BOB
AND I HAD TO MOVE ON FOR A COUPLE DAYS - our B&B wasn't available
for the weekend of the Battle of Britain memorial doings in Conningsby,
Lincolnshire... So here we are making our way down to Somersetshire.
Castle Belvoir (pronounced Beaver...please don't ask me why...) is the home of the 11th Duke and Duchess of Rutland. It is in Leicestershire, England about 8 miles west of Grantham, Lincolnshire. This is just one of the beautiful views we saw on our way south for our break from genealogy research in Lincs. I took the picture at the east edge of the estate which seemed to go for miles.
STRATFORD-UPON-AVON Arriving in the rain, this market is one of the first things we saw. The clock monument was a gift from an American. One of the buildings we saw in town...a little crooked I'd say.
SHAKESPEARE'S BIRTH HOME We didn't go in, rather we opted to see Ann Hathaway's cottage instead. There was a little garden next to Shakespeare's home with this magnificent tree which looks like an umbrella. Stratford-upon-Avon.
ONE HALF OF ANN'S COTTAGE What a lovely walk up to the door through this bee-busy garden. The sun was warming the air; there was peace in amongst the flowers. The willow gazebo needed a haircut!
ANN'S COTTAGE A walk in the garden produced this interesting sighting of a scare-crow made of feathers and I think a potato strung up over the veggies. Quite unique.
Crpeso I GYMRU! We entered Wales to have breakfast in a little village called CIL-Y-COED or Caldicot. I'm not sure how to pronounce it. We took the toll bridge at the cost of 4.50 British Pounds Sterling which was about $8.10 US. Lucky for us, no charge to come back into England.
SWYDDFA'R POST ! Oh, you better believe we had to get stamps for our post cards. Here Bob is writing a card back home to our Abigail beagle and our cats Jefferson and Henrietta. Can't forget them!
OH
LOOK A CASTLE! We didn't know there was a castle in this town
until we saw a little sign with a picture of it and an arrow pointing
to it. When we were there it wasn't open yet. There was a special tour
taking place for school children.... I don't think we could have crashed
it... Caldicot
Castle
DUAL LANGUAGE SIGNS - GREAT FOR THE ENGLISH This was a wonderful gift to us tourists. I just wish the Brits would change their signs to have dual language -- English and American!
Croeso I LOEGR Welcome [Back] to England! What a beautiful day this is turning out to be. In a short while we will be down at Portishead. "Bob, make a right at the next round about!"
Portishead is on the mouth of the Severn River across from Wales. It dates to the Roman times. PORTIS is one of the various spellings known to the PORTEOUS researchers, but we don't know if this has any connection with anyone's family.
THE BUMS OF PORTISHEAD Not much left of the aging town here. It is being revitalized as an expensive marina village. Each courtyard of the town homes has sculptures. This is just one.
Link to someone else's pictures of Portishead.
PORTISHEAD MARINA This was really quite beautiful. I don't think many moor row boats here.
BEYOND IS BATH Well, we never say we are lost. We are just looking at the countryside from a different place then the other tourists. "It's those round abouts. I tell you!" We do come to some beautiful scenery.
ROYAL CRESCENT - BATH Now this is a broad lawn...I wonder if there are any narrow minds sitting on it! We had parked our car just below the hill. Not really knowing where we were, we started walking into town. This is what we came to first...Yes, the lawn is this expansive since it is also a public park. Take a tour of this townhome.
.
ROMAN BATHS I'm not sure if they needed this many signs. We are on the balcony overlooking this aquatic wonder that has been functioning for almost 2000 years.
ROMAN BATHS After 2000 years anyone would be ready for a bath. Dive in boys! The sun creates the algae in this water. The indoors baths that are used today are clean.
BELOW THE BATH HOUSE ARE ROMAN RUINS There is evidence the Romans were here. This is excavations of the original baths and rooms.
The old floors are of very thick stone, highly polished, and slippery if wet.
BATH ISN'T ALL JANE AUSTIN AND WATERS We would never have noticed this plaque if hadn't been for trying to find our way back to the car. We came to this building after going for a Starbucks...(there is something to be said about how good SB coffee is for you...)
The premises were formerly occupied by the philatelist Henry Stafford Smith (B. 1843. D. 1903) who with his brother Alfred William Smith (B. 1837. D. 1880) published from 1863 onwards "The Stamp Collector's Magazine." This was the pioneer philatelic journal and Bath is therefore the Cradle City of Philatelic Literature.
NO ROOMS AVAILABLE IN BATH We drove down to Wells and checked into a Best Western.... two weary travelers, come to the inn, ask for a room, only one left is in the stable..."Coach House." This is our 115 British Pound Sterling room above the old stable. [YIKES! approx. $214 US] Oh, our breakfast was included...Bob wanted to stay at breakfast all morning to get our money's worth!
Walk back, turn left under the bridge, go down the patio stairs, on the right is a door to the coach house, go up the stairs to the landing, turn left at the landing through the short hall, to the door on the left, up the stairs on the right, through the door....there's your room. And there was no shortcut! No elevator! (that vine is one continuous plant starting back on the left by the bridge)
WELLS MEMORIAL Wells is a beautiful, old cathedral town. The bishop has a castle and gardens. We walked around early in the morning after breakfast and checking out of the Swan Hotel.
ACROSS THE GREEN FROM THE SWAN Wells Cathedral. We couldn't go in because there were services being held there. We walked on the left side to the oldest continuously habitated medieval street in Europe. The ornamentation on the cathedral was unbelievable...the clock was working accurately, too.
INSIDE THE BISHOP'S PALACE & GARDENS The Bishops of Bath made their home here for 800 years.
The man (lower left) turned out to be a wonderful unofficial, spokesperson for the history of Wells. He was just walking to town to get his Sunday paper...I stopped to take a picture and we started talking. Little did we suspect, he spent the better part of the next hour walking with us pointing out historical things along the way...he was a walking documentary!
There is a bell outside the palace above the moat. When the swans are hungry, they ring this bell. Someone then comes out and feeds the fowl. Great system. Of course we didn't see any swan ring it, but we did see them eating some food.
VICAR'S CLOSE Here's the street! In the archway (bottom left) the vicar's cooks would sharpen their knives... at least that is the theory our "guide" had to explain the worn-down ledges. The symbols on the chimneys denoted who funded the building of the close; e.g., a carving of a swan...Mr. Swan.
GLASTONBURY Famous for its festival of the arts. It is reputed to have the oldest Christian Church in England. There is an overtone of mystical properties and healing qualities. There is an air of "Arthur..." Magic in the air...
We stopped for lunch and directions to High Ham a small village tucked away in the hills, somewhere south west of this town. As we walked to the market square shown here, we passed many crystal shops, art galleries, and of course healing establishments.
This is a very beautiful place.
FIRST THING WE SAW IN HIGH HAM After an interesting roller-coaster ride up and down the hills, winding through narrow lanes, we came to High Ham. The windmill is a listed building. It is a rare, thatched roof survivor. It now belongs to the National Trust.
Next to the square is St. Andrews with its carved wooden screen and beam which are mentioned in the Domesday book.
IT RAINED IN CHEDDAR On our visit to Cheddar for lunch we thought it would be nice to have a picnic. As we walked to a nice place to stop for lunch, it started to rain. We ended up having our cheddar cheese lunch in the car at the grocery store parking lot. As the last bite was in Bob's mouth, the rain stopped and the sun came out!
WOOKEY! This town was somewhere to the right....kept close in the hills. We didn't have time to stop. There is no way I will go into a cave! I don't care what you say....
I couldn't help but think of Chewbaca in Star Wars. Wookey Hole Caves caves with legendary haunts of the Witch of Wookey. These caves were found by the Romans, and were carved out by the river Axe. You can also access About Britain web site and search Wookey Hole Caves.
We were on our to a very top secret WWII place....shhhh.
BLETCHLEY PARK AND "HUT 4" Bob and I came to get our post cards cancelled with "Bletchley Park" postmark. This is the mansion was Sir Herbert Leons (1880s) and then acquired for WWII code and cipher school. Hut 4 is said to be the most important building since that is the one in which the German code was broken. Now it is a restaurant/cafe.
In front of the mansion, a gardener was cutting back the lavendar...the scent was terrific. A little while later as I was having a coffee in the cafe, I saw the gardener carrying a rabbit into the wooded area by the scruff of the next. I wish I would have been able to get a picture of that.
Across the street from the lavender garden was the American garden with 50 native American plants from our 50 states.
BLETCHLEY PARK AND MUSEUM The machine to the left is one of the enigma machines which the Nazis used to send coded messages during WWII. Bottom left is the "Bombe" which is the precursor to the computer - this was the ciphering DIVA! Little did they know, there was a team of men and women working hard, listening, and cracking that code. There were several buildings on the grounds which held exhibits of the deciphering equipment, times lines leading up to it, and about the men and women who worked on the project.
One of the buildings held an exhibit of Winston Churchill memorabilia. This one man's collection. It had everything imaginable from whistles to school books, to paintings and photos, furniture, blankets, hats, etc. People who have visited have sent things they had just to add to the story. Amazing!
THE PEAK DISTRICT We were on our way to Manchester Airport for our flight home. Bob and I stopped for lunch and this is the scene out our window in the restaurant. We were near Sherwood Forest and the Peak District.
LARGE OLD OAK TREES There are huge oak trees in this portion of the Sherwood Forest. The forest used to cover a large area. Now, with clear cutting and "progress," most of the forest is gone. What remains has become part of the Forestry department and is protected. A history of Robin Hood display was a welcome sight because it was raining some.
OKAY, I MISS THAT PIG GARGOYLE We are leaving tomorrow and I just love this pig we found at York Minster almost two weeks ago. He's fun, eh?
OH
WHAT A SIGHT! Little hamlets of stone houses and fields of stone
fences. So peaceful. We will be home tomorrow after 23 days. I wish we
could have stayed longer.
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