The tale is told

So here we are back home. Life has resumed its normal pace but pictures and impressions still keep popping into my day and night dreams

like

Kind and helpful hosts, friendly faces, snatches of conversations on the train, or in the pub or in the street.

Soft green and flowered fields, narrow high-hedged lanes, roundabouts and ring roads, pretty cottage gardens and thatched roofs,  quiet woodland, animals grazing over the  moors and fields, ancient mysterious stones and Roman ruins, cobbled streets of old towns steeped in history. 

Thank God for a great experience and a safe journey.



 Some last photos of Shrewsbury

!0th century Shrewsbury Abbey much diminished after the dissolution of the monasteries

The transepts were all destroyed and only the nave remained for the common people

many Tudor buildings in the older part of Shrewsbury

The Severn River

The Wrekin in Shropshire

Nearly the end of the tale

Here we are in Shrewsbury and tomorrow we take the car back to Coventry and get our plane flight at 9.30pm.
The last part of the week in Long Compton involved a trip to Bourton on the Water, a pretty place with seven bridges across a little river. Many tourists that day.

Bourton-on-the-Water

We also visited the remains of a Roman Villa at Chedworth. It is a beautiful spot at head of a green valley. There is still evidence of the lovely floor mosaics of the baths. We spoke with a lady who, dressed in Roman matron's garb demonstrated and showed  us ancient methods of weaving or knitting.

mosaics at Chedworth

 Sue demonstrates ancient arts

On Thursday we went for a walk through the woods to the next village of Whichford, about an hour or so walk.
On the way to Shrewsbury we stopped at Stratford - Upon-Avon for about an hour  and had a look at the dedication to Shakespeare on his tomb in The Holy Trinty Church as well as a stroll along the riverside to the R.S.C theatre complex.

Even the lamp posts get in on the act

fancy a boat ride with Ophelia or others!

 Ironbridge Gorge

Yesterday we drove out into the countryside and stopped at Ironbridge in Severn Gorge. So far today we have been to a sung Mass in the lovely Shrewsbury Cathedral and we will be having a look around the old part of the town later on.

Cotswalds and a nostalgic trip to London

0n Saturday we set off for the Cotswalds which was quite a long trip. The landscape gradually changed from dry stone walls and steep hillsides to more gently rolling slopes and hedgerows, very neat and tidy looking.
We are staying in a modern two-story studio accommodation which is part of a cottage propertycalled Vyner's cottage in the village of Long Compton in Warwickshire.The little village stretches along the main road.
We dined at the Red Lion on Saturday night.
On Sunday we went to Mass in Chipping Norton which is a few miles away.
Monday was the trip to London. We got the train in Banbury and it was only an hour's journey. I do like travelling on the intercity trains and this would be our last train trip. We arrived at Marylebone station and had to make our way via tube to near Southbank were the Globe theatre now stands. The station reminded me of a smaller version of the Sydney station.That took us a little while to work out which trains to change for. I had forgotton how long those escalators are!
At the theatre we joined a tour conducted by a delightful young lady (an aspiring actor I would surmise) who filled us on the history of the theatre and its predecessor and the background to life in Shakespeare's time. 
The theatre has a thatched roof which makes it more authentic to the times but it took 10 years to persuade the London Council to give their permission (because of fear of fires).

Globe Theatre

Costume display

the costume design amd makingprocess

After we had lunch in the cafe we got the train out to Turnham Green near Chiswick to see the place where I lived in 1974. Of course lots has changed. The streets around there are filled with cafes and restaurants and smart shops. A bit like Rozelle or Mosman in Sydney. The outside of the house at 20 Ennismore Avenue seemed little changed but I bet there are no little bedsits inside, rather £450.000 apartments.

40 years later

Piccadilly circus

more crowded than ever

After a snack we made our weary way via Piccadilly Circus - still noisy and crowded with tourists only much more.Travelling around London takes up a bit of time but eventually we got the 7.00 train back to Banbury.

Part 2 of from Forest to Moorland

The menhir or standing stone

Moorlands view

Highlights this week have been climbing up to a couple of Tors and a visit to south Cornwall. At the start of the week the weather was a bit damp and overcast, and wee bit chilly. However that didn't stop us venturing out to one of the Tors. The one we chose was not one of the most challenging but it suited our capacities. It is called Loughter or Laughter Tor. We had to walk up about 1 kilometre and up about a 6% slope under a overcast sky and biting wind but it was worth the effort. We didn't quite reach the rocks but stopped near one of the standing stones (or menhir) that has stood since prehistoric times about 5000 years or more. Menhirs are thought to be part of a complex of stone circles and rows, Dartmoor abounds with such features as well a remains of medieval settlements and tin mining shafts from medieval times to the 20th century.
As we draw near the top you become conscious of only the sounds of the wind across the vegetation, the cries of circling birds and the faint bleating of the sheep. It is certainly a place for silent contemplation of the world around you. It seems a timeless place connecting past and present.

A change of scenary was our visit to Portwrinkle on south Cornish coast. It was a beautiful day. Sunny and warm. We spent it strolling on the little beach and sitting outside the cafe on the cliff soaking up the view . We talked to a true cornishman who said his mother's family had lived there for about 400 years. Smugglers among them too! 

Climbing towards the Tor

Laughter tor

We made it!

Portwrinkle

From Forest to Moorland Part 1

The last few days of our stay in the New Forest were a bit damp and chilly. We made a visit to Bolderwood which has a deer sanctuary enclosure within and graded walks.

Being 1/2 term there were lots of families about despite the damp conditions. You can tell the locals - they're the ones wearing sensible galoshes to cope with the muddy trails! It was a beautiful place with a serenity about it. Tall oaks, yew, beech and wildflowers abound. I could almost imagine a royal hunting party in pursuit of their game.

We did see some deer a short distance away resting in the long grass.

 Animals have right of way in the national forest so you have to look out for the ponies, cattle sheep and donkeys nibbling their way right to the verge of the road.

Had dinner at the Green Dragon Inn on Thursday. There are inns and pubs all over the place and very popular even on week nights.

On Saturday we set off for Devon via Dorset to visit Chesil Beach which is a World Heritage sight mostly renowned for its geological pecularities, namely instead of sand there are thousands of rounded pebbles which form into dunes and also range from fist size at the Portland Harbour end to tiny pebbles about 16 miles further onthe beach. This is result of action of the tides.

the pebbles of Chesil Beach

 we arrived at our destination in Moretonhampstead about 6 pm but of course it was broad daylight. The journey to Devon was a delight as we saw more valleys and hills covered in lush green grass with fields of grazing sheep and the moorland in the distance. Of course the roads became narrower and were often lined by high hedges as well as winding. It seems every little village is on the side of a hill and possessed of narrow lanes. Politeness is called for giving way to oncoming traffic. But they ARE very picturesque  (the villages that is).

Lex on Chesil Beach Dorset

Guess who?

In Devon

A bit of exploration

 Lyndhurst on a rainy Monday

Alice Liddell's grave in the churchyard on top of the hill

The warm springs are still flowing in the Roman Baths

A Roman Maiden waiting for offerings perhaps?

The Georgian circus

spot the white horse on the side of the hill on the way to Bath (enlarge to view)

After a week of sunny warm weather (for England)  clouds and showers have descended on us.
However on Sunday we celebrated our wedding anniversary at the local Bell Inn with a delicious lunch.
Monday was rather a wet and chilly one. So we drove to Lyndhurst about 10 miles away and investigated the little town. Being  half term break and bank holiday everyone else thought it was a good idea too. Anyway we climbed the hill to St Michael and all Angels to see the grave  of Alice Liddell who was the inspiration for Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. It is covered by a little garden of well tended rose bushes and later had cornish pasties for lunch (but I am still waiting to have a decent cappaccino!)
On Tuesday we drove to Salisbury and took the train to Bath. It was a lovely trip. The landscape is very different to Lincolnshire, more rolling hills and hedgerows with sheep grazing in the pastures and the Avon river flowing beside the railway. We spotted one of the chalk horses carved into the side of the hills in the distance.
 Bath is beautiful town. Row on row of elegant

medieval or Georgian stone buildings. We explored the Roman Baths centre for an hour then climbed up the hill to walk around that amazing circular  row of grand Georgian architecture. On the way we stopped in at the Jane Austen centre which has a small exhibition to pay tribute to her connections to her life in Bath. The staff all dress in period costume. I was not surprised to see a great number of international tourists roaming about Bath

Sulis Minerva who started it all?

Mr Darcy(?) At the Jane Austen Centre.

Meet some of our neighbours in Bramshaw, Hampshire

What a lovely, rural setting we are in. We are now in a little cottage converted from an old dairy, next to the main farm house in Bramshaw in the New Forest, surrounded by green fields and woodland. We arrived on Saturday after an uneventful drive from Oxford. Much better than the nightmare trip from Lincolnshire on Friday, but that tale is better left untold. Our hosts are Andrea, her husband Ian and their son Fergus who is about to set off on a working holiday to America and Australia.
We went to Mass this morning in a little church in Lyndhurst. They even had a cuppa after Mass which felt just like home, everyone was welcoming and chatty. Lex took me to the historic Bell Inn down the road to celebrate our anniversary - yummy lunch. It is quite chilly today around 15° so we are having a lazy day just enjoyng the sights andsounds of our surroundings. This part of England is rolling green pastures and wooded areas.