Six Days in Merry Old England

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We just returned from a wonderful trip to England where our daughter Maddy ran her eighth marathon and her first one outside of the United States. It was, as it always is,  a bit nerve-racking to think of her running 26.2 miles, especially alone and in a foreign country, but as always she came through, despite the unusually warm weather and the unknown city. We were delighted to see her at Mile 6 and then after she finished in St. James Park.

We are so grateful to Maddy for getting us to go to England, our first trip outside the country since COVID (and England was the last place we visited outside the US before COVID in 2019). We kept this tour focused on fun and new adventures, a tour of Notting Hill (and we’d watched the movie this winter together to refresh our memories) and a pub tour of SoHo.

Notting Hill tour:

Ben, our guide, in front of George Orwell’s house in Notting Hill

Banksy art in Notting Hill

Notting Hill—where parts of the Paddington Bear movies were filmed

Alas, Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts were not around…

SoHo pub tour:

Carlos, our guide, and most of the tour group enjoying one last beer

After Maddy left to return to Boston, we traveled north to Liverpool, fulfilling a definite bucket list item for me. I fell in love with the Beatles in February 1964 when I was eleven, and that love has never faded. Seeing where the four young teenagers lived and met and first played together was heartwarming and exciting. Little eleven year old Amy could not believe she played Paul’s piano or stood in the churchyard where Paul and John first met or met Pete Best’s nephew, who gave us a tour of the Casbah where the Beatles (with Pete, not Ringo) first played together as a band.

Mural dedicated to Ringo down the alley from where he grew up

St Peter’s Church where Paul first met John playing with the Quarrymen at a church festival

Did you know there was a real Eleanor Rigby? She is buried in the graveyard at St Peter’s where John was a choirboy and where he first met Paul

John’s childhood home

The kitchen in John’s home

Outside John’s home

Paul’s childhood home

Paul’s backyard and outhouse

Paul’s piano (which I played!) where he and John wrote many of their early songs

George’s childhood home

Alley where George lived

Gate to Strawberry Fields

There are stones with quotations from John’s songs throughout Strawberry Fields

Inside the Casbah on a tour with the nephew of Pete Best, the original drummer for the Beatles

The Casbah stage

If you know the lyrics to Penny Lane, you’ll know what this store is.

Some of you have likely seen some of these photos on Facebook, but I wanted to share these with those blog readers who may not be on Facebook with me.

Special thanks to my cousin Mark Morreau, who met us in Notting Hill and helped us navigate the Underground back to our hotel, and to our tour guides in London and Liverpool, Ben, Carlos, and Dave.

27 thoughts on “Six Days in Merry Old England”

  3. It was a fabulous trip. So proud of Maddy. She was fabulous at the Marathon and added joy to the trip. Amy really captured it all with this post! Feel such joy and gratitude.

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  7. Sounds like an awesome trip, Amy!! Congrats to Maddy and her marathon run. You got to play Paul’s piano?!! Yeah, way cool. Loved all the photos. You did London and Liverpool right. How did you hook up with Pete Best’s grandson? Do you have a go-to source for tour guides?

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    • Thanks, Eilene! Pete Best’s mother Mona owned the house and when Pete was in the band, she created the Casbah in the basement for “the boys” to play. The Best family still owns the house, and Pete’s nephew (not grandson, I mis-typed, I just realized—oops!) gives the tours. Now I need to go edit. Roag Best (the guide) is Mona’s grandson, Pete’s nephew!

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  8. Amy, congratulations to Maddy, what a tremendous achievement for her and for you all as a family!

    I absolutely love the pics & the blog, I’m so so pleased you had a fabulous time, enhanced by the weather of course. The joy you must have felt seeing the city and the history of The Beatles.

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  9. Congratulations to Maddy! So glad you got to go and experience this achievement. Thank you for the taking me along on your trip thru England. I know I will never get there so this was great fun for me.

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  10. Oooh – what a wonderful trip! I’d no idea those childhood homes had become mini-museums! Glad you were able to tick that bucket list item off your list.

    Congrats to Maddy! Happy the weather was good … I’m always amazed by people who can do runs like that!

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