover was doing the same in the opposite direction - not bad considering we passed each other at 100 miles an hour.

Jenny and the Secrets of Somerset

Whilst the men were in Tunisia last week Jenny was enjoying a three day stay at Dillington House, a superb residential centre operated by Somerset County Council, with excellent accommodation, food and educational courses. Her course was entitled "The Secrets of Somerset" and included two days walking in a group with a tutor who explained the history, geology, plants and industries of Somerset's past. They walked through ancient woodland, past corn and flax mills, medieval land formations, a Norman deer park, sunken lanes and canals. Despite one very rainy day, when Jenny got soaked, she really enjoyed it.

Men's trip to Tunisia

Last week David paid a flying visit to Tunisia, North Africa, with our younger son, Ben, and our grandson Thomas (7). They hired a car at Tunis airport and made the 500 mile round trip to Kasserine in the interior of Tunisia, near the Algerian border - the photo shows the railway station there. In February 1943 Allied soldiers fought German and Italian forces for control of Kasserine Pass, an important transport route across North Africa. The Allies suffered 10,000 casualties (killed, wounded or captured), the Germans and Italians 2000. David's father, Ernest, was one of the British soldiers captured by the Germans and he remained a prisoner of war until April 1945. The photo shows the rugged countryside over which the battle was conducted - the mountains rise to over 5000 feet and in February 1943 the soldiers encountered rain, sleet and very cold conditions. What brave men they were - on all sides - and how lucky we are that we have not been conscripted to fight in the armed forces.

Two lovely old houses

Last week we went on an Art Fund trip to visit two lovely old English houses. The first was Dryham Park, now owned by the National Trust. The present house dates back to the 1600s but there have been houses on the site for over a thousand years and the Domesday Book, compiled in the late 11th century on the orders of William the Conqueror, lists the house and fish pond at Dyrham Park. The fish pond is still there too. In the afternoon we visited Badminton House, home of the Duke of Beaufort. We were privileged to have a tour of the house, which is not normally open to the public, and saw the tiny racket and shuttlecock used by the Duchess of Beaufort in 1841 which effectively started the game we now know as "badminton". To this day badminton courts are precisely the size of the Great Hall at Badminton House. The Duke's estate is also the home of the Badminton Horse trials - 250,000 spectators and competitors had been there the previous weekend and the marquees were still being removed when we were there. The photos show Dyrham Park and Badminton House - that's the one with the Land Rover parked outside the front door(good old Land Rover!)

May Day

Whilst here in the UK we are enjoying a Bank Holiday, its work and school as usual for our elder son, Olly, and his family who are long term volunteers on board the hospital ship Africa Mercy. Currently the ship is in the Republic of Benin, formerly the French colony known as Dahomey, in West Africa, just to the west of Nigeria. The photo shows Olly, his wife Sally and their children Noah, Anna and Libby in a dugout canoe in Liberia last year. If you would like to know more about their life on board the Africa Mercy log on to http://www.peetfamily.org.uk/ If you would like to know more about Mercy Ships, the international charity that operates the Africa Mercy, log on to http://www.mercyships.org.uk/

Natural Syria

Outside the cities the countryside in Syria is beautiful. We saw small flocks of sheep and goats, each flock grazing under the watchful eye of the shepherd just like Biblical times and donkeys and camels going about their work. There were fields of wheat and vegetables and tens of thousands of fruit and nut trees - olives, cherries, oranges, lemons, apples, pistachios, almonds and more. The hillier areas had meadows full of wild flowers - a friend counted over 30 different varieties in a small area. Here are some of them.

Historic Syria

We've just come back from a holiday in Syria, staying in hotels in Damscus, Aleppo and near the Crac des Chevaliers, the huge hill top fortress occupied at one time by 4000 Crusader soldiers. We saw the remains of Greek, Roman and Byzantine temples, towns and cities. One city, now deserted, once housed a population of half a million people - a row of ornate columns still stretches for nearly a mile across the dry terrain. The photo of Jenny and I was taken outside the ancient Citadel at Aleppo by no less a person than the Citadel Director. He took us into his office, showed us photos of himself with famous people who had visited and gave us a boiled sweet each! The other photos give some idea of the size and quality of the historic sites we visited.