A Day Trip to the United States: Visiting Runnymede

My most recent day trip from Reading was to the United States! That may sound close to impossible - you would expect it to involve at least a seven-hour flight there and another seven-hour flight back. However, I wasn't doing an extreme day trip (though this is a trend that is becoming more popular). In fact, it only took me a 40-minute train journey, a 15-minute bus ride and a short walk to get there.

So how was that possible? The truth is that there is a small corner of U.S. soil here in England, at the National Trust site at Runnymede in Surrey. I had read about this place a few years ago and had been intrigued to visit it someday. And at the end of February, we were lucky to have a sunny day with temperatures reaching 18 degrees, so I had the perfect opportunity to go to visit this outdoor area filled with sculptures and memorials.

First, I took the train from Reading to Egham. My next step was to take a bus, but as I missed the one five minutes after my train's arrival, I had about half an hour to spend in Egham. So I went to get a coffee and had a look around the town centre, which was very clean and modern.

On the bus later, I went past this incredible grand old building that looked like a fairytale castle! I was absolutely amazed by it. Looking it up later, I found out that it was the Founder's Building at Royal Holloway University. I actually came back to Egham with Claudio that weekend in order to visit it properly. (I'll be writing about that soon!)

A bit later on in the bus journey, I was surprised and happy to find I had views across to London, including Wembley Stadium!

I got off the bus at a stop with the interesting name of Bells of Ouzeley. It is actually the name of a Harvester pub next to the bus stop. It's a very charming old building opposite the river, and looked like a great, scenic place to enjoy some food and drink on this sunny afternoon.

I then walked along the river to the National Trust site. The path was a bit muddy, but the route was very picturesque.

Unlike a lot of National Trust sites, Runnymede is free to enter. It doesn't have a manor house like many National Trust properties do - it is an outdoor area with various artworks and memorials - but it does have  a small building with a tearoom and bathrooms.

The site is also really near Heathrow, so there were plenty of planes passing low overhead, which added to the international vibe of my day out.

The first spot I visited was the John F. Kennedy memorial, which is the part I had read about previously. You step through a wooden gate to enter the area where the memorial is and you are officially on U.S. soil!

There is a long pathway and fifty uneven steps that take you up to the memorial itself. It's definitely quite a unique experience to be able to say you've gone to another country (sort of) just by walking through a gate.

Runnymede is most famous for being where the Magna Carta was signed in 1215, and there is also a monument dedicated to that event.

There's also this really interesting artwork called Writ in Water, which is located inside a small building. Inside the building, you go around this sort of labyrinth, which leads you to a small, reflective pool, in which is written an extract of the Magna Carta. It's very clever and unique.

After having a good walk around the site, I walked back to the bus stop and then sat by the river in the sun while waiting for the bus.

This day out was a big reminder to me of how important it can be to get outdoors in the sunshine and enjoy some peaceful, beautiful surroundings from time to time. To be honest, I'm not always that much of a fan of life in the UK - a lot of places can look very run down and grim, especially at this time of year, and the cost of living crisis never seems to get any better - but there are some beautiful places to be found in this country, and spending time in them can make a real difference to your mood.

That's all for today, but I'll be writing again soon about more of my February travels!

January 2026 Travel Adventures: Godalming, Kensington, Mayfair and More!

January in the UK is perhaps not the most exciting month to travel; short days and cold, wet weather are not most people's idea of fun. However, it's a month where tourism is lower, meaning lots of places are more peaceful than they are in warmer months or at Christmas. And the colder weather also makes it an ideal opportunity for visiting museums and other indoor attractions. 

We've had a few interesting trips out since the new year, both near our home in Reading and in London. Here are our highlights!

West London Audi and Gunnersbury Park

As you probably know if you're a regular reader of this blog, Claudio is a massive car fan! So one cold weekend, we decided to visit West London Audi, the biggest Audi dealership in Europe. It has seven floors filled with cars, plenty of which we could sit inside, and it also has panoramic views of the area - not that it's the most beautiful part of London! There's also a big Mercedes dealership next door that we visited afterwards. Overall, it was a fun, free, indoor activity, away from the capital's crowded touristic areas. 

We then went for a walk around the nearby Gunnersbury Park, a surprisingly picturesque park that we hadn't heard of before. It got dark while we were there, so the pictures didn't come out the best, but we really enjoyed exploring it, especially the Italian Gardens and the little Roman-style temple. It reminded us of visiting Villa Borghese in Rome!

Arborfield Green

My AI training work and search for a permanent job are keeping me busy, but I'm still trying to make time for the occasional trip out during the week when I can. I know that once I have a full-time role, I'm not going to have very many chances to do things like this anymore, so I want to make the most of this less-structured period in my life.

In January, I took the bus one Wednesday morning to the village of Arborfield Green, because I wanted to see these interesting horse sculptures that I'd spotted from the bus en route to California Country Park in November. They were really stunning to see up close!

Next to the horses, you can find an Australian café, Stables Coffee Co. I enjoyed a strong flat white and a very tasty pistachio cake slice there.

I also went for a walk around a little lake in this quiet, peaceful village.

The Museum of English Rural Life

One weekend, we wanted to get out and do something, but as is often the case, we didn't fancy taking a train or bus. So we decided to go to one of Reading's free museums, the Museum of English Rural Life. We really like walking in the area of the town where this museum is located; it's got lots of grand, old redbrick buildings, and the museum is no exception.

To be honest, we weren't expecting anything super interesting based on the museum's name, but we enjoyed it much more than we thought it would. I particularly liked the exhibition about Ladybird Books (it brought back memories of reading them as a child) and Claudio liked looking at the old Land Rover!

We also had a nice time exploring the old building itself and its garden.

Godalming

Naturally, over the Christmas period, we watched The Holiday, and found ourselves wondering where the Surrey village scenes were actually filmed. We looked it up, and found out that the scenes around the cottage (which unfortunately was fake!) and in the pub were filmed in Shere, and the scenes in the village high street were filmed in Godalming. To get to either of them by public transport, you need to first take the train to Guildford; then to get to Shere, you need to walk to a bus stop and take a 20-minute bus ride, or to get to Godalming, you need to switch trains and take a 10-minute train ride. We find buses round here can be quite unreliable, so we'll probably leave going to Shere until we've got a car. However, we decided it was worth an hour of train travel to get to Godalming, and to visit one of the settings of this classic Christmas movie!

As it was January, we could still experience Godalming with The Holiday's wintery vibe, but without the Christmas crowds. It's a very charming, old-fashioned town, and we enjoyed exploring both the street from the movie and its lesser known attractions, including a furniture store located inside a big old church!

Destinations Travel Show, Museum of Design and Mayfair

We were back in London at the end of the month, as I had been sent free tickets to visit the Destinations Travel Show at Olympia in Kensington. It was our first time going to this kind of event, and I was intrigued by the opportunity to get an insight into the marketing that the different travel brands there were using.

It was an interesting experience; we listened to a talk by a group of travel writers about the best and worst travel trends, watched a South African dance demonstration and an Italian cooking demonstration, and tried some food and tea at the Saudi Arabia stall.

Afterwards, we went for a wander through Kensington, taking in the grand architecture. Claudio was also happy to have a good look in the window of the Koenigsegg dealership!

We then visited one of London's many free museums, the Museum of Design. It was interesting to see the designs of various objects over the years. We also had fun participating in a pop-up exhibition by Canva, where we took our photo in a photo booth.

We finished off our day in London by taking the bus past Marble Arch to Mayfair, where Claudio wanted to go carspotting! We enjoyed walking around the elegant neighbourhood and were lucky to see Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Rolls-Royces!

I'll be writing again soon about more of our travel adventures! 🌏