When the Farmers Came to Londontown

A few weeks ago Michelle and Matt came for an extended weekend trip to London. They arrived on Friday and Michelle headed home on Tuesday. Matt stayed in town until the following Saturday but had to work... boo work! However, in the few days we had together we walked to Camden via Primrose Hill, spent way too much time at Cyberdog (a futuristic space clothing store... the store's description, not mine!), had a delicious dinner at Cinnamon Club followed by a walk past Westminster Abbey, Parliament, County Hall, and the Eye, spent a night in the country, waved to the queen, stared at some royal guards, ate in a cave, went shopping on Marylebone High Street and enjoyed tea at the Wolseley! Not too shabby for 4 days!

Matt and Michelle in Camden.

Cold Farmers in front of Big Ben.

Michelle and Matt in front of the old mill in Lower Slaughter.

Yes, it was as cold as it looks.

Michelle and Chris at the Puesdown Inn.

Nothing better than a comfy sofa, a warm fire and great company to put smiles on our faces!

 Michelle and Matt at Gordon's Wine Bar.

I will try to post some more pictures from the weekend soon.

Until then...

~Hugs and Kisses~

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

Going to the country...

With the city of London fully conquered by the Kipphut Ladies, we decided to make a break for the country on Friday! Our first order of business was taking Chris hostage from work. After all, we needed a driver if we were ever going to make it The Cotswolds.

Driving... or maybe I should say riding since Chris did all the driving... was an experience to say the least! After 3 days in the passenger seat, I would still have a moment of pure confusion when I looked up to see an on-coming car in the "wrong" lane. I don't think I can erase years of conditioning... Chris, however, seemed to pick it up pretty quickly. There were 2 slight faux pas when we were turning and there were no other cars in sight. There were also some pretty close calls on the passenger side where we barely squeaked by without hitting fences, mailboxes, other cars, etc... although Chris will deny it, I can assure you we were much too close for comfort. In the end, Chris did a fabulous job and we made back to London with no damage!

Now... back to the country!

The Cotswolds are an area to the east of London that are know for their hills, thatched roof cottages and sheep. The towns/villages have some great names and I secretly giggle every time I say them! Stow-on-the-Wold, The Slaughters, Wotton-under-Edge, Moreton-in-Marsh... how funny! The names aside, the villages are amazing! I have never seen anything like it. Each village or town looked like it was straight out of a painting with perfectly tended rivers, old mills, sheep grazing on hills in the background, and buttercups popping up everywhere... it was quintessential English countryside!