Day 9: Walking 8.75 Miles in London

If I lived in London, there is no way I could ever put on weight. That place requires significant walking. It requires even more when you try to show someone most of the relevant sites in one day. Our last day in London began at 5:30 a.m. We readied ourselves for the cottage departure and the 1 1/2 hour drive back to Heathrow to return our car. We stowed our bags at the hotel at 10:00 a.m. and headed into the heart of things.

Our first stop was Buckingham Palace to see the parade that begins the Changing of the Guard ceremony. The ceremony itself is painfully boring, but I like to watch the band march by.

Here comes the band

One of the most interesting things I noticed is that one solider was a Sikh, so he was wearing a turban instead of the giant black bear helmet. His row is almost in the middle of the photo, and he's furthest left. I just thought that was a very nice sign of the changing culture in Britain.

It's a great honor to be selected for this duty

Once the band passed by, we shoved our way through the relentless crowds and broke free to start our walking tour of St. James. 

St. James Palace

The best part of the St. James walk is passing by the various royal merchants. Here's Berry Bros. & Rudd, which supplies liquor. The front of the building is covered in pock marks from centuries of carriages rolling by and tossing stones up. 

They make Cutty Sark

We stopped at the point where Old and New Bond streets meet so I could have a chat with two great men.

FDR and Churchill liked my sense of humor

Our next stops took us to the Burlington Arcade and to my favorite store, Fortnum & Mason. I always have to pick up a little something there. This year, it was a treat for a sister-in-law. I get to keep the bag. 

The glockenspiel was playing the Eton song

We thought we had enough time to go back and check into the hotel, but it ended up being quite a rush to do that and get to St. Paul's in time for the Sunday organ recital. So we walked much faster, and we got there, and it was well worth it.

Loved the skies around St. Paul's

We visited Trafalgar Square, walked past Whitehall, looked through gates at 10 Downing Street, and then headed for the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. The sky continued putting on quite a show for us. 

An actual rainbow over Tower Bridge

The Tower looks lovely in the light of a pink sky

Really, just more sky

We ended the night in Westminster, so we could see the Abbey and the Houses of Parliament lit up. Once Big Ben struck 10 p.m., we decided it was time to head back to the hotel. We arrived there at 11:00 p.m., 13 hours after our time in London began. 

Sorry, no tripod, so they're a little shaky

And now we're home.

Day 8: A Summer Fete, a Castle, and Dinner in the Village

We started the day by heading into Broadway because mom reads books by Marion Chesney, and many of them mention the Lygon Arms, which is in Broadway. She wanted a photo of the place she had read about so much.

The Lygon Arms

As luck would have it, Broadway was having its summer fete. We got to watch a few Morris dance troupes, which was a real treat for us. 

This is apparently a more raucous Morris group

A clogging group from the Isle of Wight

Not Morris dancers, but Welsh dancers

Mom and my sister-in-law chose for us to visit Sudeley Castle afterwards. It was once the home of Katherine Parr, Henry VIII's 6th wife, who had the very fine distinction of outliving him. It is a lovely place, though much changed thanks to the rough treatment by Oliver Cromwell during the Protectorate. The ruins, however, are fantastic. 

Part of the barn survived

One of the remaining banqueting hall walls

The church where Katherine Parr is buried

We finished the day and our time here in Stanton with a lovely dinner at the Mount Inn, high atop the hill in the village. We're back to London tomorrow for our last day before we head home. Here's one final look at the village we've called our home for the last week.

The view of the church from the Mount Inn

Day 7: Churchill

We had yet another remarkable day in terms of both weather and sightseeing. We began the morning by driving to St. Martin's church in the village of Bladon. It is in this humble churchyard that the great Winston Churchill (along with much of his family) is buried. I loved the peace of this place. No sounds were heard but that of the birds. It just felt exactly like a place of rest.

I think we spent nearly an hour there, simply drawn in by the fact that we could observe a time of respect for a great world leader in utter silence and solitude. And then we finally got back into the car to visit his birthplace, Blenheim Palace, which is the complete opposite of the church yard. In fact, I found the scale of Blenheim rather difficult to comprehend. No matter how long I tried to take in the whole scene, I felt I really couldn't grasp it all at once. If only I could impress a monarch as much as the 1st Duke of Marlborough apparently did.

The dining table being set for a formal dinner

Just a portion of the palace

We spent the whole afternoon at Blenheim and had a marvelous time. The day ended with a drive back to the cottage, a quiet dinner, and a walk around the village at sunset. Brace yourselves. It's so beautiful here.

Day 6: As Always, It's the People Who Make the Place

We left the cottage early this morning, worried that we might miss the 10 minute window between arrival and the start of our tour at Prince Charles' Highgrove Estate. Since it was 1 1/2 hours away from the cottage, making that target time felt a little tricky. In the end, we arrived at Tetbury (the village  Highgrove is nearest) 1:15 in advance of our appointed time. No worries. As there is no address for Highrove, the SatNav couldn't really get us there, so I felt it appropriate to stop in Tetbury and reassure myself by chatting to a local about how close we really were.

We strolled around Tetbury for a few minutes, and then we headed to the town's church, which has a rather impressive spire. It really is a lovely church, and we enjoyed our visit there.

The tall spire at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin and St. Mary Magdalen

The lovely church yard

As we were leaving, we luckily ran into a volunteer for the local gardening team, so I asked her if she could tell us how close we were to the Prince's estate. And then she regaled us with all sorts of fantastic stories, just rattling on and on. She was delightful and completely made our morning. Fortified with all of her information, we went back to the car to find Highgrove.

The main street in Tetbury

And we did find it, and it was magnificent. It is not what I expected, and I have seen a television program about it. You might think that His Royal Highness would want everything to be perfect, just so in his gardens. That's not the case here. It is a relaxed place, a complete celebration of nature. I suspect that there is some sort of waiting list for birds to find a spot there, as there were so many of them, and they sang their happiness in such full-throated song that I felt pretty great about the world while listening to them. Each garden is unique and surprising and simply marvelous. We only wished that we could come back several times in the same year. Since we have our eye on a cottage in a nearby village...

We wanted to visit another place today that didn't turn out as great as we had hoped, but luckily, on our way there, we made a stop in Fairford, largely because the welcome sign said that it had a world famous church. We decided we needed to see it. 

St. Mary's Church...the world famous church

The church was interesting, but our guide inside was far better. He took every opportunity to rip on Americans in his sarcastic way, which we thought was quite funny and charming. Honestly, though, what got us giggling like school girls was the fact that he swore quite a bit. That's right. We had a church tour guide with quite colorful language. He wanted us to have a look at the carvings on the misericord. Mom asked him if they were pagan. He said, "Everything you put your a-- on is pagan, dear." And so we giggled. Then he showed us a stained glass window that depicted sinners being taken to hell. "Notice that all of the sinners are women, of course. And take a look at the expressions on those blue devils. It's like they're saying, 'We got you, you bi----s.'" Shocked, we giggled again. Then he referred to a terrible storm that blew out the windows in one area of the church in 1703. He said it was like "that storm that went through New York last year." He wanted to be reminded what kind of storm it was. 

"A hurricane," I said. 

"And it's name?" he asked. 

"Sandy," I said. 

"Huh," he responded. "I thought that was a word you used to 

describe your a-- after you had been to the beach." 

We tittered all the way to the car. Naughty as he was, he certainly made the day quite fun and memorable. 

So, light on photos, but heavy on characters and stories and good memories today. That, I think, is a sign of a good day.

Day 5: A Tower and A University

We had really remarkable weather today. We woke to bright sunshine and blue skies, which was perfect for our first visit of the day. We drove up to see Broadway Tower, which is yet another structure built out of the honeyed Cotswold stone. When we arrived, we fell silent (quite surprising for the three of us) and just scanned the scene. Lush green grass rolled for miles around us. We saw sheep and deer. And a short walk brought us to the tower, which sits on a hilltop to itself. We climbed the 4 flights of stairs to find views of what seemed to be the whole of the Cotswolds. What a way to start the day. I could do that regularly.

Broadway Tower

Views for miles

And miles

Then we headed for Oxford and our tour of the city and the university. Here are just a few highlights.

The chapel at Keble College

The Chapel's Altar

The Radcliffe Camera

We finished up our visit with a pint at The Eagle and Child pub. The last photo will explain why. Tomorrow, we're on to Highgrove, Prince Charles's estate in the Cotswolds, and no photography is allowed. It might be a light post, then, but check in to see what I might discover.

Day 4: Two Remarkable Gardens

The weather gods smiled upon us today, even though their minions (in the form of forecasters) had threatened a miserably wet day. We were fretting a bit about today, worried that we would be absolutely drenched while walking around Hidcote Manor garden and Kiftsgate Court. Instead, we found ourselves peeling off our jackets and catching some sun.

Hidcote Manor is as beautiful as I remembered it. The gardens clearly show signs of the very long winter, as many things that should be in full flower by now are another week or so from opening. Ultimately, that had very little impact on our day because the gardens are simply breathtaking. It's really hard to choose just a few photos, but I'll do my best.

I so want to go through this door near the entrance

This Aquilegia (Columbine) looks like a star

An iconic view

Frothy. Perfect.

After a few hours at Hidcote Manor, we headed basically across the road to Kiftsgate Court, a garden started by a woman and kept going by her daughter and now her granddaughter. It's very different to Hidcote, but it really is pretty spectacular in its own right. 

Views for miles

A garden that invites you in

The pool and folly beyond

Tomorrow we're off to see more grand vistas and to have a tour of Oxford. Sounds like the rain might get us, though. Stay tuned.

Day 3: A Pottery and Its Gardener

When I awoke this morning, it was pouring rain. The hopeful plan was to walk part of the Cotswold Way that links to the village. My first thought was of mud, and so I quickly shelved that plan until we might have a better day for it. Instead, we started the day in Chipping Campden, a lovely small town not far from our village.

The old Market Hall

The honey-colored Cotswold stone really made the town glow this morning, even in the rain. We were especially impressed with this horse, made from sempervivum. Perhaps I could try a dog version of this at home...okay, not really.

The impressive succulent steed

Then we went on to Whichford Pottery where we met Harriet, the head gardener, who is also someone I follow on Twitter, largely because she takes lovely photos of her work. She was the ideal tour guide for us, kindly showing us the kilns and clay. She also took us to see some of the Makers while they worked on throwing different shapes and sizes of pots. It was remarkable to see the skill of these artists. So then we walked around to see all that Harriet does to make the place so beautiful, and we spent quite a lot of time wishing we could pack a sizable pot for the flight home but finally settled on a few smaller and more reasonable items for ourselves.

When I saw all of these pots, I just wanted to say, "Yes, please!"

One of my favorite bits in Harriet's garden

We took care of some grocery shopping at an independent, organic store in Stow-on-the-Wold. Had to finish up the shopping at Tesco, sadly, but we're well-stocked for the rest of the week. We headed home to sit out in our garden and have a glass of wine before dinner.

Crooked? The camera is perched on an old wall!

While we were out there, I got to take some photos with a much fuller perspective of how our little cottage is situated.

Those are our neighbors to the right

And tomorrow, we're off to other great gardens...