SaffasintheUK

No it’s not the opening line to a bad joke, this is the story of our ancestry and how we came to live in the UK.   The ancestral visa is one of the most well-known visa options available to the citizens of the Commonwealth, and many of us find (or already know) that we had a grandparent (or more!) born in the UK.   But growing up in the dry heat of the Witwatersrand, Ireland and England were just a blob on a map and it never entered my head to learn where my grandmother originally came from.   Granny as we will always remember her Even as we started to consider a move to the UK, I still didn’t think too hard about actually seeing where my Gran was born but as I started to research her birth and that of her parents, we unravelled a startling and really quite colourful story.   That is for a blog on a different day but our journey to the UK started with my belief that my Gran was actually Irish, or of Irish descent and our first efforts at research went into finding that link.  

How I wish I could relive this holiday    With York wrapped up, we prepared to head to Scotland for a few days of exploration.  The thing is, Scotland is massive so how do you choose where to start?  We settled this easily with the discovery of the Central Rover train pass . Three days of unlimited train and tube travel around central Scotland for a fair price sounded like a bargain.  After looking at the stations covered by the pass we realised we could see the important tourist highlights and that settled that. We also discovered that Scotland has a Heritage Explorer pass that includes entry into some of their most famous castles and sights for 5 days, but also so much more.  Buying two passes was an easy decision once we worked out that entry fees for just two of the castles we wanted to see would cost the same.  Armed with this knowledge, we headed to Scotland. What can I say about this country? It is one of the most magical and special places to visit.  It’s not