Don’t Cry For Me…

…Argentina Fellow Bloggers!

After my rant about the hotel we stayed in last night I wanted you all to see our new home away from home for the next two nights. Do not feel sorry for us. We are truly content and blessed as we wind down our trip to Jolly Old England.

No roads outside our hotel window and a nice green lawn down to the river Thames. A wonderful way to end our time here and to forget about the last hotel we stayed in.

Here’s Dear having a little shut eye in the shade at the rivers edge before we check into our room. We also enjoyed the peaceful time watching the boaters and rowers glide by.

We are enjoying this roomier space with chairs that are in good shape…

as opposed to these poor worn chairs at the last hotel.

A nice king sized bed instead of our smaller sad bed last night. The only thing we hear outside with our windows open here are birds, an occasional boat horn, and distant planes leaving from Heathrow. We are steps away from the river Thames and a few hundred yards from the main road.

Today before we checked in here we spent a few hours in Windsor including a tour of Windsor Castle. While in Windsor we happened to meet a family from Argentina and talked with them about the disappointing loss to Germany at the World Cup. We ate lunch close to the riverside and then headed back to our hotel to check in. One more full day before we head to Heathrow early on Thursday to deal with all the new security checks.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

It Was the Best of Times…

…it was the worst of times.

I’m diverting from my regular “Cheers” posts slightly today for a little reality check when traveling.

We are now in Henley on Thames after traveling for 2 hours this morning. We are staying overnight in the city instead of the country. Our hotel seemed idyllic on-line, situated on the river Thames. What they don’t show you is the one way 2 lane street below our window which seems everyone needs to use to get out of town, including buses. So I sit on my bed and look out and see rowers and quiet boaters go by along the river while listening to buses and diesel vehicles rumble down the street below our window.

Don’t feel sorry for us because there is so much beauty to enjoy it overshadows the noise of the city. I’m thinking I’m more of a country mouse with a city near by kind of person as opposed to living in the middle of the city kind of person. The photo above is the view out our window while I’m sitting on the bed.

When I stick my head out the window and look down this is the view of the two lane road that the trucks and diesels rumble along with the compressed air from the brakes being released. You know that loud swishy noise.

Time will tell if we are able to sleep tonight. No air conditioning so we have the window open. They have equipped the rooms with fans and maybe that will work like “white noise” for us tonight.

That’s our room above with the window open. Now that you’ve seen the worst of it I will leave you with some of the best. Henley on Thames really is a lovely little city to visit. The town shops and restaurants are very nice. They just got done with a regatta this past weekend. We visited the rowing museum today and they have a wonderful area illustrating 3 dimensional scenes from “The Wind in the Willows”. I’ll have a post or two about all the good things this city has to offer.

See, I’m a happy camper walking along the river Thames thinking about The Wind in the Willows.

An aside…stop reading if you don’t care to hear about my love for soccer and skip down to the next paragraph. I’m also wearing my Seattle Sounders Major League Soccer shirt celebrating their win over the Portland Timbers last night with Clint Dempsey scoring a goal fresh from his return from being Captain of the U.S. World Cup Soccer team. I know most of you don’t really give a rip but I need to keep things historical for my memory bank to make it easier to remember the timing of my travels. Now back to some great Grahame quotes!

“All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered.”
― Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

“Here today, up and off to somewhere else tomorrow! Travel, change, interest, excitement! The whole world before you, and a horizon that’s always changing!”

And yes, we are off to our last lodging spot tomorrow for two nights and then we will fly home on Thursday.

We are hoping the heat wave in the Seattle area will be mostly over by the time we arrive home on Thursday. Dear is already making plans to sleep in the cool basement if it’s still blazing hot! How’s the weather where you are?

Cheers from England ~ Day #10

After today we only have three full days left in England. It’s moving day on Monday again. On this Sunday we had our first bad planning travel day. We traveled to Hereford to see the cathedral and the Chained Library and the Mappa Mundi but alas those rooms/exhibits are closed on Sunday. We were able to walk around the Cathedral so all was not lost.We are considering changing our route to Henley-on-Thames on Monday so we can travel back to Hereford to see the Chained Library and Mappa Mundi.

Dear is representing the home team jersey in honor of the Seattle Sounders playing the Portland Timbers this evening in Seattle. While in Hereford we walked to the River Wye and crossed the Wye Bridge since we hadn’t seen the river since arriving in Ross-on-Wye and traveling to Hay-on-Wye.

This old bridge has some history of it’s own.

Heading back to the Spiral Cottage via B4224, a road with a white stripe down the middle, thank you very much, we had to stop at the Bunch of Carrots Inn for a little refreshment.

We really have been blessed with some great weather while we’ve been in England. We are in for the evening and we will be watching the World Cup Final game on the telly. Hope your weekend is coming to a good end.

Cheers from England/Wales ~ Day #9

Our sunrise view from the upstairs bedroom in what we have decided to call the Spiral Cottage. We were up with the birds this morning as they serenaded daybreak for us. We have a large push out sky window above our heads while we sleep and we decided to keep it open and enjoy the breeze. We were hoping that no bats would decide to fly in and our hopes were realized! I’m also happy to report that there have been no mishaps on the spiral staircase!Today, Saturday, our sight seeing took us on a drive to Southern Wales, Hay on Wye. Hay on Wye is known for their second hand book shops. Hay hosts an annual literary festival that thousands flock to.

“Hay” is a small town with narrow streets and lots of options for eating and shopping. There is a castle that was destroyed during the 15th century but parts of it remain to this day.

We shopped about and only bought one book, a Dorothy Sayers paperback. Our other purchases were mostly from the town flea market and some antique stores. We enjoyed a very good cup of coffee along with a scone served with clotted cream and strawberry jam while we were in town.

The views were lovely wherever we looked. Thankfully the lanes driving to Hay-on-Wye were manageable and I only felt like screaming once or maybe twice.

We stopped at the supermarket after our day of sight seeing and shopping and bought some take away food to prepare at the cottage. I so enjoy the descriptions of the ready to warm up food.

“Succulent British lamb on the bone, smothered in a rich italian red wine and redcurrrant gravy, served on a bed of sweet red onions, tender carrots and parsnips. Minted green brocolli, savoy cabbage, sweet leeks, and tender green beans with a melting fragrant mint butter glaze to cook up in the oven and microwave. Here’s the description of the potatoes…silky smooth mashed British Maris Piper potato blended with double cream and plenty of butter for a creamy melt in the mouth texture.

Filling and delicious!

I’m hearing from back home that things are sizzling. We had some humidity today in the Welsh Marshes and it is suppose to rain some tonight but they are promising barbecuing weather for tomorrow. Hope all is well with you…

Cheers From England ~ Day #8

Today is Friday and it was moving day for us. We moved from our quiet sprawling cottage in the Cotswolds to a small 2 story cottage near Ross on Wye. We are just off a B road so this little spot will be a little noisier during the day. On the way to our new location we stopped in Bourton on the Water and in Gloucester to visit the cathedral and The Tailor of Gloucester Beatrix Potter shop close to the cathedral.

Bourton on the Water

Gloucester Cathedral

After we spent some time in the cathedral that was magnificent we found the Beatrix Potter shop and made a little purchase and then headed to our second lodging spot close to Ross on Wye. We got settled in and headed to Ross to find a bite to eat. We ate at a cafe and made at stop at the butcher for sausages and the supermarket for eggs, bread, tomatoes, and mushrooms as we’ve missed our traditional breakfasts the last few mornings. We are now relaxing in the wee cottage.

The view from our upstairs bedroom window looking east. Not too shabby!

And here are the stairs I will have to navigate if I need to use the facilities in the middle of the night…oh my…

I’ll let you know how it goes. We have two areas we want to explore while we are in this part of England and time will tell which towns we will visit first.

We are in touch with family and friends via the internet and so thankful that we have that luxury being across the world from them. So much happens when we are apart and it’s good to be able to communicate daily if we need to. I specifically chose places that offered free wifi and am very glad I did since I do not use my cell internationally. We’ve heard that Heathrow security is confiscating cell phones if the batteries are dead so I will need to turn my cell phone on airplane mode before we hit security to make sure they can see that my battery is just fine.

We also hear the the temps in at our old house in Washington State are hitting the 90’s this weekend. Maybe it will stunt my grass and weeds from growing too much while we are gone. How are things going in your neck of the woods. Speaking of woods we are close to the Forest of Dean.

Cheers!

Cheers From England ~ Day #7

We had a leisurely morning in the cottage on Thursday. The sun was shining with not a cloud in the sky so we decided to take a short drive to the small town of Broadway in the Cotswolds. We arrived early enough to find a parking spot, walk along the rows of shops on High Street and miss the crowds that arrived while we enjoyed our pub meal at the Crown and Trumpet.

We enjoyed some conversation with the locals.

We still need to schedule our day so that we feel like sitting down to a proper tea. Mostly we’ve been doing tea time in the cottage.

All the small villages or towns we have been in have more than one Tea Room. I think we counted four or more here and there were coffee shops, too. We left Broadway with a larger than usual purchase that we’ll have to carry on the plane with us. It’s not bigger than a bread box! It is a bread box. I’ll show you it in my kitchen back home when I find a spot for it…

Tomorrow we move on to our next short stay at a self catering cottage in Ross on Wye. Packing and traveling will be on the schedule.

Back at our old house it is only 9:00 am and here at the really old cottage in the Cotswolds it is 5:00 p.m. while I finish up this post. Hope all is well in your time zone!

Cheers From England ~Day #6

Today we hopped on a train in Moreton in Marsh and headed to Oxford for the day. We chose today since there are rain showers moving in the rest of the week and we wanted a dryer day since we’d be on our feet and away from shelter for most of the day. The above photo was taken in the courtyard of Magdalene College.

We kept off the grass.

We payed for a 2 hour walking tour of Oxford at the visitors center.

On our tour we met a retired couple from Vancouver Island who do house sitting around the world.

We visited several colleges and learned the history of the Oxford Colleges.

We enjoyed a meal at the Eagle and Child where we met a family from the Bay area and enjoyed a lively conversation with them.

We re-visited Magdalen College where C.S. Lewis and Tolkien would stroll and discuss philosophy.

We headed to the oldest pub in Oxford and chanced to meet up with the couple from Vancouver Island and enjoyed a table together with our refreshments. More enjoyable conversation about their retirement lives spent on the island and in other parts of the world.

Back to the train station we jumped on the wrong train first and realized it in time and hopped off.

When the right train arrived because of problems on the line between London and Oxford we were packed in like sardines. We were happy to finally make it to our stop and hop into the cool breezes.

We stopped at the grocery store close to the train station and bought a few items to enjoy for a evening snack. We arrived home exhausted but filled with appreciation for all the wonderful sites and people we met and talked to.

Now we are chilling at the cottage and watching Argentina play Netherlands.

Christ Church, Oxford

I will have to devote a few posts to all the wonderful colleges and architecture of Oxford after I get home.

Hope all is summery where you are!

Stow on the Wold ~ Day #5

It’s Tuesday and our 5th day in Jolly Old England. Today we spent a more leisurely day taking a short drive to a nice market town, Stow on the Wold. I’m doing a full post about this little town today since we are relaxing the afternoon and evening away at the cottage.

We visited this town last September with Josh and Laura but we only spent about a half hour here. Today we spent close to 2 hours walking around.

“Ancient and historic Stow on-the Wold is the highest town in the Cotswolds standing 800 feet above sea level. Stow is located at the junction of six roads making it an important and natural meeting place of the Cotswolds. One of the renowned Cotswold routes meeting in Stow is the famous Roman road – The Fosse Way. “

“History and hospitality is never far away in Stow. Stow is the location of the oldest inn in England with a history reaching as far back as 987AD.”

“The Square is a reminder of Stow on the Wold’s heritage as the Cotswold’s major sheep market. In one of his Cotswold travels writer Daniel Defoe once recorded that 20,000 sheep were sold during a single day. Another reminder of Stow’s past is the little alleys leading from the market square. These were intentionally built narrow and winding as a way to control and count sheep.”

” The Kings Arms on the market square hosted King Charles I before the Battle of Naseby in 1645.”

I had to take a photo of this reader board outside to help me with the timeline that our visit includes with the last week of the World Cup taking place while we are here.

There were several different “thrift” stores in this little town that I enjoyed poking around in. I bought a couple of things easy to pack and bring home with me.

“A much later addition to Stow is St Edwards Hall in the market square. This was built in 1878. Money for the building came from funds left unclaimed in the town Savings Bank. The Hall houses the public library and exhibitions of Civil War artifacts.”

When I get back home I’ll do a full post on the church of St. Edward that Dear and I spent some time in today in Stow.

On our way back to the cottage we stopped at Warner Budgens supermarket in Moreton on Marsh to buy our takeaway dinner items. We chose a Cotswold locally fresh, not frozen, made Beef, Guinness and Ale Pie and some minted green vegetables.

Pricey but it was enough for both of us to split.

You should have seen the nice wedge of butter on top of these veggies, these were not frozen either, just ready to microwave.

The meal was delicious and it’s nice to enjoy a leisurely afternoon and evening at the cottage with the sun shining and a nice cool breeze blowing in the open windows. There’s Dear in the kitchen area of the cottage.

Tonight I plan to stay up late and watch Brazil play Germany in the World Cup Semi-finals. It’s so weird to think everyone in our home time zone are just beginning your day and we are winding down. Hope all is well wherever you find yourselves today.

Cheers From England ~ #4

On this Monday after our second English Breakfast that we made for ourselves at the cottage we would venture out to two gardens right next to each other. Before I move on to the gardens here’s a collage of our breakfast time with some visitors that came to our door begging when they caught wind of the sausages cooking.

We were warned by the owners of the property that their dogs would try to get us to feed them and they told us not to give in. The dogs looked so hopeful.

The first garden to visited was Hidcote Garden. It is a National Trust Property. We aren’t here in prime garden time having missed the roses being in their glory but we still enjoyed a lot of color at the gardens.

I will need to devote a few posts in the future to these lovely gardens we visited but for now I’ll only leave you with a couple snapshots.

The second Garden we visited was the Kiftsgate Court and Garden which was across the way from Hidcote.

We got a fair amount of walking and climbing up and down trails today.

This evening we have dinner reservations at the Ebrington Arms and while we have been relaxing in the cottage this afternoon a thunderstorm has passed over us with quite a downpour. We are hoping it moves on because we do not relish the idea of driving country lanes in a downpour!

Cheers From England ~ #3

Today is Sunday and we had a late start in our adventures out and about. I stayed up late to watch the Netherlands vs. Costa Rica World Cup Soccer game that went into overtime and a shoot out to determine the winner. Finally laying my head on the pillow at midnight made for a later than usual rising. On this Sunday morning we made ourselves breakfast at the cottage. We had eggs, handmade sausages from the butcher, sauteed mushrooms, fried tomatoes and toast.

Delicious. My toast was spread with a lovely Damson jam. We have been enjoying our French Pressed coffee each morning, too. We are glad we thought to grind some beans and pack them in our suitcase not knowing when we’d be able to make it to a grocery store.

I’m going to have an extensive post about our destination this Sunday and the reason I wanted to visit this town. This is a little clue of the name of the town and the statue I wanted to see. Think…nursery rhyme.

We are huge fans of country roads with a nice white stripe down the middle.

These roads with no white lines and inadequate space for two small cars to pass each other have caused us a bit of stress. My poor Dear is doing a fabulous job of driving but he is being stretched out of his driving comfort zone. I’m trying hard not to make terrified noises in the passenger seat that is really the driver seat and just plain weird to be seated in it without a steering wheel in front of me and to see the hedges up close and hear the branches brush upside my head. The scenery is gorgeous and I wish I was brave enough to drive so Dear could enjoy some of it.

We are so thankful and grateful to God for our time here and for the quiet country cottage where we can relax in the morning and the end of our day of adventures. It is so so quiet here and it gets so dark at night. There are no city lights, street lights, etc. that light up the sky here. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to see an owl while we are here.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Category Archives: England