Warwick Castle

Warwick Castle! This is admittedly such a touristy stop BUT it's also so fun and interesting and really cool to see a fully restored castle. (However, having been there three times I don't feel a need to go a fourth time...) 

We had a much less exciting visit than when we were here with Abs (perhaps the thing Matthew was most excited to see in the UK was the murder hole that Abigail threw up through...) but we got to see a lot more of the castle! 

Nathan pointing out the motte and bailey on the sign. Get it? 

Such a cool place. I loved it as a teenager and it's even better thirty years later. (Twenty? Twenty-five?)

We planned our visit for Saturday so that we could see a couple of the live shows--one was the birds of prey show & the other featured the trebuchet. 

Of the two, we thought that the falconry show was much more interesting (the trebuchet is awesome because it's enormous but really it's about 10 seconds of cool and they stretched it out into a thirty-minute program). 

But the birds of prey show was SO awesome! They had probably a dozen species flying right over the crowd, so close that you could feel the wind of the birds' wings ruffling your hair. 

Then we went inside to explore all of the restored living areas. 

Neil wanted to go see the mill (which Abigail would have loved!) but Matthew got bored after awhile so we went out and explored some more and he had fun storming the castle. 

Meanwhile Neil was lecturing about the mill...one really cool thing we learned is that they used to make the belts from giraffe leather because they needed such a long continuous piece of leather. 

Then we had a very late afternoon tea at the Oaken Tea Rooms (lives up to the hype, go there!). I loved how friendly the proprietors were and we had a number of lengthy conversations with them about places they had gone in the U.S. 

I really debated whether we should have afternoon tea in London and I'm glad we opted to stop here instead. It was definitely not as fancy as the incredible tea we had at St. Ermin's, but it fit much better into our schedule and we ended up taking all our cakes home anyway because we were so full. And I ordered the very best tea I've ever had and then bought all they had in stock to take back to the U.S. with me. 

Then we walked through the town to St. Mary's because they have an amazing medieval chapel and a Norman crypt that I really wanted to see. 

Sadly although we arrived twenty minutes before their posted closing, they told us that they were no longer allowing visitors for the day. I managed to talk them into letting us in for a quick look at the nave but no luck on the chapel and the crypt; one woman told us to just come back tomorrow and I said we only had this one day in Warwick and then we were leaving for London tomorrow and then headed back to the U.S. She then told me, at great length (that could have been used to see the chapel & crypt!) how much she didn't like London and that we should not go there and just stay in Warwick. Um...sorry but no. 

But it was a very lovely churchyard. 

On the way back to the car we were commenting again how much the trees look like sequoias and after the third or fourth one I ended up Googling "do sequoias grow in England" and guess what?! They do! 

Then we went back to our little cottage but had to go out one more time for a stop at the milk vending machine in the village! I looooooved this and it was just the most charming thing. We bought a bottle and filled it up. 

And a sourdough boule to go! 

Not pictured: the 5-mile run Neil and I went on through Lower and Upper Swell, misjudging both the sunset time and the elevation on our loop route. It was...not a great run. But we got to see the Lady Well (which is supposedly visited by a nearby standing stone every night) which was...very anticlimactic, haha, and I'm glad I didn't make the kids tromp out to see it! So it was a decent run after all. 

Okay...my goal is to get all these posts done before we leave for our next trip. Think I'll make it?!

 

Cotswolds Walk

The last time we were in the Cotswolds, I wanted so badly to spend time just wandering from village to village, so this time I planned a day doing just that! We started out early in the morning from our cottage and walked the mile down the road to Lower Swell. 




There were pheasants (and pheasant feathers) EVERYWHERE. 

Lower Swell is adorable and very tiny and I would love to live there. 

We turned left to wend our way to Stow-on-the-Wold. 

This charming little path was made by the local parishioners. 

When we got to Stow, our first stop was St. Edward's Church. 

Supposedly these doors were the inspiration for Tolkein when he described the Doors of Durin in Moria. 

So beautiful! I love the ancient door nestled between the yew trees. 

The first of many many many "wool churches" we went into that day. I loved seeing bits of parish life here--notes about the upcoming rummage sale and a pew stacked with old wooden toys to entertain local children during the service. 

Then we walked through Stow and instead of going to the tea shop I had planned to go to, we stopped at an earlier one which was a rookie mistake. 

It was fine, but not great. 

Then we set out again, walking down through Stow. 

I loooove these walls with the tall stones set on edge; they are everywhere in the Cotswolds. 

The walk to the next village, Upper Slaughter, was quite a bit longer and so beautiful. We walked through a number of farmholdings and talked about how amazing the Right to Roam is. 

Just walking right through this farm because that's the way the public footpath goes! Lots of gates and you just need to be very careful to close them behind you. 

And some pretty gorgeous homes along the way. 

Lots of friendly horses! 

This is part of an old mill complex. So much history! 

Eventually we came out of a copse of trees and we were in Lower Slaughter. 

Another beautiful little church with what appears to be the hawkish sibling of Dumbledore's owl thingie? 

And since it was the day before Easter, there were lots of little things like this around the sanctuary. 

We walked through Lower Slaughter...

And stopped at a playground for a few minutes on our way to Bourton-on-the-Water. 

Bourton was just as charming as I remembered (if more crowded!)

We stopped at a Cornish bakery and got the best pasties I've ever had in my life. So good that we went right back after finishing them. 

Then we went to the model village--when we were there with Abigail I kept thinking about how much the boys would love it, so it was fun to see it with them! 

This is the bakery we loved! 

Then we got some fish and chips and sat by the water people-watching while we enjoyed our snack. 

And then we started back towards Lower Slaughter...

And on through it to Upper Slaughter. 

Then we turned off through the woods toward the old Roman road. 

Lots of ewes and lambs! 

And then we eventually finally got back to our cottage just before sundown (I can't remember how many miles we did? Maybe 12? It was a long day with lots of snack stops). I was still feeling kind of jittery so I went out for a quick sunset run along the other side of the Roman road where it petered away into a trail. 

It was a pretty much perfect day!