Oldie woldie

HADDENHAM, UK – A friend of mine describes his village as ‘oldie woldie’. I’ve never heard the expression before. It means ‘old fashioned’ or ‘old styled’. Sounds very English. So I was excited when he asked me to come and visit his village and see for myself.

Haddenham is just 15 miles outside of Oxford and it took me approximately 40 minutes to get to from Marylebone Station in London on Chiltern Railways which just so happens to be very nice (a lot of trains in the UK are scruffy and grimey). The return journey was £24 which is fine but rail journeys have increased in price over the past year. I almost missed my train because I slept in late and because the DLR train was not running today (railway lines are often closed on weekends for works).

The village of Haddenham is small and there’s no traffic light. It has about two pubs and that’s about it. But it’s pleasant to walk around for a morning.

A lot of the homes had names to distinguish them.

It’s really quite a sweet place, don’t you think?

2FOR1

LONDON – If you’re like me, you looooooooooooooove a good deal where you don’t need to pay full price for something fun to do in the capital. I’ve stumbled upon a really great opportunity for people travelling to London (and I’ve even found a way for Londoners to get something out of this too – it’s legit but just a bit sneaky). Take a look.

It’s called the LONDON ATTRACTIONS 2FOR1 voucher and it’s really easy to use. Here is how it works:

• Purchase a rail ticket which has the National Rail logo on it (two double arrows) for each person going to the attraction
• Print off a voucher from their website and fill it in or pick up the voucher booklet at a rail station
• Present both of these at the attraction of your choice on the day of your travel and you will only need to pay for 1 ticket

It’s a great saving.

So why this deal? Well, the railways want to encourage more people to London on their trains and they know that a lot of people come to London to see the sights. It’s aimed at people who don’t live in the capital, BUT…if you buy a rail ticket from say Clapham to Waterloo (this could set you back about £2 or a bit more), this ticket will suffice for the deal.

Here are just a few of the sites you could see:

• London Eye
• Madame Tussauds
• Tower of London
• Kew Gardens
• and plenty of restaurants too.

I’m sure you get that it’s a good offering. So get going and see London now.

St. Paul's Cathedral London at dusk