Summer Blog - Explore England: Food, Sights & Language
- 3R English Academy
- Aug 28
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 29
Hello English learners!
We hope you have all had a good summer and made some nice memories along the way.
Whilst most people were struggling with the heat during Obon, 3R English made a long-overdue trip to the U.K. for our summer holiday.
The British weather is famously unreliable, but luckily it was warm and dry for almost all the three weeks we were there!
We caught up with family and friends and also booked some tours as well as a cottage stay in rural Somerset.
It was a chance to eat traditional British food, which unfortunately is a much maligned culinary subject, with many people only being able to name 'fish and chips' or 'roast beef'. Thanks to centuries of immigration in the UK and the influences of countries in the British Commonwealth, there are many dishes available to choose from, the first meal being a Turkish doner kebab, followed by an Indian curry.
Whilst travelling around by car, we sampled delicious summer fruits, such as freshly picked cherries, strawberries and raspberries. Our cottage had many apple trees in the garden with mistletoe growing in large clumps (this will be cut and sold as a Christmas decoration later this year). Strolling around the garden and eating apples picked from the tree was something I have not done since I was young and brought back fond memories of my parents’ house in Kent.
At the cottage we cooked ‘ribeye’ steaks that we had bought from the local farm shop. The taste of British beef is distinctly different from Japanese and has a stronger and cleaner flavour, tasting more of meat than the fat of Wagyu or ‘black’ beef.
For dessert we made ‘Eton mess’, which is meringues with whipped cream plus strawberries and raspberries; perfect on a warm summer’s evening.
Among the tours and activities we did were:
Fossil hunting at Lyme Regis, Dorset
The Minack Theatre, Cornwall, featuring The Who’s ‘Tommy’ by the London Theatre Company.
Local country hiking, Somerset.
The Bristol Balloon Fiesta, Bristol.
The Chatham Historic Dockyard tour, Kent.
Howlett’s Wild Animal Park, Kent.
Bodiam Castle, Sussex.
The Tower of London
The Emirates Arsenal Stadium tour, London
Changing the Guard tour, London
It was also a reminder to us of how useful English is as a second language. There were nationalities from all over the world in London, many using English to communicate with staff or other tourists. We noticed many differences while on holiday. However, our children found communicating in English fun, and the manner of British people to be open and more direct compared to in Japan.
We will be asking our 3R pupils to write up their own summer holiday accounts soon as part of their regular English homework and will select one to publish on next month’s blog.
Feel free to take a look at some of our photos, and follow the links for more information about holiday activities in England. If you like what you see, why not consider using English to take a foreign holiday next year?
Richard, Miyako & family,
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