Well to be very honest I never really saw the Queen (the one with Sir Phillip as husband – not a very friendly man I hear). And I would never say that I was disappointed either. You see I feel that I have really met the REAL Queen of England. Their Excellency Lady Barbara and Sir Alan from Budleigh.

Having some cucumber sandwiches with cream scones is the way to do it in England they say. Meet Barbara (the real queen) and Alan as we join them for English culture – bathing in the English late summer sun outside East Budleigh. What is the UK without the old red phone booth?

Pebble beaches in England is quite common …. and if I might add locals are not afraid to sunbath as soon as the sun shows its head. I was shivering from the cool air but I think I heard the lady say something like “I ain’t afraid of no cold!” (She could have been American, I think!)

A small coastal village, Beer.

The English countryside is something that you just have to experience. We’ve spend many miles walking over many days. The small village of Beer in Devon county is in the background.


After Alta and Barbara fell into the river, Barbara was still agile enough to jump on rocks. If I might add (I will not mention any age) that Barbara still plays tennis, golf and bridge very competitively – and winning.

Both Alan and Barbara visited Mozambique on various occasions and even travelled on a Zimbabwean bus to get to us. They have changed our future and what we are doing in Mozambique in a big way. Barbara was a nurse and Alan an engineer and stayed most of life in Iraq and other Arabian countries.

O yes, and Barbara drives better than the Queen. They took us for the week we visited their cottage to the most interesting sites of which ………….

a visit to one of the oldest bridges (the Clapper bridge) in England. It was apparently build 2000 years ago. A clapper bridge is an ancient form of bridge found on the moors of Devon (Dartmoor and Exmoor) and in other upland areas of the United Kingdom.