March 17, 2010- Part 2
We arrived back in London around 2:30pm. We had tea and shopped in the train station a bit. Then we picked up our luggage and took a cab to the Avis rental car place. We picked up our little car with our GPS and headed off to Steeple Ashton.
Let's talk a little about driving in England! First, it is CRAZY! I had thought mom would be able to drive us around because she used to be a mail carrier and has driven on the wrong side of a vehicle before. But no! Mom could not handle the craziness of London and therefore it fell to me to be the lone adventurer in the driving expedition! Cars are tiny, lanes are very narrow. Mom and I came up with a chant, "stay to the left....don't drift!" I managed to survive with a few scratches on the passenger side from running into bushes, 1 parking ticket, and 1 traffic violation for driving in a "bus lane". Not too bad! : )
Mom the Navigator
Beth the Driver!
Anyways, so we headed off on a 3 hour drive to Steeple Ashton. It was so beautiful leaving the city and heading out into the hilly, green countryside. We went through many round-abouts and my hands hurt from gripping the steering wheel so tightly. We arrived in Steeple Ashton and it was so dark that we couldn't find the cottage! We stopped and had dinner at the local pub "Long Arm's". We sat next to a really nice couple and chatted with them until about 11pm! They were so nice! We got directions and headed down the lane to our cute Jasmine Cottage! It is perfect! So nice to spread out and have a home!
The cottage is right next to the Methodist Church- it shares a wall.
March 18, 2010, Thursday
Today we slept in and took a rest day. We ate leftovers from dinner and hung out a bit in the morning. Then we headed down to the "Village Shop" to get some groceries and get on the Internet to figure out the mess with our cancelled flight home. We had tea and cakes, and Mom visited for awhile with some of the ladies who ran the shop and lived in the village. We met Ruth, a nurse who had delivered over 1000 babies in Steeple Ashton and the surrounding area. We also met Mr. & Mrs. Price, a very nice couple. Mr. Price helped us map out a few local sites we were interested in and even loaned us his road Atlas! It is so cool to be in such a small town were everyone knows each other and really has a sense of community.
We dropped off the groceries and then decided to take a walk around Steeple Ashton.
The "Long Arms Pub", the old Bailey, and village green, with the church in the background.
The view from the front of Jasmine Cottage
St. Mary's Church in Steeple Ashton
After our little tour of the village, we headed to a near by town called Great Hinton, and had a BEAUTIFUL dinner at the local pub there "The Linnett". It was delicious! We had soft Bath cheese melted with a crusted breading with rosemary and cranberry marmalade, fresh bread and butter. Mom and I split Chicken Kiev with garlic mashed potatoes and fresh steamed veggies. I had heard the food in England was "terrible", but that was not our experience! We ate very well!
After dinner we headed back to our cottage and watched "Persuasion" on my portable DVD player. Apparently American DVDs do not play on English DVD players! Then off to bed. A nice relaxing day!
March 19, 2010, Friday
Today we were up early and made a wonderful breakfast with all the groceries we bought yesterday. We had scrambled eggs with ham, cheese, mushrooms, onion, and tomatoes, fresh bread and butter, and fried potatoes. Yummy! Then we headed off with a mission! First we stopped in Trowbridge and bought a new memory card for my camera. I also had to make a few calls to get the flight home arranged for Monday. Then we were off to our first stop........
I have always been interested in ancient English history. I have been fascinated by Stone circles, ley lines, chalk horses, crop circles, etc. So this was a day I really looked forward to- I wanted to see and learn more about some of these things I have always been curious about!
Chalk horses......well it used to be! Westbury White Horse.
Westbury White Horse
Our next stop......Stonehenge! This is the one thing I really wanted to see here in England. It was so cool!
While we were here, it started raining. It was a fine mist at first, and then the fog just rolled in. It made this place feel very mysterious and mythical! We did the audio guide tour and then spent quite a while talking with one of the guides. He really explained alot about Stonehenge and the whole area around it. As you look out across the lands, Stonehenge is really the middle of this huge circle of hills. You can see ancient burial mounds on the tops of some of the hills around. He talked about how these had been excavated and some of the history of the people buried here. It was really interesting! You can see these mounds in the following pic.
After leaving Stonehenge, we drove up to Salisbury and first stopped at Old Sarum. This is the site of an ancient fortress that originally dates back to Roman times. All that remains are ruins from the castle dating back to when William the Conqueror claimed the throne of England in 1070 AD. Grandma, Mom and I have read a book titled "Sarum" (by Edward Rutherford) that tells of Old Sarum. So this was definitely a place we had to check out!
Mom out in front of Old Sarum. There is a huge moat around the "hill".
The mist was so thick! It was hard to really see well!
We headed off to our next stop at Salisbury Cathedral. We had really wanted to come here to see on of the 4 remaining copies of the Magna Carta (not allowed to take pictures). Salisbury Cathedral also houses on of the oldest working clocks in existence! Cool! We also toured the chapter house and saw the marble frieze that told the story of Genesis. It was beautiful and fascinating!
You can barely see mom in front of Salisbury Cathedral!
Me next to the Medieval Clock
Beautiful Masonry and wood carvings.
We left Salisbury and it was still raining and starting to get dark. We drove along and headed off to West Kennett Long Barrow. It was dusk when we arrived and pulled off the side of the road. Mom had no desire to see it, but I couldn't pass it up! So off I went in the near dark with the rain coming all around me and my feet sinking in the mud. How I wished for a pair of Wellies!
It was amazing! As I came up the hill, I could just make out the Long Barrow. There was no one around, and I felt completely alone. As I came up to the entrance I got a little scared. I could really feel a presence and it was getting very dark! I tried to go in a bit but couldn't see a thing and I got freaked out. So I took a few pictures and headed back to the car- soaking wet but thrilled!
I went up this path and over that hill. The Long Barrow is at the top of the hill.
I used my flash to take this picture. It was so dark that I really couldn't see anything inside.
When I finally got back to the car, mom was not very happy with me! Apparently I had been gone for like 45 minutes and she was really scared that something had happened to me! But I was okay- just soaked and muddy. So we headed off and passed Silbury Hill. We headed into Avebury. We had really wanted to see the stone circle but it was so dark we couldn't see anything! We did notice quite a few stones along the road to Avebury. We made it to the Red Lion Pub where we had dinner. It was the first meal we had that we didn't like, and the service was terrible! But at least it was warm and dry.
Fish & Chips
We headed back to our little cottage, showered and watched "Pride & Prejudice" before going to bed. What a great day! Probably one of my favorite days of the trip.
March 20, 2010, Saturday
Today we headed off to Bath. We found a great place to park on a side street (where I ended up getting a parking ticket because you aren't supposed to park there!). We headed up to the Roman Baths. The line was super long, so we decided to walk up the ways to see the Jane Austen Center first. We shopped and looked around, then started our tour. We heard a great presentation about Jane Austen's life and her brothers influence on her writing. Then we toured the museum and watched a short film about Jane's 2 books that are set in Bath.
Then we headed over to a store that mom had really wanted to see called "Cath Kidsten". This was a great store- neat stuff and the people were so nice! We spent awhile there, but I only have 1 picture....
Then we had lunch at a little cafe. Mom and I shared a bacon and brie sandwich with our tea and cakes.....
Then we headed to the Roman Baths. We spent the rest of the day here exploring this amazing site.
The bronze statue head of Minerva
This pictures was really cool! It has the ancient Roman Baths dating back to the first century AD, the street level of modern day Bath, and Bath Abbey (founded in 1499) looming in the background.
This is a lead pipe from ancient Roman times. It shows how advanced the Romans were and how they piped water into the bath pools.
Drinking the "Bath" water! It tasted like strong mineral water- a metallic flavor.
After a long day of touring, and then finding a parking ticket on the rental car, we headed back to our cottage. We ate up our leftovers for dinner and packed up all our stuff.
March 21, 2010, Sunday
Today was the day we were originally supposed to head for home. Because of the BA strike we don't have to leave until tomorrow! So we get a bonus day in England! I had tried to extend our stay at Jasmine Cottage, but it was already booked. We decided to head back near London and see Windsor Castle, than stay at a Premier Inn near the airport.
I got up around 8AM and went for a walk around Steeple Ashton. It was so beautiful and idyllic there. Here are some pictures I took in the Sunday morning light.
One last cup of tea before vacating our little cottage!
We drove back towards London, stopping for lunch at a rest stop called "Welcome Break". We had some sandwiches and a Diet Coke from the Burger King there. The Diet Coke did not taste like Diet Coke! And again- no ice! Yuck!
We arrived in Windsor around 1:30pm. We parked and headed up to the 1st castle of the 1st King of England! Windsor Castle was built by William the Conqueror in 1070 AD. Queen Elizabeth's flag was flying today, so that means she is in residence!
We did the audio guide tour and saw Queen Mary's dollhouse, the State Rooms, and in the art gallery was a display about Henry VIII. We were not allowed to take pictures in side the castle. It was really neat to learn about the castle and all it's history as well as to see a real working castle. The decor was amazing!
The Round Tower and it's awesome gardens
Mom loves her mailboxes!
St. George's Chapel in the foreground
After leaving Windsor Castle, we stopped in a small cafe and had "Cream Tea". It was a delicious scone (a Bisquick-type biscuit with raisins) with clotted cream and jam. And tea! A perfect "final tea" in England! We found our hotel and checked in, took nice hot showers and shared a burger from the hotel restaurant. We watched "Sense & Sensibility" and headed off to sleep.
March 22, 2010, Monday
Up at 7am this morning and headed out to the airport. I dropped off mom and all the luggage (we added about 25lbs of souvenirs!) at the airport terminal and I went and returned the rental car. We checked in and then sat around waiting in a very disorganized airport! Because of the recent bombing in the US, all passengers boarding a plane for the US had to go through a second security team. Our carry-ons were opened and hand searched, and we were patted down. It took forever! There were only a few planes running because of the strike and it was obvious that BA was way understaffed. But we managed to get on the flight to Chicago and then changed airlines to American and made it home to Phoenix. Chris and the boys picked us up from the airport. We were home after 18 hours of total travel time!!
Overall I had a wonderful trip to England with my mom. I am so glad that we were able to live out a long-shared dream! We made a lot of good memories and were able to see so many things! I couldn't have asked for a better travel companion. I love you mom!
