Pat and George's Backyard: Touring the Coswalds

We have been out and about since landing at Heathrow in London. The first couple of days were tiring due to the jet lag but we managed to push through it and see a lot of this little gem in Great Britain. We are staying in a little cottage in Stow in the Wold and it is perfect. The owner is a wonderful young lady who had a cake on the counter when we arrived and baked another cake this past Wednesday just for us. Walking around Stow in the Wold the afternoon of our arrival we met a local at a tea cafe, who told us about some of the sights we should take in and gave us the best advice we had so far...he suggested that we buy a National Trust annual pass. This pass allows us to visit all the National trust sites free and also includes a parking pass. It has paid for itself already and we have about 400 more place we could visit in England and Scotland and Northern Ireland. If you have seen some of our posts on Facebook you know we have been busy. But I would like to recap. We started our touring in the small town of Burford, where we visited a 900 year old church that has seen Kings, Queens, and statesmen among its guests. It was incredible and beautiful. We decided to have an afternoon along the banks of a small stream in the town of Burton on the Water, along with a couple thousand English citizens on holiday (Easter). Our first taste of English cuisine was at a pub called the Croft, this set the stage to visit a different pub each day for a meal. The next day we thought it would be nice to drive to Bath and do the Roman baths...ok, Bath over Easter is a mad house and we are not into running around the city without finding a parking place so there was no Roman bath for us....we left the hordes and drove over to Bristol to visit the Apple Store to see if they could fix this problem with no pictures on the blog...their answer...it must be your blog, not our system! Thanks Apple! The next day we were off to an English Manor, Snowshill Manor was a manor built by Charles Wade just to house his assembly of artifacts collected from around England from the early 1900s. Rather eccentric man but some of his collected artifacts are one of a kind and some could have been lost without anyone caring. Beautiful gardens and rooms in the manor. From the manor we drove to Avebury, the site of the first Stonehenge. It is three times larger and 500 years earlier than Stonehenge. Very interesting and wetted our appetite for Stonehenge. The next day it was off to legendary Warrick castle, the home of Kings and Queens and of the dungeon that held some of their rivals and outcasts. Since there was a Costco nearby we had to shop. Our chauffeur, Tom, drove us to Stonehenge the next day and it's remarkable history and yet unexplained origins. We made a pilgrimage to RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath (both are US Air Force bases) the next day for a doctor's visit for Maryann and to set up our lodging when we leave the Cotswolds to visit the western part of England and the North Sea harbors. The following day we visited the manor of Ferdinand Rothschild, Waddesdon Manor, truly a beautiful manor, that was built to display rare art, statues, and artifacts from around the world. He never lived there but used it to show off his collections and to throw extravagant parties. To us, it rivals the most beautiful castles in Germany and France and to think it was a party house of the rich and famous....definitely a place you would want to be invited to and to live in...check out some of the pictures on Facebook! Today we drove to Statford upon the Avon, the home of William Shakesphere. We were able to secure tickets to the Royal Shakesphere Theater to see Hamlet tomorrow. We are really looking forward to see the live performances of Hamlet especially since it is here, surrounded by the history of this small town. It is off to London for a one day trip, since we have all been there a couple of times we thought we could just relax on the train and see a few touristy things and come back on the train to the peace and quiet of the Cotswolds.
Again, we apologize for the no pictures but hope you visit us on Facebook were we will posts a few pictures of our adventures. We are so blessed to share these adventures with Tom and Maryann Graue and to have Tom do all of the driving here on the wrong side of the road....We know George would have us in a head collision in just a matter of minutes. We hope you enjoy the blog, even without the pictures, and you will follow us in our search of the backyards of Great Britain, Ireland and the continent as we drive through these historical countries and share our experiences with you.