Visiting Whanau (extended family for the non-Maori speaking readers) is always a highlight of any overseas trip. And so it has been with the Bryan family of Askerswell, Dorset. This beautiful village of around 100 population has been the home of the Bryans since Henry Bryan became rector there in the 1800s. The church is 500 years old as are many of the thatched and charming cottages in the village.

As I walked along the lanes and circumvented the farmlands of Askerswell with cousin Geoff and Aunt Eileen, I again thrilled to the beauty of this part of England. My imagination ran wild thinking about my 21 year old great aunt Jessie (my mother's mother's sister) arriving in 1921 as a young bride from New Zealand cradling her 12 month old baby girl, Barbara. How resilient she was to make a home for herself and her little family in the large rectory next to the church. How she must have loved her husband Bob (Hugh Robinson Bryan) to have travelled to the other side of the world away from her closeknit family. I was also amazed by Aunty Eileen's stamina yesterday in walking up hill and down dale with us for about 5 kms around the village, pointing out the history of the buildings at the spritely age of 87! I marvelled at her fitness and she declared she takes no supplements. She is as sharp as a tack! We enjoyed a family get together at cousin Margaret and Geoff's home with a white chocolate cheesecake which was up there as the best dessert I have enjoyed on this trip. Tuesday Geoff and Aunty Eileen took me on a drive along the coast to Bridport and Westbay. Sadly the whole area was blanketed in fog which rolled in from the sea just before we left home. The whole area was filmed in the TV series "Broadchurch" so I was keen to see it. Especially the famous cliff. Unfortunately we left the blanketed port at 1230 to meet up with Rebecca and Chris at the local pub "Spyway Inn" for lunch. The cliff had been but a ghostly shadow above the shingled sea front. Who would have guessed that as we drove away, the fog lifted. Little did we know at the time that Heather and John arrived to full sunshine and enjoyed two hours sitting on the beach in view of the cliff, getting sunburnt. Unbelievable! The irony was that Geoff and Maggie went down later that day to take a photo of "what I mist". They sent me an email to prove they had been. Heather and John teased me all day about "sitting on the beach".

Today however, we are in the New Forest. I will post some photos. There are ponies roaming free everywhere.

It's meant to be reaching 23 degrees so I am dressed in shorts and sandals for my day in Southampton and Wincester with Jane Rogers. The meal last night has to be mentioned as it was the best of the whole "Grand UK Tour". We stayed and ate dinner at the Crown Manor House Hotel, Lyndhurst. I had scallops as entree, pouisson (a tasty little chicken) with chestnuts and bacon for mains and for dessert a blackberry and apple crumble with New Forest vanilla ice cream. Absolutely divine. However the top I am wearing today feels a little tighter than it once did.

My reflection of these past few days is this; I first visited Askerswell as a young adult in my early twenties. My second visit with my husband and daughters was in 1994, fourteen years later. Now in my sixtieth year and 21 years on, I have trod those same lanes of four decades ago. I have enjoyed the same vistas as I did then. But I am not the same person. I am single once again. I am also so very different because of the experiences I have been through, the lessons I have learned and the people that have come into my life and remain as precious memories or still encourage, sustain and love me. I am so blessed to have you all. I may never come back to Askerswell, there is every chance I won't see Aunty Eileen again in this life, but I am so grateful to have connected with my whanau here in England again. Its been a further part of my pilgrimage to "Mother England".

Henry David Thoreau (1817- 1862) said "What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

Today, I pray, dear reader, that you will ponder on this truth and draw comfort from the strength you have, born of living your life to the fullest no matter what your circumstances. God bless.