A Castle, A Birthday and a bit of Shakespeare

Newbury, England

Destination: Highclere Castle

We took the early train from Bath and arrived at the castle over an hour before it opened. We discovered later that this was the best decision ever because there were no people in our photos and the morning light was just delightful!

We’re at Downton Abbey! Both of us love Downton and being able to visit this spot was amazing! It felt strangely familiar and yet was of course quite different in real life.

Every possible angle had to be captured several times over. But honestly, isn’t it just lovely? And the weather, we can’t get over the weather! It was sunny and warm every single day in England. More than I even dreamt could be possible!

What could be better after a castle tour than a morning cup of tea and a scone? Ah, sheer delights.

Raspberry Jam and real English clotted cream

I think that even I, who do not greatly love the kitchen, will need to attempt to make scones after I’m home. So delicious with a cup of tea!

Now lest I make that tea time sound absolutely flawless, let me clarify that we were also traumatized by a wrathful family of wasps that desperately wanted to steal our food (or just annoy us, it was hard to tell). Nevertheless, by the end of tea time each jam jar was prison to one or two family members and Mary’s napkin death to another. We’re making a difference, one wasp at a time.

And then the gardens. Oh the gardens! We spent several hours wandering along the perfect little paths and taking endless amounts of photographs.

Lavender. Rows and rows of purple glory!

And the roses were just exquisite and pink and so very beautiful.

Perfectly shaped white Hydrangeas. Bushes and bushes of them!

And when you looked up and happened to see this lovely little sign it immediately made you peek through the gate to see what mysteries awaited on the other side.

There were perfectly mown paths and more flowers. Benches to rest on and a delightful path through the woods. Won’t you come along and I’ll show you around?

After a jaunt through wildflower meadow (that was full of dead flowers) we spent the last few hours picnicing, reading and I even caught a little nap. Of all the days up to here, this was my very favorite I think.

Stratford-Upon-Avon, England

We took the train to Stratford Upon Avon that afternoon then. Everything went smoothly and we decided we could walk to our hostel since we didn’t understand the bus route and weren’t sure whether there was a stop close by. The Tourist Information office had closed 30 minutes before we got to it. Okay, so surely its not too far, we can walk again right? Um, right we could (and did!) but it was two miles and two small towns away we discovered after an very long, very heavy walk. But we’ve decided that since we did it once we could do it again! 🙂

This was another YHA hostel. We had a private room which was completely wonderful but we had to pay for wifi and breakfast which wasn’t so grand.

Stratford is Shakespeare’s hometown which intrigued both of us enough to want to go there but sadly we don’t know much about him. Add that to the fact that were were really sick of paying for tickets and entrance fees, plus we didn’t have very much time in town so, horror of horrors, we didn’t even visit his home and all the famous places connected to his life. Instead we did this…

Rented bikes and drove all over town feeling like fine young ladies on our classic rides.

Walked through the touristy shopping area and saw Shakespeares birthplace.

And since it just happened to be my 23rd birthday I treated myself to some chocolate and fudge I found in a delightful little sweet shop.

Paid a visit to Marks & Spencer for some picnic food. This place has fast become our favorite store. Such yummy fresh food!

And then we rented a rowboat and spent an hour on the Avon, floating, eating and trying to keep from getting run over by canal boats giving tourist rides. It wasn’t as funny as it may seem here. For full details please contact Mary herself.

It was quiet, calm and so very picturesque.

Just the perfect, sleepy little English town

And then to wrap up a the day, Mary took me out to dinner and a Shakespeare play of my choice as my birthday gift. Isn’t she just the most wonderful person? T’was a wonderful way to spend my 23rd and I look forward to seeing what God has in store for my year. May I grow deeper with Him and be willing to follow wherever He takes me! Its been a good journey with Him as my guide.

A Town Called Bath

Bath, England

This is a truly lovely town. So much old architecture and class. We arrived by rail and decided 1.8 miles to our hostel wasn’t so bad, we would just walk. Well, after a brief jaunt in the direction that was opposite of correct we found a street map and located the tourist information office (these have become our favorite places in every city). At the TI we got loaded with city maps and info about all sorts of things that looked quite interesting plus many that we didn’t care about in the least. Then we took off for the hostel again, armed with a good map this time.

After walking (and resting) walking (and resting) and walking some more we began wondering if we were actually going in the proper direction. I’ll spare you the details but I can assure you of one thing, walking nearly two miles, most of it up a near-vertical hill, with a heavy pack on your back is not for the faint of heart!

I’m warning you, it was more vicious than it looks.

Yes my friends, this is Bathwick Hill. BUT it is only a small portion of the hill, we’ve already walked back down over halfway!

The reward of our labors? A pretty nice hostel way up on a hill but you couldn’t see anything because of all the trees. We had a ten bed dorm which didn’t turn out too badly. We had to pay for breakfast and internet which was not cool. But we totally did laundry (and hung it all around our bunk beds to dry). Yup, cool hostel, bad location.

After a bit of rest and unpacking we headed back into town to see what we could find. I’m completely in love with these canals and their adorable boats!

We walked across the Pulteney Bridge, so named after some famous guy back in the day…

It was sunset time and the river captivated my attention for quite some time.

There were more delightful boats. Lots of ducks bobbing around and an occasional swan drifted by.

I wanted a ride! Isn’t it just the cutest thing?!

And of course, the wonderful Mary.

We ended our evening with a sightseeing ride around the city on the top of this super tacky bus. Aren’t you jealous? 😉

And then, since there was a bus stop RIGHT OUTSIDE our hostel lane, we rode the bus up for only a few British Pounds. That hill was so much less work!

We headed back down to town in the morning and joined a tour to Stonehenge. It was cool and I’m really glad we got to see it but I’m not convinced that its worth all the hype it gets. Still, we saw it and we have photos to document!

Yes, this is proper proof that we WERE there!

Just a little break and a healthy snack at Stonehenge.

We toured the Roman baths then. It was cool but packed with people and I got a little tired of all the ‘Roman-ness’ of it. Still, I didn’t think it possible to be in Bath and not visit the most famous baths. The water in this one is really tepid and disgusting looking but I would have loved to visit the actual working (and clean) baths.

We found some lunch at M&S (Marks & Spencer), our new favorite store over here, and brought it to the courtyard of the Bath Abbey where we were serenaded with gorgeous accordion music.

And then we went to the Abbey for the 3:30 Evensong service. It was lovely and quite worshipful. This building is so beautiful! We couldn’t take photos inside but t’was quite exquisite.

We’re enjoying real British crisps. These might not look special to you but if you look closely at the white square in the bottom corner…

Are you serious? Potatoes that bear my name?! We didn’t even notice when we bought them but how cool is that? We’ll have to start planting these I’m thinking. 🙂

And so ends another few days and another town. We were off from here to Stratford Upon Avon where Shakespeare was born and lived. Its a lovely little town and I can’t wait to tell you about it!

Simply Charming

Alton, England: only the most charming English town one can imagine.

Well, I suppose I’m not a perfect judge of things since I have only visited a total of four English towns to date but seriously, this place stole our hearts!

First though, we had our first cross-country train experience from London to Alton. It was quite lovely.

Sometimes I wonder how I ever got so blessed to be able to travel Europe with this girl! She’s the best!

We walked the 1.2 miles to our B&B because wasting money on a taxi isn’t in our Budget. 🙂 But believe me, if I don’t loose weight on this trip something is wrong. Walking around with 40+ pounds on my back isn’t exactly a stroll in the park. Just to clarify, I’m not one bit sorry that we decided to do things this way, just want you to get an accurate picture of things here. 🙂

We splurged and got a B&B for the night. It was worth every extra pound spent! Our hosts were the most delightful folk and the suite we stayed in was quite posh, especially so after spending three nights in a hostel.

Our view as we walked through the front gate.

And the door to our delightful suite opened into their equally delightful little English garden.

See, I told you it was charming! It was quite difficult to leave this place, let me assure you!

We checked it around noon on Friday and just reveled in the luxury of a super soft cushy bed and a whole room to ourselves! But t’was a lovely sunshiney day and time was a’wastin so we set out for Chawton, the center of all things Jane Austen.

Have I mentioned dreamy?

Are you serious, thatched roofs are still in existence?! I felt like I stepped back in time.

And then we arrived at the house…

And then we arrived! Her house wasn’t fancy, as they were quite poor folk, but we had a blast seeing all the old things from her life.

We wrote with quill pens and dressed up 1800’s style.

And then, after wandering round the gardens a while we had the sweetest afternoon tea at Cassandra’s Cup just across the street.

It truly was lovely. Quite lovely. Even though I’m fighting a cold and got a cup of tea spilled over myself (by not fault of my own). Still, it was such fun!

A teatime sampling of everything your heart could desire! Finger sandwiches and such an assortment of baked goods one didn’t know which to try first!

I was a bit wary of my sandwiches when the smoked salmon came out cold, but it was actually quite yummy if I could keep my mind from thinking about what I was eating!

A typical photogenic English church. I would love to hear those bells ringing…

This morning Joan cooked a delicious full English breakfast for us, complete with fresh just-grown-down-the-road berries and homemade orange marmalade on toast. And then we said good-bye. Sadly and with a lingering look we walked to the train station and said good-bye. It was so sweet to have visited you Alton. May we please return someday?

And now, after a rather exhausting day of travel and a very lengthy uphill trek, we’re in Bath. This is a larger town but has such a sweet feel to it. Its large but not too modern, plenty of traffic but still much old stone and small cobblestone streets to wander through. There are steep hills on several sides all covered with trees and greenery and dotted with small cottages or a row of home here and there. We’ve taken a bus tour of the city and tomorrow we’re hoping to visit Stonehenge. But more about that another time. For now I’ll just say good night and Shalom to all of you!