Farewell to Old England

28th May - Tuesday

Yesterday evening, for our final dinner, we decided to eat at the Horseshoe Hotel, on the recommendation of our hostess. It was the most fantastic thatched hotel, dating from the 17th Century, set in a thatched village, and a typical country pub atmosphere. The food was excellent, which really made for a memorable evening.


Today was our final day in England – and it RAINED! I really mean, it rained!!!

After more fond, extended farewells (we had really been made to feel like friends of the family), we set out from Marlborough for Windsor, where we intended to spend the day before returning our car to Avis at Heathrow. To say it rained all the way on the motorway would be an understatement – not only did we have to contend with the rain, but the thick spray from all the trucks and cars heading towards London. Doris was her usual marvellous self - what ever would we have done without her? We would probably still be trying to find our way out of some of the country lanes!

Anyway, she took us straight to a multi-storey car park in Windsor and, of course, we ended up having to park on the roof – in the rain! Our first stop was at Marks & Spencer to purchase another umbrella – Himself decided his cap wasn’t quite waterproof enough. The castle was easy to find; simply follow the crowds and the signs, then join the long queue waiting in the rain. At this time, we realised there were an awful lot of children about and then discovered schools have a week’s holiday in the middle of each term. It took us about half an hour to actually buy our tickets, pass through security (and the first gift shop) before entering the castle grounds. It was then a long walk – in the pouring rain – up the hill to the entrance to the State Rooms. Needless to say, once inside, the steam did rise as the bottoms of our jeans dried out. We joined the multitude wandering (or more likely just standing and listening to their audio guides) around the many rooms open to the public. Windsor Castle rooms seemed much darker and heavier than Buckingham Palace, but some of the rooms, especially the dining room and main reception room were pretty stunning. Back out into the rain, a quick photo shoot of the poor soldiers on duty, into St George’s Chapel for a look at the graves of the recent kings and queens, through another gift shop and back on Windsor High Street and the hunt for a suitable lunch break.

With some space (and weight) to spare in the suitcase, an hour to spare was put to good use and said space is now much smaller! After listening to moans and groans all day about the rain and wet feet (wont mention any names!), it was back to the car and Doris was given her final task of returning us to Avis. She sounded so pleased when we arrived – she definitely deserves and big bunch of flowers. Not to mention our driver for the last four weeks – he has had a few stressful moments, but managed to get us back safely – and with both mirrors still on the car!!!

Avis transferred us to Terminal 3, where we faced the “easy” task of checking ourselves in and then manually dropping our luggage. Fortunately, there was a very nice lady present who talked us through the complete process. Oh for the days when one could just front up to a counter and the check-in process was handled smoothly without any added stress.

As we wind up our travels, we look back and remember the wonderful sights we have seen and the wonderful people we have met. Memories of England would include: bluebells, narrow lanes, hedges, traffic, bluebells, country bed and breakfasts (so much nicer than being in large towns), bluebells, stately homes and castles, the flowers and especially all the friendly people we have met.

The blog will be back in two week’s time, as we will be heading north to Cairns for some vitamin D therapy!

Tetbury Fayre

27th May - Monday

The White Horse near Avebury

Where did all the people in Tetbury come from? 

Market Hall 

Is that you in disguise, Charles? 

Cotswald stone house

Another bank holiday; we have had four weekends since collecting the car, and two of those weekends have been bank holidays (or long weekends)!


After another leisurely breakfast – croissants and pain au chocolat on the table as well today – we decided to risk another car book sale. However, this one was being held in the grounds of Marlborough College, so we felt confident there would be no tin shed full of junk! Access to the college is very restricted, so we felt quite privileged in being allowed to drive into the grounds and wander around the water meadow, otherwise known as the soccer ground. This really was a car boot sale, with a diverse range of goods on offer, from the very old to the hardly used, as well as a good range of plants on offer. We did find a very pretty Coalport lady figurine looking very lonely, and her owner’s daughter lives in Hobart!

Wanting a fairly easy day, and being unable to visit Prince Charles at Highgrove, we thought the next best thing would be lunch in his local village of Tetbury. Not long after passing Avebury (again), we spotted a white horse on the side! However, we hadn’t counted on today being the annual “fayre” and wool sack race! There was even a team of South Koreans entered in the race and they had a film crew with them to record the event. We found out that the sack race is actually a relay with four team members who carry a 50 kg sack of wool as they run down a fairly steep hill and then back up again. Sounded like jolly good fun to us!!! I think anyone who hadn’t gone to the seaside for the weekend came to Tetbury for all the fun of the fair. There were stalls down both sides of many streets, with wall to wall people in between. There was even a sideshow alley to keep the younger ones amused. We bought a hamburger (which turned out to be more steak tartare) from the first stall we came across, thinking this was probably the only food source, apart from the fish and chip shop and donut van. After returning the uncooked hamburger, we then discovered the next street had all the nice food – and even more people. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to stay until the sack race, which wasn’t due to be held until mid-afternoon.

We continued through the Cotswalds, with the houses in this area mostly made from a beautiful honey-coloured stone. We wound our way through more lanes and some pretty villages before heading back to Marlborough and the packing. As this is our final night in England, the suitcases will need to be packed tonight – and perhaps the present list should be checked. I am sure there will be a number of people anxiously awaiting our arrival on Thursday.

Tomorrow we intend to spend in Windsor, so I should be able to add another page tomorrow evening before we fly out.

Avebury and Salisbury

26th May - Sunday

Aren't they pretty? 

 Cars parked down the middle of Marlborough's High Street now, instead of buildings

Silbury Mound, near Avebury 

Obviously very pampered doves in Avebury 

The reborn manor house 

The Monks' Garden 

A meal fit fur a Tudor cat! 

No one was interested in tackling the washing up 

Being a gentleman, 1930's style 

Hand painted Chinese wallpaper - just exquisite 

Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite! 

Queen Anne's bed 

Queen Anne's withdrawing chamber - good tourists never miss an opportunity 

Part of the Victorian garden

Part of the formal garden 

A very small part of the stone circle and henge

A tourist retreat 

Thatched village 

Salisbury Cathedral 

Rather spectacular baptismal font

A beautiful, clear, sunny morning and not too cold. Opening the curtains also revealed a hare, a rabbit and a pheasant just beyond the fence. After breakfast, served at the kitchen table in the large farmhouse kitchen, we just felt we should check the quality of the bluebells growing in the woods behind the farmhouse. After walking along the edge of the paddock and finding a safe way to enter the woods through the stinging nettles, we agreed that the flowers were pretty spectacular. Even though we are a little early in the season for the hanging baskets, the spring flowers, both wild and cultivated, have been stunning.


Following our constitutional, it was into the car for the short drive through Marlborough – the High Street originally had a row of houses down the centre, which burnt down and were never rebuilt – and past Marlborough College and Merlin’s Mound, reputed to be the burial site of Merlin. We continued on to Avebury, arriving as intended, before the hordes descended on the stone circle and henge, as well as Avebury Manor. As entrance to the Manor is by timed ticket, that was our first priority and we were lucky enough to be given tickets for the first entrance of the day. A short film in the extremely chilly dovecote explained the history of the manor and the work undertaken by the BBC to film “To the Manor Reborn.” We thoroughly enjoyed wandering through the house and being able to actually touch, sit and lay on the furniture and furnishings – apart from the gorgeous handpainted Chinese wallpaper. An exercise chair in one of the rooms provided some light relief to onlookers, although the exerciser didn’t seem so keen! The gardens were also rather good, with the kitchen garden currently being planted out with vegetables for the summer, and all the topiary (and there was plenty of it!) had recently been trimmed.

After leaving the Manor, we walked part of the way around the stone circle, but didn’t attempt the very steep henge. The circle is so large that the village is actually built inside it. The Red Lion appeared to be a very popular watering hole with many of the tourists – and there were most assuredly many of them by lunch time!

Despite a local guide extolling the virtues of many of the local pubs and their wonderful food, especially for Sunday lunch, we decided to head for Salisbury instead. If we ate in all the recommended posh restaurants and "best food around here" pubs, we wouldn't fit into our jeans by this - or have time for sightseeing!  Being a holiday weekend, we thought it would be a good idea to use the park and ride service and after turning into the car park, realised we were the only ones there! So it was a case of having to drive into Salisbury and hope to find somewhere to park; Doris did a wonderful job and we ended up next to the Avon River and only had a short walk through the old town to the Cathedral. After seeing so many cathedrals in the last month or so, we are getting a little “cathedralled out” but can still admire and be amazed at the structures.

As lunch had somehow not eventuated and it was getting late in the afternoon, we headed back across the Salisbury Plain, with its many warnings of tank crossings, and had a late afternoon tea in The Polly Tea Rooms in Marlborough. A very pleasant way to end the day. We had believed that Dorset was the county with all the pretty villages with thatched cottages, but we have seen far more in this district of Wiltshire that we saw further west.

Stonehenge

25th May - Saturday

Bushwalking, UK style

It's bluebell season

Nope, no fish

Old mill at Boscastle, now a tourist venue

A nice spot to have lunch

A pretty village

Stonehenge

There really are people here

I get to sit inside the rope!

Poulton Grange (through the car window)

Might extend our holiday ...

Looking out for dinner

Late yesterday, the wind settled slightly and the sun appeared, just in time for us to have a walk through the woods at Boscastle before dinner. It was very pretty, with the tracking following the river and bluebells flowering among the trees. This morning we awoke to clear skies and warm sun (well, in the car). After making our goodbyes and promising to add a comment to Tripadvisor, we departed for Wilshire.

It wasn’t long before we realised that, being a long weekend, most people were heading to the seaside – it was wall-to-wall cars, oncoming fortunately. It was hard to imagine where so many cars and caravans would eventually end up in Cornwall! We followed the main roads until we were past Exeter, then decided to look for a picture-book village with thatched cottages. We had made a stop at a highway services centre, along with nearly everyone travelling in the opposite direction who also had the same idea – pit stop and something to eat. The rest rooms (ladies, anyway) were absolutely huge, and even had a MAN in the middle directing traffic (ie females) to appropriate areas with free cubicles!!!

We turned off the main road and headed along the usual country lanes, ending up in a very pretty village; many of the buildings had thatched roofs and there was a cute footbridge over the stream. At this stage, the pilot decided he had had enough of lanes and preferred green coloured roads, so it was back onto a major road. Guess who was daydreaming, missed the turn and we ended up back on a lane? However, we did find a nice spot to pull off and have lunch.

As we were driving along, we noticed a number of people walking around a stone circle and suddenly realised we were at Stonehenge. So the chest bruise deepened in colour as we made a rapid left turn and joined all those people not headed to the seaside! Even better, our National Trust pass (Heritage pass had expired a number of days ago) allowed us free parking and admittance to the site. The pathways have been so well set up that, despite the large number of people, it is possible to take photos just of the stones! Cat was very excited, as he hadn’t expected to visit here and the lady in the gift shop told us we had to buy something especially for him. So Cat now has a frig magnet all of his very own!

We continued on to Marlborough and our B & B at Poulton Grange – a 450 acre farm only two miles from Marlborough. To say it is very nice would be an understatement. We have a very large corner room, complete with a kingsize bed, chaise longue and a television big enough to actually see. The bathroom is nearly as big, with a bath and separate shower. On arrival, we were greeted by the owners and offered coffee and freshly baked coffee and walnut sponge and after returning to our room to settle in, the hostess rushed upstairs, found the binoculars in the bedside table and pointed out a barn owl which was sitting just outside the house. Very exciting – our first sighting of a barn own; we watched him for a while as he sat and then dived into the grass and reduced the mouse population by one, before returning to the barn. There is even a bluebell wood at the end of the nearest field!