Snowshill ~ Cotswolds

The road from Chipping Campden to Snowshill took us along little lanes bordered by rock walls and hedges. We were able to find a nice parking lot between the village and the National Trust property.

A Fete was going on in the village center and some locals recommended that we go there before going to Snowshill Manor and Gardens which is a National Trust Property. Because we took that advice we missed the last opening for viewing the Manor House but we were still able to walk about the gardens.

The church was in the very center of the village and on a high point of the village.

The walk from the National Trust Manor property entrance to the Manor had some beautiful vistas to enjoy.

The Manor grounds are beautifully landscaped.

This is a view of the back of the Manor.

On our way back to our cottage we stopped at the beautiful fields of lavender.

Our visit to Snowshill ended our first Saturday in England and our first full day in the Cotswolds. On Sunday we had plans to take a little trip out of the Cotswolds to “see a fine lady upon a white horse”.

A Fortnight Ago…

…we enjoyed re-discovering Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds. We shopped at the butcher’s, the green grocers, and a few specialty shops along the main road through town. We bought sausages, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, butter, bread, and Cotswold cheese to take back to Fox Cottage.

We found some gifts to bring home for our girls.

We enjoyed the beautiful architecture of the churches in this town. When we got hungry and thirsty we stopped in at…

Pubs have come a long way in England and they are very family friendly and have some good selection of food. Some of course are better than others and we happened to find some very good ones where the wait staff was great and the food was exceptional.

On this day the Eight Bells had sardines on the menu as a main course or appetizer. Since we’ve never, that we can remember, seen sardines on a menu we decided to try the appetizer. They were quite good with a lovely sauce.

This was my proper pie with all the trimmings. The description from the menu: Chicken, Ham and asparagus short-crust pastry pie (with top and bottom), white wine sauce, new potatoes and peas. It was delicious. We had a fun conversation with our waitress on “proper pie”. She was appalled when she ordered pie at another establishment and it came to her with no upper or lower crust but just a round piece of pastry propped up along one side of the filling. It was cute when she exclaimed “how can they call that pie?!”

We also had many of my questions answered by one of the bartenders at Eight Bells. We discussed what was going on at the World Cup in Brazil and talked about futbol in general. Many pubs feature a good selection of beer made at local breweries. After eating and quenching our thirst we were brave enough to venture out on the narrow lanes again.

From Chipping Campden we made our way to Snowshill and I will devote a whole post about that quaint little village.

Exaggerate ~

Represent (something) as being larger, greater, better, or worse than it really is:

We arrived early for our flight from Heathrow due to all the hype that was put out in the news about the batteries in electronic devices being checked. We were told and alerted by our airline to make sure all our batteries were fully charged as they would be subject to confiscation if the device did not turn on properly.

The reality for Dear and me was that none of our devices were checked to see if they would turn on. We made it through security lickity split and had a relaxing wait for our flight.

Here’s a little travel tip for you when traveling to and from Heathrow airport. Souvenir type items can be bought at the terminal and they seem to be priced lower than the street vendors and stores in London. There are several shops to choose from. We came in and out of terminal 3. I’m pretty sure terminals 4 and 5 had more shops than teminal 3. The Harrods shop you see in this photo had items clearly marked as less than their store in Kensington. The Starbucks at the airport had mugs from several locations in England, Scotland and Wales and the mugs were just under seven pounds each. Her’s the one I chose this year.

Since we were in Wales on this trip and once before I thought it a good choice. The mug on the left I purchased at England’s version of T.J. Maxx called T.K. Maxx!

Here’s something we can’t overdo or exaggerate, being thankful to God. We are thankful for His watch care over us during our whole trip and everyday of our lives. This sign was on the doorpost of The Parish Church of St. John the Baptist, on High Street in Windsor. We walked around this church on our last full day in England.The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Isaiah 40:8

When you travel abroad you really should make sure and walk into the magnificent old churches. I will be doing a post in the future with the surprise that we were treated to by visiting this church.

So we are home and enjoyed a good rest in our own bed last night. Our son Josh picked us up from the airport where going through customs was a breeze. He took us to our favorite Mexican haunt on the way home for a little taste of Mexico that we had missed while in England. Today we are working on getting a little organized, washing up some clothes, and getting over jet lag. Hopefully by tomorrow we won’t resemble this…

Gargoyles are so interesting and creepy. More from England coming soon when my thoughts are more coherent. Have a wonderful weekend.

Cheers From England ~ The End

Today Wednesday July 16th was our last full day in England. Tomorrow we will head to the car rental agency to return the car and to Heathrow.

We leave here noonish on Thursday and arrive home at 2:30 in the afternoon on Thursday. So weird.

We enjoyed an early walk on the property where we are staying and then headed into central Windsor to see about catching a boat ride on the river Thames. We arrived in time for the first 40 minute boat ride of the day which meant we weren’t packed in like sardines and enjoyed a relatively empty boat. We met a couple from Australia and exchanged our travel experiences.

This was our turn around point. To go farther on the river we would have had to wait for the locks.

On our way back to the dock we got a great view of Windsor Castle.

We did our last minute shopping in Windsor and enjoyed our last very English meal at the Duchess of Cambridge.

A steak and ale pie on top of a bed of mashed potatoes and peas smothered in gravy for me and fish and chips for Dear.

We walked by this next shop and decided to attempt a Selfie which is not easy with a big Nikon camera and a 4 inch lens on it. Are you suppose to look dorky on a selfie?

We are really enjoying this last spot we chose and have had some good relaxation before we head home to the reality of a lawn that needs mowing and renovation work that begins full swing on Monday. Thanks for following along with us in real time. Your comments are always encouraging to me. The next time I post will be from Pacific Time. I have so much more to share from England. Cheers for now from Jolly Old England!

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!

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Category Archives: Travel