St. James Church, Chipping Campden

The church of St James, is a landmark for miles around, can be found at the north end of Chipping Campden. It is a magnificent example of an early perpendicular wool church, rebuilt in the 15th century.

We walked away from the village center to walk about The Church of St. James. We really enjoyed the views of the church and from the church.

And from the inside of the church…

” The finely carved canopied tomb of Sir Thomas Smythe is on the North wall in the sanctuary and is the most remarkable in the church. He was Lord of the Manor of Campden until his death in 1593. He lived at the court of Henry VIII and was the first Governor of the East India Company.

Some interesting history of the church can be read by clicking here. It was interesting to me to read about the “peal of eight bells”. We passed this Inn on our way back to the town center from St. James.

Hope you all are having a nice weekend and for our friends in Canada I hope you are enjoying your traditional Thanksgiving meals with some loved ones. For the most part we’ve had a very unproductive weekend here at this old house. We did manage to take apart and clean out our dishwasher which revealed some interesting stuff…icky. Maybe the beginning of our week will be more productive. We have some fun plans for the end of this week. How about you?

Chipping Campden ~ Cotswolds

“Chipping Campden is one of the loveliest small towns in the Cotswolds and a gilded masterpiece of limestone and craftmanship. The main street curves in a shallow arc lined with a succession of ancient houses each grafted to the next but each with its own distinctive embellishments.”

“As the name suggests (“Chipping” means market or market place from the old English “Ceping”). Chipping Campden was one of the most important of the medieval wool towns and famous throughout Europe. This legacy of fame and prosperity is everything that give the town its character.

Campden was already established in the 7th century and derives its name from the Saxon “Campa-denu” or “Campadene”, meaning a valley with fields or enclosures of cultivated land.”

“For many visitors, Chipping Campden is the quintessential Cotswold town. It has a variety of building styles that have survived from all ages. Chipping Campden was one of the Cotswold’s main wool markets.”

World War I and World War II Memorials.

The ancient Market Hall was built in 1627 by Sir Baptist Hicks for a cost of £90.00. It was for the purpose of giving shelter to the local market selling cheese, butter and poultry – not wool as is sometimes thought.

Each corner of the building has a pediment, and each gable had a window which is now blocked up. The side arches have stone ballustrades and the floor is paved with stone.

We really enjoyed this small market town. There was a used bookstore in town where I found an Elizabeth Goudge book.

We also spent some time at St. James Church grounds and I’ll share those photos next along with some of it’s history.

I had a fun adventure with one of the “girls” last night and hope to share about that soon. It was a beautiful day on Wednesday here in the Seattle area. Hope all is well where you live…

HT: Chipping Campden Tourist Information.

An Evening Stroll…

…through the graveyard to dinner.

After settling in at the Old Manor House we asked for a recommendation for dinner and chose the “walk to” option. Strolling in the countryside is so rewarding.

We weren’t starving so we detoured slightly through the church yard.

We found out later that relatives of our host are buried in this church yard cemetery. It’s interesting to think of the years of history the family claims here.

It was fun to see these phone booths are still around.

Dinner just ahead at the Halford Bridge.

Beef and Yorkshire Pudding which is a regular offering on Sundays for many pubs.

We decided to share a dessert, too.

It was interesting to me to see most of the eateries we stopped in already were advertising for their Christmas meals so you could book ahead. Makes me think a lot of people eat out at Christmas which also means a lot of people work on Christmas…

I think I’ve only eaten out on Christmas once if that. Have you eaten out on Christmas or do you eat in?

Old Manor House…

…a luxury Bed and Breakfast in South Warwickshire, on the edge of the Cotswolds. This 16th Century home was our favorite. This great house is seven miles from Stratford Upon Avon and just one and a half hours from London.

We had a very good experience here and if we would travel back to England we’d book more than a night at this lovely manor to explore the area.

16th Century homes have some very unique features. Josh and Laura got the duck your head room!

Loved the windows…

One of the fun highlights of our time here was meeting Geoff and Joan, an older couple who were staying at the Old Manor House while we were there. We had a lovely time talking and getting to know their interesting history.

It was so interesting to learn that Joan was one of the “Call the Midwives” that served after World War II in the London Area. I asked her if she had seen the BBC series and she said that she really has enjoyed it and how accurate the show is.

I didn’t get a photo of our hosts but did get one of their adult son who was helping out while we were there with breakfast and taking care of a new litter of pups.

Speaking of breakfast…it was a delicious version of the traditional English breakfast.

We highly recommend the Old Manor House. Tomorrow I’ll share photos from our short walk to “The Halford” where we enjoyed our Sunday Pub Dinner.

Back on the home front…

My niece Michelle shared these words from my dear old Pop on Sunday when they visited him…
“You know, it’s hard without your Baba. I have tears. But God is with me. And so I get up and go on again. God is love. And when His love is in you, you feel His comfort. I’m thanking Him for all He’s given me. He is good.”
Today when I talked to him on the phone he said, “I’m not going to lie, it’s hard.” We talked about how great it is that he has good memories. “Yes, he said, God has been good to us.” By the way today he went to “Staplers” (Staples) to buy a board so he could put together a jigsaw puzzle Ryan and Michelle bought him…
Thank you for remembering him in your prayers!!

Stratford Upon Avon…

On our way to the Old Manor House in Halford on the edge of the Cotswolds we stopped for a couple of hours in Shakespeare’s Stratford Upon Avon.

We were intrigued with a property that had both the Union Flag and the U.S. flag and walked in to tour the property. Here’s a link that gives the history of this property.

An old fashioned confectioners on High Street.

This is Shakespeare’s birthplace right in the middle of town on Henley Street right across the street from Peter Rabbit!

This town is a full vibrant town with plenty of history, shops and eateries to enjoy. This was a Sunday so some shops were closed and many were closing at five. We had our fill of being on the road and shopping on this day and headed a little south in search of our Bed and Breakfast. I’ll devote a full post to the Old Manor House in Halford as it was our favorite B & B experience this time around in England.

One of the shops that I wish was open was this shop. I really wanted that tea bag holder…

We’ve had several days of sunshine here in the Seattle area and took care of some outdoor work we needed to do. First load of leaves, mostly what we call helicopter seeds, have fallen from the huge maple in our neighbor’s yard on to our drive and lawns. Very soon we’ll have several more leaves fall that will need to be taken care of. For a day or two we are enjoying a nice neat and tidy yard. We pulled out 3 arbor vitae and took them back to Home Depot for a refund since they didn’t do well and had turned brown.

Hope you had a nice October weekend!

The Potteries

The Potteries area in Stoke on Trent isn’t a picturesque area of England and it’s not like one our factory outlet areas in the states. Each factory stands on it’s own and you have to do some driving in between the shops depending on your interests. We were not devoting a whole day to this venture as we were more interested in getting to our next destination in the Cotswolds.

I was most interested to see the Emma Bridgewater shop. We chose the second factory that was closest to E.B. which was Aynsley.

Here’s a link where you can poke around and see all the different potteries there are to visit in the area.

I’m a real bargain hunter and even the discounted prices weren’t floating my boat. I chose a few items to pack away in my suitcases to bring home. If you are serious about buying there was a shipping option at the factory stores.

I chose the hedgehog for my souvenir mug. The inscription on the bottom says “Numbers of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle’s friends and relations are seriously depleted in the twenty-first century. Falling insect populations and rising traffic levels have all taken their toll as has excessive tidiness in the garden with the loss of vital log heaps and piles of leaves.

A couple egg cups and a tea towel rounded out my purchases at Emma Bridgewater.

It was fun to poke around our second stop but we left empty handed. My buying skills were kind of like this next sign we saw…

Happy first October weekend to all of you. We got some fabulous sunshine on Friday and I hope we have more in store. We have some serious yard work that needs to get done and some dry days would really help that venture. I’ll continue with my England posts Sunday night or Monday. Enjoy your weekend!

Theatre of Dreams ~ Old Trafford

‘This is Manchester United football club, this is the theatre of dreams.’

The phrase coined by Sir Bobby Charlton in John Riley’s book simply entitled ‘Soccer’ 26 years ago has stuck in the period of unprecedented success which the Red Devils enjoyed under the tenure of Sir Alex Ferguson. From the Glaswegian’s appointment in November 1986, this cathedral of British football has undergone a dramatic transformation to become arguably the finest club ground in English football.

We searched on line to get tips about getting to the stadium and parking for the soccer game. We found the neighborhood suggested to park in and followed the crowds walking to the stadium.

We had our Seattle Sounders gear with our Sounders/Manchester United friendly match scarf. It was fun that a few people walked up to us recognizing that we were from Seattle and were welcoming.

We had enough time before kick off to take some photos and check out the Mega Store! Yikes was that huge with wall to wall people in it.

Our tickets included a club entrance separate from general entrances and a private lounge to enjoy snacks and drinks before the game and during half time. We also got a free program with our tickets.

We enjoyed our seats and the crowd. We had heard some horror stories about sitting in the stands that didn’t pan out in our experience. The seats were comfortable and the people around us were polite.

The excitement in the stadium reached an elevated pitch when Maraouane Fellaini took the field for the first time as a “Red”. Many of the fans donned wigs that tried to match Fellaini’s hair.

Marouane Fellaini has described his deadline-day move to Manchester United as a ‘dream’, and hopes to repay David Moyes’ faith in him by joining the long list of greats at Old Trafford.

There was a solid line of security between the home fans and the visiting fans. The chants from the two groups always get quite heated and aren’t flattering to their opponents for sure.

We took one last photo of all of us together enjoying experiencing a dream come true for Josh. This wouldn’t be the one and only game that Josh got to attend in England. While we were in London he took a chance at buying a last minute ticket to a sold out Arsenal game in Northern London close to the stadium where the game would be played. An older woman who was meeting someone to sell her 2 season tickets to decided that she’d like to enjoy the game with Josh after talking to him. We were happy for Josh to get his 2nd experience in an English Premier game atmosphere! We shopped while Josh enjoyed the game and then we met up at Selfridges on Oxford Street.

The Malthouse B & B

Oh the Hedgerows on the way to our first nights stop in England. If we weren’t anxious to arrive at our destination after being up for over 20 hours I would have yelled stop a few times to try to capture the narrow lanes lined in green.

We were so happy to finally turn the right corner and see our B & B in front of us.

The Malthouse B & B is located in the small village of Alton in the Staffordshire county of England.

We had rooms 8 & 9 in the Stables. Our room had the Hobbit window.

Josh and Laura experienced their first traditional fried English breakfast.

View of the village from the front door of the Malthouse.

Village Views

For our dinner in Alton we chose The Bullshead Inn. It was a great improvement over the first pub meal we had.

Our hosts at The Malthouse were very helpful and gracious. We would recommend this as a fine spot to rest your heads as you investigate the area.

We are still in a rainy pattern here in the Northwest. How has October begun for you?

Landing on the Other Side…

It’s time for me to document our trip across the pond before my brain forgets the details. We landed at Heathrow picked up our bags, spoke to the customs agents about our intentions, and found a shuttle to the Hertz car rental office. Thankfully we listened to the agent behind the desk and went with a larger car and a Satellite Navigation system that would become our best friend. We lovingly named the SatNav, Jeeves. He told us to “bear right” and “bear left” and “at the roundabout take the third exit”. All these instructions were with a fabulous British accent.

Both Josh and Dear did a fabulous job of driving on the other side of the road and making it through the narrow roads lined with hedgerows. After a few hours on the road and before our final destination we chose a random road to turn on to try to find something to eat. We stumbled upon Stoke Bruerne in Northhamptonshire. A lovely little village on the Grand Union Canal.

Our choice for a meal wasn’t the best in this town but it sufficed and being jet lagged it would have to do. We had a nice walk about the village after our meal. It was good to stretch our legs. We were even able to help open up one of the gates of the locks along the canal.

We saw our first thatched roof cottages in this little town.

It was fun to see all the colorful Canal Boats.

We said our goodbyes to our first village in England and headed farther North for our first Bed and Breakfast stop.

Happy October to all of you. I’m happy to report my body seems to have adjusted to being on the West Coast of the U.S.A. again. Looking forward to a nice long stretch at home. What does October hold for you?

Our Finale was London…

And our favorite phrase while in London for our last 3 days was, “Oh the humanity”. Such a sea of people and an amazing ethnic diversity. Never ever go to England and miss out on the countryside. London is fabulous but it is a completely different experience from the quiet of the countryside.

This is Tower Bridge in London over the river Thames with the HMS Belfast permanently docked since 1971.

On Tuesday I was able to get some laundry done and organize some thoughts which is always good. I enjoyed visiting some of your blogs and seeing what’s new in your corner of the world. Talking to my sister voice to voice this morning and getting all the details of my mom’s last minutes was good for my soul. I talked to my pop for the first time since my mom died and that was good for both of us. What a sweet man my pop is. Looking forward to hugging him on Thursday afternoon…

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Category Archives: England