UK Part III- Blenheim & Clapton-on-the-Hill

Our second B&B was Clapton Manor. Our hostess, Karin, was a wonderful, cheery, down-to-earth woman who was full of suggestions for what to see, where to eat and anything else. This was great, because we hadn't fully planned what we would do there. This is the gateway into their lovely side yard. We had tea outside in the courtyard our first afternoon. Clapton Manor sits in a tiny little village of Clapton-on-the-Hill. Don't you just love all those descriptive names? As I'm sure you can guess- the village sits on the top of a hill. Everett came to the full realization of this when he went running- every route had him going uphill on the way back.









Our room looked out on one side to the couryard, and on the other side, to the village church here. Karin suggested a drive our first evening that would take us through some of the picturesque surrounding villages, and then a great little pub called the Fox Inn for dinner. By the way, just try searching by the name of a pub in your GPS. You will realize how many pubs are called The Fox, The Horse and Groom, The Horse and Hound, The Horse and Coach, The Coachman, and so forth!

We spent the next day at Blenheim Palace. It is the current home of the Duke of Marlborough and the birthplace of Winston Churchill. So, besides being a beautiful home and garden, it is full of fascinating history. I wish we could have taken pictures inside because it was really spectacular. Though I doubt my pictures would have done it justice.















We toured the palace, which included some very interesting displays about Winston Churchill, walked the gardens and had lunch in the garden. After our late lunch, we finished the gardens with a walk through the hedge maze. Everett is being a human sundial, as his shadow tells us the time.





We headed back to the B&B where Karin had a fire waiting for us in the sitting room and tea and cake! Just what we needed after a long day. We were so refreshed, we did some walking around the village before dinner and came across this red telephone booth. We had passed many like this, and I was so sure I wouldn't get a picture if we didn't stop. But we stumbled upon this one- they really do put them in the most extraordinary places! After our walk we went to dinner at another nearby pub- The King's Head! Too funny!

UK Part II- Wiltshire, Bath & The Cotswolds

I realized after my last post, that I never shared about our last-minute changes of plans. This trip was planned as a piggy-back onto a work trip for Ev. He was scheduled to speak at a conference in London, so we booked a ticket for me, and reserved a few extra days at the hotel so we could do some sight-seeing together. Less than two weeks before we were due to leave for our trip, the conference was cancelled. Crazy, huh? So they did some scrambling and tried to find some other reasons for a work trip, like visiting British air bases to talk with their British counterparts. We changed all of our accommodation reservations and I went to work re-planning our trip and researching what there was to see in the countryside. After about a week, it became evident that we were not able to do both work and pleasure in one trip. So we bought Ev a ticket and turned it into a vacation. It made for a very stressful pre-trip week, but in the end it worked out really well. We were able to see things that we would not have seen, and meet some very nice people along the way.

Which brings us to our second day. We headed first to Stourhead. It is a beautiful house, though we didn't go inside. I wanted to see the famous landscape garden. I was not disappointed. It was a beautiful time of year to be there, as the garden is filled with rhododendrons and azaleas which were all in bloom.











Eighteenth century landscape gardens are known for their "follies," such as the Greek-inspired temples and hidden grottoes that we explored. However, Stourhead has a magnificent folly of a different sort, named King Alfred's Tower. Maybe they wouldn't classify it as a folly in the strictest sense, because it was built partially to commemorate a historical event. Nonetheless, it was built primarily to impress the visitors to Stourhead. And it is impressive. We climbed the 205 steps to the top of the 160 ft tower, and we were rewarded with breathtaking views of the Wiltshire countryside.









The next stop on our trip was the city of Bath. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived in Bath, I wasn't feeling very well. Over-tired and under-nourished, I think. We only stayed a few hours, and saw a fraction of what we had planned, but I just wore myself out earlier in the day. It was also very, very crowded. We did see the Roman baths and walked around a little bit in the city center.





Despite feeling "rather moldy," as one of our b&b hosts put it, I did get a kick out of seeing this music man in the square. I also had to have a picture of this crazy pig sitting at the base of the Bath Abbey. What a crazy juxtaposition!





We left Bath early, and began our drive up to the northern part of the Cotswolds where we had reservations for the next two nights. I admit, I slept most of the way, while Everett drove and the GPS navigated. I'm disappointed that I missed so much of that drive, but my body demanded that I give in and sleep eventually. Here is a sneak peek at the Cotswolds.

UK Part I- Windsor & Warminster

I finished working through my pictures a couple of days ago, but it was too soon to post them. The simple fact is that when I look through my pictures, I get all excited, and love each one. I can't possibly choose when I'm in that state of mind. So, this is my pared-down, abbreviated look at our first day in England.

Here's Ev getting ready to drive on the left side for the first time...he looks a little nervous, doesn't he? Actually he did really well, although I never quite got used to it. I kept thinking that he was turning into oncoming traffic! Of course, he wasn't, so it was a good thing that he did all the driving. We were, however, soooo glad that at the last minute we asked for a navigation system!



Windsor Castle was not at all what I expected. Mostly because it is now sitting in the middle of a little town. That alone creates a really unique- and sometimes stark- juxtaposition of the new and old. It was amazing to walk through and think about the fact that people still live here. In fact, the Queen's standard was flying the day that we visited. I suppose she is used to it, but it would seem so strange to me to have hundreds of strangers walking through my house. I loved checking out all the details- like little crowns decorating everything that would stand still, from light posts to mailboxes. It's one of those things that is normal to people in the UK, but such a novelty to us!

















We spent some time walking around the cities of Windsor and Eton and along the Thames. We watched the swans along the Thames, which are all owned by the Queen. We had our first English meal- Ev chose fish & chips with mashy peas and I tried some steak and kidney pie with mash and gravy. I thought everything was tasty- though Ev said the coffee was not up to par. Go figure.




We left Windsor and headed into Warminster for our first night. The countryside was absolutely gorgeous- rolling hills, grassy fields and pastures. One of our B&B hosts said these yellow flowering fields were growing a crop that is actually used for animal feed once it goes to seed. We waved at Stonehenge as we drove past, and flew down tiny country lanes at breakneck speeds- usually we were still below the speed limit! We ended our day at this gorgeous little B&B named Crockerton House. It used to be part of a large country estate named Longleat, and dates from 1669. The owners are gracious hosts and have done a beautiful job of restoring it into a very comfortable B&B, along with planting some wonderful gardens, which we could see from our bedroom window. For dinner, we walked to the local pub and had a great time with very friendly locals and good food!

Home Again, Home Again

We're back. And I'm still exhausted- in a good way. I have a lot of time zones to catch up from. But I'm making progress. The kids and I are finishing up this year's lessons, and I've made it through about one quarter of my pictures. Hopefully I will very soon have more to show. In the meantime, just so you know we really went somewhere... here we are outside Windsor Castle.