The Chapel of St. Andrew ~ Gloucester Cathedral

Gloucester Cathedral is so full of amazing things to see. This first photo is a small view of the Nave of the cathedral. The other photos will be of The Chapel of St. Andrew.

“The frescoes and the decorations in this chapel of Saint Andrew were a labour of love on the part of Thomas Gambier Parry of Highnam Court and were erected by him to the Glory of God”

I will give thee a Crown of Life

Behold the Lamb of God ~ Master Where Dwelleth Thou

The Path of the Just is as the Shining Light which shineth more and more unto the Perfect Day.

You really need some time to take in the beauty and history of a cathedral like Gloucester. You start getting redundant with your adjectives when you walk through all the grandeur.

Back here in the state of Washington we are working hard at keeping our days straight because of the Monday holiday. We hope that Thursday is the last day that the bathroom renovators will be in our bathroom. Time will tell.

The Cloisters at Gloucester Cathedral

We were so happy to be able to go inside Gloucester Cathedral this visit. We visited in 2004 with our daughter Katie for her “graduation gift trip” but we arrived to Gloucester when it was closed. This will also serve as my ABC Wednesday Post for the letter H since these beautiful halls were filmed as part of Hogwarts School. If you haven’t read or watched the Harry Potter books or movies you won’t know what I’m talking about but you can still enjoy these beautiful Cloisters and for ABC Wednesday you can call them hallways!

The cloisters were used in filming a couple of the Harry Potter films. You can read about it here. I know some of my friends have avoided reading the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. My family has enjoyed J.K. Rowling’s writing and the battle between good and evil.

We were amazed with this part of the cathedral and there was still so much more to see.

Thank you to the ABC Team and to Denise Nesbitt for ABC Wednesday!

Have a good first week of September!

Bourton on the Water

I must keep moving along with my England travels before Fall is upon us!

Day 8 of our English holiday was a travel day with stops in Bourton on the Water and Gloucester. I ran ahead showing the outside of Gloucester Cathedral before showing you our first stop which was “Venice of the Cotswolds”.

It was a charming little village to stroll through. We did indulge in a treat from “Bakery on the Water”. So many wonderful baked goods to choose from. On our way back to the car park we strolled by Birdland and I saw a bird I had never seen before in person.

A Stork!

Here we are at the start of Labor Day Weekend. Dear will be home earlier than usual today to beat the traffic. Our plans as usual are to labor on this weekend. It’s so American don’t you think? Dear has started a siding project. The weather does not sound like it wants to cooperate with this outdoor project. I’m throwing a hunk of meat in the oven for sandwiches to last us for the weekend projects. For those of you that kind of keep up with the goings on at this old house I wanted to let you know that the bathroom is not completed yet. It’s usable but needs the last cosmetic touches and boo boos fixed. I really do hope that I have a completed bathroom to show by the end of next week!

Have a wonderful long weekend! Are you laboring, too, or are you taking it easy?

Gloucester Cathedral

On day 8 of our trip in England we traveled from the Paxford in the Cotswolds to Ross on Wye stopping in Bourton on the Water and Gloucester. There were two places we wanted to visit in Gloucester, the cathedral and the “Tailor of Gloucester”. More on the “Tailor” at a later time.

I’m linking these photos of the exterior of Gloucester Cathedral for ABC Wednesday. Thank you to Denise Nesbitt and the ABC team.

Here’s a great source for information about the cathedral that I found online. Click on Sacred Destinations to read about the cathedral.Although all periods of medieval church architecture are represented at Gloucester Cathedral, its two main building phases – Romanesque and Perpendicular, are of outstanding interest and importance.

To read about the history of the cathedral and architecture click on this link. The cathedral has some interesting links with America that I enjoyed reading here.

The interior of the Cathedral will take a few posts. This cathedral has so much beauty and interesting history to share.

I posted a recipe of Spicy Dark Chocolate Cookies my sister shared with me over at the “Girls” blog (Mennonite Girls Can Cook) These cookies have a nice surprise with a touch of cayenne and chili in them. Click here to get the recipe.

A Walk About…

Before we left the Cotswolds we wanted to take a walk about the land around Fox Cottage. The lanes were so narrow getting to and from the cottage that I wanted to walk out and take some photos because I was paralyzed when driving them wondering what we might encounter around the next curve.

A couple of these lanes were not right outside Fox Cottage but on the road between Chipping Campden and Snowshill.

After we walked to the end of the clear path we headed back to the cottage.

The driveway back to the cottage.

Our next destination would be very different from our cottage in the Cotswolds.

So here we are back in the states for almost 6 weeks now. Our bathroom is still not totally done. Maybe by the end of this week. Our weather continues to be dry and warmish with a few thunderstorms thrown in here and there. Dear and I worked real hard at this old house on Saturday pulling weeds, clearing two trash cans full of pine needles from planters, cleaning out the garage and taking a huge load of stuff to Goodwill.

Now here we are in the last week of August! Our son Josh and Laura celebrate their 13th wedding anniversary today. All of our kids are in the state of Washington again. We thank God for bringing them all safely back here from road trips and work assignments. Nothing big on the calendar this week. How is your August winding down?

InSPIREd Sunday

On our first full day in England we visited Chipping Campden and walked past St. Katherine’s Catholic church on High street. We left Chipping Campden and went on to Snowshill and walked in the church yard of St. Barnabas.

Thanks to Beth and Sally who inspire us each week with InSPIREd Sunday.

Our church was inspired today to go out into our Community to help spiff up our local schools and get them ready for the school year. So this is a little view of what our Sunday looked like outside of our buildings with spires.

Broadway in the Cotswolds

On day 7 of our trip to England in July we decided to visit the little town of Broadway in the Cotswolds. We arrived early which is always a good plan when you know big tourist buses would probably arrive at noon.

There are just enough shops to enjoy strolling through without feeling overwhelmed.

Plenty of Inns with pubs and other types of restaurants to eat in.

I enjoyed seeing this old couple heading over to the Tea Room.

We decided to eat at the Crown & Trumpet before we left Broadway.

We enjoyed chatting with the locals who gave us many recommendations and opinions about a good brew, good food, politics, and good places to visit in England.

Some people might find some pubs to be a little too cozy. We enjoy the atmosphere in most of the older pubs. We avoid the newer ones.

I better keep moving along or I’ll never be done with my posts from our time in England. This was our last full day in the Cotswolds and on our way to our next self-catering location in Ross-on-Wye we made two stops. One of the stops was in Bourton-on-the-Water and then we stopped at Gloucester Cathedral.

Today back in the real world it’s Friday and I’ve got to get outside and mow the lawn and tidy up a bit. We have a quiet weekend ahead. On Sunday our church will not have regular services. We’ve been called to go out into our neighborhood schools and help the teachers and staff get the grounds and classrooms ready for the school year. We will scrub desks, clean out planters, pressure wash, and do other projects as a support of the communities we live in. We call it Community Serve Day. Hope you all have a nice weekend.

Fences ~ Cotswolds

Here’s one rustic fence from the little town of Broadway in the Cotswolds.

Linking up with TexWisGirl at Run*A*Round Ranch Report for Good Fences #22.

There’s good news back here in the burbs of Seattle. Our kids have moved most of their stuff into their new apartment that is walking distance to the school our Son-in-law will be attending. There are some job opportunities on the horizon, too. Here’s a fence from their complex.

Fox Cottage ~ Cotswolds

ABC Wednesday is on the letter F this week.

Thank you to Denise Nesbitt and the ABC team for keeping the meme alive.

Our first self-catering experience in England was at Fox Cottage so…

…F is for Fox Cottage

First and foremost is a fair warning that this post is full of fotos of the Fox inside and out!

We had our own mostly private area between the cottage and stables across from the cottage.

I believe our side of this U shaped space were stables in the past, too, which have been converted and upgraded to a living space.

For those of you not familiar with the term self-catering it means you take care of yourself while you rent a property. Generally there is no daily maid service and no breakfast provided. We enjoyed making our own “Full English” and when the fragrance of those sausages hit the air we had several visitors arrive at our door begging!

When we arrived we were greeted with fresh flowers and a sweet loaf that I didn’t get a foto (spelling in honor of F) of.

Free wifi and lots of channels on the telly. Kinda funny that places advertise wifi as being free when you know you are paying for it anyway in the full price of the property. I did specifically choose properties while in England that advertised free wifi. Since we weren’t using our cell phones we wanted to feel connected to home and family whenever we could.

We fully appreciated the fabulous exposed rough beams throughout the Fox.

The old features that were worked into the space were enjoyed.

The mix of old and new was just right. There were interesting things to try to figure out and some quirky frustrating things to deal with but our overall experience was very nice.

Our views were very peaceful. During our time at the cottage there was only one day in a downpour that we shut all the windows.

We had to go out to the pump room to get our ice from the deep freeze.

The peace and quiet of this spot was so lovely. We could hear water flow through the farm. The birds were our alarm clock in the morning. It would be so dark at night we had to use a night light to make it safely to the bathroom which was a step down from our bedroom. No city lights, no street lights and no porch lights. I really was hoping to maybe see an owl but that didn’t happen except for this one.

The owners of the farm and cottage live in the house you see next to the owl and behind this view of the cottage.

The outside view to our space.The view out to the land between us and the little lane at the entrance to the farm.

Getting to and from the Fox is a whole other story for another day.

Things around our “cottage” here in the states are a little hectic right now with our kids from the East Coast staying with us as they move into their new apartment and life on the West Coast. I hope to get around to as many of the ABC “F” posts as possible between loading and unloading boxes…

Hope your festivities this week are full of fun and frolic with friends and family.

Need a Tea Break?

Since we are all friends I have a confession to make…

…although we passed quite a few tea rooms while we were in England I only had tea once and it wasn’t in a tea room. Oye. I will show you all the lovely tea rooms that you can choose from if you travel to England.

This one was in Broadway in the Cotswolds.

Our daily timing was way off for stopping to enjoy a cup of tea in the afternoon. By then we were usually a bit warm and needed something cooler to drink.

Love the name of this one, Mrs. T. Potts…pretty clever. It was real close to Martha’s coffee house on the main street running through Moreton in Marsh.

On our way to Banbury we saw Mrs. Brown’s Tea room.

In Bourton on the Water there were a few tea rooms to choose from.

This restaurant/tearoom was less appealing than the Small Talk Tearoom above.

If we didn’t manage to walk right past a tearoom we enjoyed seeing signs for tearooms.

We got a little closer to a proper tea experience with these delicious scones and clotted cream but the drink of choice on this morning was coffee.

On one of our last days in England I decided it was high time to have some tea so as not to totally disappoint my tea drinking readers.

It wasn’t the finest of tea services in the bar of our hotel. The scones were no where near as nice as the ones we had in Hay on Wye.

This was my tea and tea experience. One hot and the other one cold. The cold one may or may not have had some alcohol in it. Most of our afternoon tea experiences looked more like this…

Not too light, not too dark, and it had to be ice cold.

Katie and Andrew are moving into their new apartment today. I’ve been cleaning off some furniture we had in the garage for them to use. As soon as I get the call that they are close to the apartment with the pod of their stuff I’m heading over to do what I can to help. I have 2 fans in the car because it’s warm today and their 4th floor apartment is not air conditioned. On most days here in the Western Washington area you can live comfortably without A/C. I don’t think we’ll be drinking tea this afternoon…

Happy Monday to you all!

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Category Archives: England