Tag Archives: Bourton on the Water

Cotswolds Tour Part 2

Bourton on the Water and Bibury were the last two villages in the Cotswolds that we visited on our Go Cotswolds Tour on Thursday September 15th.

Bourton on the Water is known as the Venice of the Cotswolds. We had time to enjoy an ice cream cone, buy some take away hand pies, and buy a couple souvenirs in Bourton on the Water. There are 5 bridges over the water here. I’m not sure if I got a photo of all five.

While purchasing our ice cream we met a sweet older couple from Yorkshire who encouraged us to visit their part of England.

We visited Bourton on the Water in July of 2014 and to see the colors of summer in comparison to my Fall photos click over here.

After Bourton on the Water we traveled a short distance to Bibury.

Bibury ‘the most beautiful village in England’.

Arlington Row

The cottages of Arlington Row are often referred to as the most photographed and beautiful cottages in the country.

Originally built in 1380 as a monastic wool store, the building was then converted into a row of weavers’ cottages in the 17th century.

The cloth produced at Arlington Row was sent to Arlington Mill on the other side of Rack Isle. The cloth was then hung on wooden timber frames on Rack Isle after being degreased at Arlington Mill.

 

The Arlington Mill

With a history dating back to 1086, the mill which stands on the site today is believed to date back to the 17th Century.

Arlington Mill is now a private residence (which was also available as a holiday cottage), but it was once a working mill processing corn and wool, and later housed the museum of Arlington Mill with a collection of period clothing, documents and working machinery illustrating milling & the Victorian way of life.

Arlington Mill, a Grade II listed building, was recorded as a cloth and corn mill in the 17th Century, continuing in dual use until mid 19th Century when concentration switched to corn milling.

Founded in 1902, Bibury Trout Farm is one of England’s oldest working trout farms set in the historic village of Bibury, in the heart of the Cotswolds.

On our Go Cotswold Day Tour we were happy to make a couple stops to places we hadn’t seen in the past. Bibury was one of those stops. This was the end of our tour on this day and we got back on our tour van and were driven back to the Oxford Train Station. While others on the tour headed in the station to catch trains back to London we enjoyed the 5 minute walk back to our apartment in Oxford where we warmed up our steak pies for dinner.

One more post from the Cotswolds featuring St. James Church in Chipping Campden coming soon.

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Back to the present…

We are doing well here at our Country Bungalow. Our church family is treating us well with meals and visits. Our friends, family and neighbors are checking in to see if we need anything. We are waiting for Occupational Therapy appointments for Dear. There was a glitch on the referral from Dear’s new doctor. Our sleep schedule is improving.

We had a light dusting of snow on Wednesday night and we have more snow predicted next week. Our temps have been below freezing and the forecast is for several more days of freezing temperatures.

Hope all is well in your corner…

Tough Times for Tea Rooms…

On the letter T for the A to Z Challenge and I’m choosing Tea Rooms and Tea. I hope all the Tea Rooms in Great Britain survive the COVID-19 shut down! All these photos are from our trip to England in July of 2014.

Stow on the Wold 028Although 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 many lovely tea rooms that you can choose from if you travel to England. Lucy’s was in Stow on the Wold.

Broadway Day 7 023

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.

Broadway Day 7 072Love 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.

Broadway Day 7 070

Sunday-Banbury 010On our way to Banbury we saw Mrs. Brown’s Tea room.

Bourton-Gloucester 020In Bourton on the Water there were a few tea rooms to choose from.

Bourton-Gloucester 021

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

hereford 104

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

Hay on Wye 062

2014-07-12 Hay on WyeWe 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 in Hay on Wye.

To Windsor 158On 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.

To Windsor 162It 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.

To Windsor 159This 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.

Like I mentioned at the beginning of this post I hope that the many tea rooms in Great Britain will survive the COVID-19 lock down. We are hoping that things will look good enough come September for us to keep our flight and apartment reservations for Oxford, England. We wait and we’ll see.

What is your favorite tea? Do you have a favorite Tea Room? Have you ever attempted to host a proper Tea?

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”.

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Bourton-Gloucester 004

Bourton-Gloucester 010

Bourton-Gloucester 012

Bourton-Gloucester 015

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Bourton-Gloucester 013It 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.

Bourton-Gloucester 027A 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?

Need a Tea Break?

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

Stow on the Wold 028…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.

Broadway Day 7 023

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.

Broadway Day 7 072Love 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.

Broadway Day 7 070

Sunday-Banbury 010On our way to Banbury we saw Mrs. Brown’s Tea room.

Bourton-Gloucester 020In Bourton on the Water there were a few tea rooms to choose from.

Bourton-Gloucester 021

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

hereford 104

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

Hay on Wye 062

2014-07-12 Hay on WyeWe 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.

To Windsor 158On 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.

To Windsor 162It 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.

To Windsor 159This 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…

Broadway Day 7 052Not 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!

Toadstool Fences ~ Bourton on the Water

Bourton-Gloucester 024On our way to Ross on Wye and our 2nd self-catering cottage we stopped in Bourton on the Water for a very short visit. This is where we saw this unique toadstool fence by the river and across the street in front of this next building.

Bourton-Gloucester 005There were a couple more fences in town that caught my eye.

Bourton-Gloucester 011

Bourton-Gloucester 025I’m linking up to Good Fences #21 with TexWisGirl at Run*A*Round Ranch Report for this weekly meme. TexWisGirl is the hostess with the mostess!

The week is flying by. I’m surprised and happy to report our traveling kids might have already chosen an apartment and it has quick occupancy. Their pod of possessions has not arrived in the Seattle area yet (probably on Monday) so the idea of emptying out the pod into an apartment is more appealing than emptying it out into our garage and then moving it all again. Andrew was able to transfer his driver’s license yesterday in record time at the DMV. It’s wonderful when things work efficiently. Now if only I can get back into an efficient routine.

 

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-Gloucester 004Bourton on the Water

gloucester cathedral 027Gloucester 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.

gloucester cathedral 072The 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…

gloucester cathedral 078I’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!