Where to begin, but at the beginning:

I was born in 1951 in Bath, Somerset.  Not surprisingly, in this historic town I grew up to learn Furniture Restoration from some notable experts in carving, cabinet-making, inlay, French polishing and many other aspects of the craft.

I met Jackie in The Bell, Bath.  A pub famous in the 1970’s for its Trad Jazz.  After moving in with her then marrying her I became self-employed at age 23, but neither of us had a clue about business.  Then a chance meeting in 1977 with an American couple put it into our heads to explore moving to America. This eventually led to offers from Sydney, Australia and New Orleans.  I think it was Jackie who chose New Orleans.  After two years of applications for visas and such like, we eventually caught a plane out of Gatwick on 18th November 1980.

We spent four years in New Orleans, making some very good, lasting friendships.  You will read about delightful, big-hearted Lolly in our blog about Basilicata.

New Orleans is an exciting place – a party city. 

We had some great times, but endless celebrations are not the best way to put down roots and build a life.  Too many distractions got in the way, and by July 1984, despite a very tempting offer to move to Holly Springs, Mississippi, we faced the dilemma whether we would become American citizens – and decided ‘No – we are British’.

So we came back home as my work contract had finished.   And settled for fourteen years in Cornwall, where from 1988 I taught Holiday Courses in Furniture Restoration.

Cornwall, a place to settle:

It was just getting off the ground when the Recession in 1989 started, lasting well into the mid 1990’s.  Our mortgage fees shot up rapidly to 19%.  Suffice it to say that in the general cutbacks Second Holidays were among the first sacrifices people made, and bookings fell.

During this time I wrote a technical book on furniture restoration, now sadly out of print, but it taught  me one thing – that I could finish a book.  From there, in my spare time I wrote and my passion for writing grew.

Still business was difficult and we were intensely anxious when Jackie spotted an advert about a job for Head of Furniture Conservation to the Museums of Liverpool.  Fortunately I was Short Listed  and after a nerve racking interview (I hate interviews) I was offered the job.  I was pretty chuffed as the other five applicants all had university degrees in conservation – I had only my thirty years experience in restoring very fine antique furniture to offer.  Jackie had told me, ‘If you get to lay your hands on the furniture YOU will get the job’.  (She says I stroke fine old wood with reverence and love.) Turns out she was right.

It was from early  2001 that we took our first European driving trip, flying into Pisa and hiring a car for two weeks and stopping off at B&Bs around Tuscany.  We’ve not really looked back and since 2008 we’ve driven our own car on all our holidays except the last one.

Holiday of a Lifetime:

In June 2016 I retired, a few months before my 65th birthday, and Jackie presented me with our finally chosen route for our HOLIDAY OF A LIFETIME.  You see I love driving – especially through mountains and we’ve been up, round and down some amazing places.  I hope you stay with this blog because we want to take you to them too.  Either in your armchair, or finally as a springboard for your own trips.