The world from my window

Thanks to my mother, I have a pretty good idea who's sitting up there in the branches of my family tree. Up until now, there's been nobody famous, although she discovered I am directly descended from a man who fought in the last battle on English soil, the Monmouth Rebellion, in 1685.  I'm rather proud of that, and the fact that he was on the ill-fated Rebel side. It's something I plan to explore further when I have more time. Mr Grigg thinks he has a link to Archie Leach, better known as that suave and most debonair of English-born actors, Cary Grant . He knows this because he found a Leach in his family tree who lived in Bristol, which was where Archie was born. I got very excited and suggested it could be the same family as Archie's. When Mr Grigg has more time, he's going to look into it further. In the meantime, I had nobody famous in my tree and always felt a little bit of a Billy No-Mates. And then, this week, I had a message via my Maddie Gri...

I've been busy blogging for A Dorset Year these past few weeks. The plan is to record the seasons in this part of Thomas Hardy Country over the next twelve months, with my French friend Natamagat , who takes the most delightful photographs. Although I was quite pleased with this one snapped on my phone. That's about it. Love Maddie x

For eleven years, this was my holiday. Not bad for a confirmed landlubber. It all began in 2004 when Mr Grigg and I were looking for a holiday home on the beautiful island of Corfu. The place we wanted, on the edge of a village called Kavalouri, fell through. So on the last day of our fact-finding holiday, we called in at Gouvia Marina where my husband had an appointment with a man selling yachts. I'd sooner sit by the sea than sit on it. And then I saw an advertisement for a partnership scheme with the aptly-named Odysseus Yachting Holidays. We'd pay half the price for a boat and the company would pay the rest and charter it out. At the end of five years, it would be ours and, in the meantime, we could use it for up to five weeks a year.  Mr Grigg is crazy about the water. I am not so. I prefer rolling hills, cows and agriculture. However, I am pretty passionate about Greece, its islands, its people, ancient history and culture. And those azure waters are pretty inv...