I'd not been here for several years but the gardens have now been greatly restored by English Heritage and more importantly the impressive fountain now works again.

We managed to get a few hours wandering round taking pictures before the rain came.

The rest of my photos can be found here.

Wroxeter in modern day Shropshire was at one point the fourth largest Roman city in the UK having started as a military garrison. Unusually for large Roman settlements it was later abandoned and never flourished as most of their sites did. The village of Wroxeter is just down the road and little more than a collection of cottages.

It was based on a grid layout and the ruins that have been excavated are just one square - probably about one thirtieth of the total site. The rest lays buried under the fields and nearby modern roads.

Click here for more pictures

For me , it was finding that these still exist.

I absolutely loved these as a kid so when I saw them on sale today I had to buy three. One for my Girlfriend's son to play with and two for me to keep.

They are almost as I remember them except a bit more colourful than the RAF and Luftwaffe would have liked.

Only 50p each as well which seems cheap as I remember them being about 20p 25 years ago.

So , what's made you smile today?

We stopped here on the way home.

On a clear day the view from the top all the way to Wales is stunning and well worth the 4 quid entry.

Oh , and there's an ROC post in the field nearby , though it's not a good example.

Final day out of the week was a trip to Bourton on the Water in the Cotswolds on my bike.



I'm sure it was the hottest day of the year so far which wasn't a problem on the move but a nightmare in leathers when you come to a halt or try and walk anywhere.

It's well worth a visit with plenty of pubs , cafes and other food shops to tempt you and it's *very* pretty.

There's also a good motor museum in the town with some very nice classic cars.


It's deceptively large inside and pretty good value for money if you like that sort of thing.

Best bit?

Rum and Raisin ice cream by the river.

Next day out was to the London Motorshow at Excelin the Docklands area.
A decent enough day out but there were a few no-shows from the big manufacturers which was a shame , and the days of getting decent freebies have long gone. There was a big emphasis on fuel economy and emissions as you might expect , and some very desperate manufacturers unveiling new 4x4s. The projects had obviously been started a couple of years back and now they find themselves with cars they can barely shift so any time you went near them they were so eager to talk to you that it was a bit sad really.





Show highlight?

The Top Gear police cars.

I've had a week off work so got in a few day trips , the first of which was to Lake Bala in Wales.

It's a lovely spot for sailing , canoeing or just lounging around in the sun followed by fish and chips sat by the lake.