Cotswolds

We were very excited by our 1st sheep sighting... and by we, I mean Laurie and me. Chris mostly stood back and chuckled at us!

There would be many, many more sheep to come!

Our first town, Burton-on-the-Water, was a fairly quite place. We discovered straddle stones which are in the picture above. These stones are ALL over the place and apparently were used to prop up the foundations of homes built in the marshes... only the English would build a house in a marsh in the first place ;-) I must give credit to Laurie for the picture. I forgot to charge my battery so my photo album is pretty sparse... As a matter of fact, the rest of the pictures on this post were taken by Laurie!

From Burton-on-the-Water we went to Lower Slaughter... yes, there is an Upper Slaughter as well! The name is derived from an old English word for swamp, marsh or muddy place... This mill is now a gift shop and a museum... although I didn't see much of a museum?

The church in Lower Slaughter was pretty amazing. But we would see churches in every little village or town. The more successful the villages wool trade was in the 1700 and 1800's the more grand the church!

The "High Streets" were all very quaint and fun to stroll. We had tea in Burton-on-the-Water... poor Chris! He sipped his tea with his pinkie out like a champ and I thought he fit in quite nicely. However, Chris felt out of place without his tea coat on.... a tea coat he explained is tweed with leather patches on the elbows! All the men are wearing them to afternoon tea these days ;-)

I think I could have tea here everyday around... say 4 o'clock?

The red box on the right is a public mail box or letter drop...

I don't think this farmer will be too pleased when he realizes that his sheep are eating up all the brussel sprouts...

I love the red phone booths... especially when they are in the middle of the country! This one was on the edge of the village. And yes, that is a very blue sky in the background... And no, it did not last!

Laurie may have taken this photo but I get some credit... After all, I was bahhing like a fool from the car trying to get the sheep to look our way. And it obviously worked... eventually they started bahhing back at me. Chris was laughing hysterically and I couldn't help but join him. I never in a million years thought I would be sitting in a Kia, on a country road, in The Cotswolds, bahhing at sheep while Laurie snapped their pictures... What a life!!! On the bright side, I think I may have a future in imitating sheep. Bahhhh bahhhhh baaahh

Our future home in Upper Slaughter... if my sheep gig pays off.

On our way back to London we stopped in Woodstock to visit Blenheim Palace. However, as we sat on the tram waiting to ride from the parking lot to the gardens a storm blew in and as the lot attendant said; it started to chuck! We decided to take a rain check on the gardens and ran back to the car. It rained most of the way back to London and Chris got drenched on his way home from returning the rental car.

Come back tomorrow for pictures of The Horse and Groom.

Until then...

XOXO