The Island Line Trail: Cycling across Lake Champlain, Vermont.

Trail - The Island Line Trail  - consisting of the Burlington Bike Path and the Colchester Causeway.
Location - Burlington to South Hero Island, Vermont, USA.
Distance - 45 kms (28 miles) return.
Terrain -  Asphalt for about half the distance and then compacted gravel.
Difficulty - Easy, this is a ride /walk you can take the family on.
Highlights - Cycling the Colchester Causeway and hopping on the Bike Ferry across the Cut to link up with South Hero Island
Website and map - Click here for a link to download a PDF map and here for detailed trail notes.

The Mount: Edith Wharton's House, Lenox, Massachusetts

Have you noticed how historic houses always showcase the achievements of men?  Women barely get a mention, and when they do it is often only in supporting roles. The grand houses we visited on our road and cycling trip through America's north-east were almost all built by men and, with few exceptions, the history of the houses highlighted the achievements of the men who lived in them. Visiting estates such as George Washington's Mount Vernon, Henry Francis Du Pont's Winterthur and even Edward Berwind's The Elms, you could sometimes be forgiven for wondering what roles their wives played in life. Edward Berwind's wife was so tucked away in the minutia of his life history I had to dig deep even to discover her name. How refreshing then, on our last historic house tour, to visit The Mount; planned, built and made famous by a woman.

The Servant Life Tour at The Elms - a Newport Mansion

Are you a fan of Downton Abbey? I am! If you lived at Downton, who would you be? Lady Mary perhaps or Cora, the Countess of Grantham? For my male readers - His Lordship or Carson the butler. Sadly, I don't think I would spend much time upstairs at all. With my luck I would be the laundry maid (I don't think she even gets a walk-on part, but she must have existed) or had I worked very hard and been very lucky I might have reached the giddy career heights of Mrs Hughes, the housekeeper.

Chanticleer: a pleasure garden.

"We were once a private estate, and we like to keep the feeling of a private garden ... a place of beauty, pleasure, escape  ....  ultimately, we want our guests to leave in a better mood than when they arrived." 
R. William Thomas, head gardener and executive director at Chanticleer.*

These words perfectly sum up the mood of Chanticleer. Tucked away in a quiet suburban street, 30 miles north-west of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Chanticleer with its slow-paced, welcoming atmosphere was the loveliest garden we visited.

Longwood Gardens and why you shouldn't go back to places!

The world is divided in two types of people - 'gardening people' who love nothing more than spending their time mucking about with dirt and 'non-gardening people'  who don't! Can you tell which one I am? 

David is a 'gardening-person'. He loves gardens. He spends hours and hours at home coaxing exotic plants to grow in our harsh Australian soil. In spring, when our quiet little patch of the planet lights up with colour it makes all the work worthwhile - or so he thinks.  I like gardens too - just not working in them!

Winterthur and the art of avoiding museums on your travels!

The world is divided into two kinds of travellers. I call them the 'museum people' and the 'spending an afternoon in a museum is my worst nightmare people' ('non-museum people' for short). Can you guess which one I am? It is not that non-museum people won't set foot 'ever' inside a museum (imagine coming home from Paris and announcing to your friends that you skipped the Louvre because it sounded boring!) it is just that in order to survive large museums you have to have a plan - and you have to stick to it.

Washington D.C to Maine: - A road trip and cycling adventure.

The USA has some of the best off-road cycle paths in the world, thousands of kilometres of them, and we are on a mission to cycle as many as we can - well David is, I'm just along for the ride. Each year for the past few years we have flown our bikes over from Australia (don't get me started on the hassle of flying with bicycles), or sometimes bought cheap ones at Walmart, and set out to explore bike trails in different parts of America. Not being total masochists we also hire a car. Did you know it is possible to fit a car bike carrier into a duffle bag  - neither did I until we started this madness.