Unable to Meet the King

Today we all dressed up and went to Highgrove to visit the king(s gardens). Sadly, he nor Camilla were there. The gardens were incredible. We were not allowed to take pictures but we spent 1 1/2 hours walking the gardens. There were wild flower meadows, orchards, the kitchen gardens, flower gardens and the stump garden where we saw the prince's tree house. All has been built since 1980 when Prince Charles purchased the property. They speak highly of him and his conservation and environmental efforts.

Sorry I can't show you more here, his cows and some birds before the tour.

Next we drove to Charente, a manor remodeled to much of its original state in 1576, they're not sure when the buildings were started but during the medieval age, when it was thought to be owned by Princess Goda, sister of Edward the Confessor.

The estate has many stories, one being that Oliver Cromwell, later the Lord Protector, stayed there while plotting to overthrow King Charles I, which put a curse on the estate (or the room he stayed in).

The current family, the second of owners traced, has had the estate since 1891.

Currently it has been the set of several movies and series, most famously Poldark. The tapestry room was the room occupied by Cromwell.

Our next stop was the town of Cirencester, our central location for the next couple of days. The largest town in the Cotswolds.

The evening was spent having a leisurely walk and a glass of wine with the other travelers.

Walking the Fields of Cotswold

Today we left Bath in the morning by bus to walk the fields. We started in Marshfield and after a quick stop at the local grocer, walking past the three wallaby's into someone's farm yard and thru the kissing gate right into the fields. I thought we would walk along the fence line but no, the trails walk straight thru the pasture. They have a small yellow sign with an arrow pointing the way and you wander until you find the next gate or special wooden fence and crawl over it! It was uneven, rocky, and uphill part of the way and marvelous! We walked past cows and horses in the field but they didn't pay us too much attention.

We ended the walk at Jane Seymore's home and visited next door, the local parish St. Catherine's Church, the Patron Saint of spinsters, wagon wheels and lawyers in Somerset. Built in the 12th Century it felt small and holy.

Back in Bath we ate at Lucca's for a light lunch and a few of us went on to Mark Pickles, the local fabric store. They had several William Morris prints. I purchased a few yards of batiste. Since we were so close we had to go back to Swoon and I had the most fabulous pistachio gelato cone I've ever had in my life!

Our evening meal was at the Scallop Shell, fish and chips was my choice, since the scallops were out. The batter was perfect with a side dish of mashed peas. At the end of a lovely day we walked back to the hotel in the rain with our umbrellas.

The Queensberry

Our hotel in Bath England. Near the Circus.

The Cotswolds

What a day and a night and a day.

Woke up in Ashland to the storm warnings on my phone. 80 MPH winds are coming and the storm was to last until 9:00 AM. That's when I needed to be in the road to catch my plane. I also needed to empty the cash boxes at the carwash and do the deposit. So I drove down there and did that in a hurry and broke a lock, got the cash, beat the storm home and sat by the window watching the fierce wind blow like an unexpected guest just when you're trying to leave.

Thankfully, I was able to fix the lock and left Jennie and Jena, the dog sitters, safe at home without electricity.

I left Omaha at 11:30 blew through Atlanta and on our way to London arriving the next morning with a little bit of sleep under my belt. In Atlanta, I had met with the rest of the group 10 other women most of them in pairs going on the trip together.

Upon arriving in London, we met our tour guide, Andrew, and got on a small bus and rode all the way to Bath England and checked into our Queensberry Hotel. It looks like it was built in the 1700s. The architecture here is amazing. everything looks like Bridgerton and I guess some of Bridgerton was filmed here.

We dropped off our luggage and headed downtown to view the famous Abbey, now a local church, We saw the Royal Crescent Buildings, the Queens Park and the Circus buildings. The Circus are the buildings in a round circled, famous in Bath. We spent time looking at the original Roman baths the Temple of Minerva, that was in the bath and sauna complex. They say the city has been built three times, once by the Romans once again in the 700's and then the last rendition, that is currently here and being preserved as a World Heritage Site, was built in the 17th century.

Bath is a small town, no more than 11 square miles and everything is within walking distance. The temperature is normally mild but today was in the 90s, which was a very hot day for here. The women are wearing soft, colorful sundresses.

We are lunch at the Architec, most everyone had the famous Beef with Yorkshire pudding, I had delicious Rack of Lamb and later we had gelato after our walk.

Later, back at the hotel, I couldn't wait to have a bath and take a nap.Tonight I took a small walk back downtown and I'm sitting in the patio of the hotel having a glass of wine.