Somewhere in the back of everyone's mind, there's a preconception of what places are like, molded, no doubt, by period dramas and pencil sketches of a world that was. Fortunately, such places still exist. The Cotswolds, which is a little region of England that stretches roughly from Bath to Oxford and upwards to Cheltenham, absolutely oozes quintessential English charm. Little cottages, serendipitous landscapes of rolling hills, with the occasional church spire poking above the surrounding countryside, it's an absolutely delightful area.
And so that's where we spent the better part of our Easter weekend, heading out on Good Friday, meandering through small towns with names such as Lovell Minster, Stow-on-the-Wold, Bourton-on-the-Water, Bourton-on-the-Hill, Bibury, and Upper and Lower Slaughter. It's all amazingly compact, and worlds away from London. We basically just wandered for the weekend, before heading back. My personal favourites were Broadway and Lower Slaughter, but there were several other little charming villages that we didn't stop in that were tantalizingly off the tourist trail. I'd love to hike around the area for a week or so.
And that brings us to what is likely the end, for now. The rest of today will be consumed with final preparations, tomorrow I return to work to finalise the admin-type stuff, and they will shut off our internet tomorrow evening. We may be able to check in while we are in Ireland, but in all likelihood, this is the last post until we are Stateside. So, until then...
Showing posts with label Cotswolds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cotswolds. Show all posts
Monday, April 13, 2009
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Catching Up...and a History Lesson
Well, let's see...
The weekend past didn't quite go as planned. (I believe the quote is: "The best laid plans of mice and men...") Saturday was pretty, and Mich and Tracy and her mom went to Guildford to explore. Mich said it was quite nice, however, our camera went on the fritz, and so there are no pictures to back up her words. We're hoping to get our camera fixed so we can take pictures with it in the future, especially given that we got it for Christmas.
Sunday was originally set aside for the St. Patrick's Day parade in London, however, when Sunday arrived, it brought with it some absolutely miserable weather. The weather was cold and wet, and any thought of going anywhere dissipated with the first step outside. The weekend passed and the week began.
We personally didn't do anything on Monday or Tuesday, although Tracy and her mom went to the Cotswolds and London. They left to return home on Tuesday night. I thought the Cotswolds were a really neat area when we drove through, and I hope to make it back there again before we leave.
Wednesday came and went, which brings us to Thursday.
Some nine years ago, on the Thursday preceding Good Friday, Michelle and I arrived in Dublin for a visit. On this past Thursday, we returned to Dublin, this time bringing two children along with us. The obvious corollary is that things were much different this time around. (It is worth noting that this was my second trip to Dublin, whereas it was Mich's fourth visit.)
The upcoming posts will give you the day-by-day blow of our little excursion to Ireland, in order to try to do it justice. We did, fortunately, still have our old camera, which we brought along with us, and therefore, I will also provide appropriate pictorial support for my writings. Until then, a few introductory comments will have to suffice.
Archeological digs show evidence of settlement in Dublin as early as 7500 BC, however, it was not until 841 AD that the Vikings established their first harbor in Dublin (named "Dubh Linn" or Dark Pool, being the area where the River Liffey and River Poddle met and pooled...those creative Viking sorts!) The struggle between the Irish and the British over independence has resulted in the city being ravaged from time to time, including, most notably, the bombing of the city centre after the Easter Rising of 1916. The city still has a decent number of older buildings, and despite the fact that Ireland has only been an independent nation for about half a century, the sense of history in the city is, at times, palpable. After all, Guinness, arguably the national drink, has been brewed since 1759 - longer than the United States have been a country.
Coming next: Good Friday.
The weekend past didn't quite go as planned. (I believe the quote is: "The best laid plans of mice and men...") Saturday was pretty, and Mich and Tracy and her mom went to Guildford to explore. Mich said it was quite nice, however, our camera went on the fritz, and so there are no pictures to back up her words. We're hoping to get our camera fixed so we can take pictures with it in the future, especially given that we got it for Christmas.
Sunday was originally set aside for the St. Patrick's Day parade in London, however, when Sunday arrived, it brought with it some absolutely miserable weather. The weather was cold and wet, and any thought of going anywhere dissipated with the first step outside. The weekend passed and the week began.
We personally didn't do anything on Monday or Tuesday, although Tracy and her mom went to the Cotswolds and London. They left to return home on Tuesday night. I thought the Cotswolds were a really neat area when we drove through, and I hope to make it back there again before we leave.
Wednesday came and went, which brings us to Thursday.
Some nine years ago, on the Thursday preceding Good Friday, Michelle and I arrived in Dublin for a visit. On this past Thursday, we returned to Dublin, this time bringing two children along with us. The obvious corollary is that things were much different this time around. (It is worth noting that this was my second trip to Dublin, whereas it was Mich's fourth visit.)
The upcoming posts will give you the day-by-day blow of our little excursion to Ireland, in order to try to do it justice. We did, fortunately, still have our old camera, which we brought along with us, and therefore, I will also provide appropriate pictorial support for my writings. Until then, a few introductory comments will have to suffice.
Archeological digs show evidence of settlement in Dublin as early as 7500 BC, however, it was not until 841 AD that the Vikings established their first harbor in Dublin (named "Dubh Linn" or Dark Pool, being the area where the River Liffey and River Poddle met and pooled...those creative Viking sorts!) The struggle between the Irish and the British over independence has resulted in the city being ravaged from time to time, including, most notably, the bombing of the city centre after the Easter Rising of 1916. The city still has a decent number of older buildings, and despite the fact that Ireland has only been an independent nation for about half a century, the sense of history in the city is, at times, palpable. After all, Guinness, arguably the national drink, has been brewed since 1759 - longer than the United States have been a country.
Coming next: Good Friday.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Stratford and Warwick Castle
A quick update:
The weeks seem to be falling into a more structured routine now, which I think is good for everyone. It also means that there is frequently not much to report on a day-to-day basis, other than - "we got up this morning, and when I went to work, everyone else stayed home. The kids played and Michelle did laundry. When I came home, we ate dinner." I did manage to finish Sense and Sensibility, so I'm now on Pride and Prejudice. So, while there are still adjustments to be made, the fact that we are getting into a routine is both a good thing (for us), and possibly a not-so-good thing for anyone out there yearning for news of us on a more frequent basis. (Of course, I'd never know that there were any such persons, given the distinct lack of comments/responses, despite my very open prodding.)
That said, this past weekend, we rented a car in order to avail ourselves of the free night that I had earned with Marriott. We basically had to plan our time around what was actually available, due to my waiting to the last minute to book the hotel, but as we were able to do things we wanted to do anyway, it wasn't really a hardship. We left on Saturday morning and drove around the M25 and then out to Stratford-on-Avon. While I think the M25 bothered Mich a bit, I didn't find it to be that difficult to drive. The kids put up with my little journey into Shakespeare Country quite well, all things considered, and got to learn a bit about my favorite playwright. We went to Shakespeare's birthplace, and "New Place" - the house he built once he had made his fortune, except that "New Place" is now No Place, as it was taken apart several hundred years ago. I did find it rather interesting that Shakespeare's birthplace was actually a tourist attraction a mere 100 years after his birth.
On Sunday, we did something decidedly more kid-centric - Warwick Castle. Parts of the castle date back to 1086, as I recall, and it has several exhibits, including a recreation of several period rooms for the 1890's, some of which are truly exquisite, the Great Hall, with numerous examples of swords, shields, and armor, and the Dungeon. They also fire a trebuchet (catapult), have bowmen exhibitions, and exhibitions on falconry, which included a North American bald eagle who swooped down only inches above our heads. So, us grown up kids had great fun as well.
That evening, I wanted to try to see part of the Cotswolds, and we did make it into a couple of villages, although, more than anything, it just piqued my interest to go back, drive around some more, and get out and walk in some of these places. The Cotswolds are an area in the Midlands where there are several villages in which the houses are made out of limestone. Some of these villages have retained their character even after a couple hundred years, and have several stone houses and stores. There's a few pictures below, and if a picture is worth a thousand words, then hopefully you'll be able to see how truly beautiful some of these little towns are.
The weeks seem to be falling into a more structured routine now, which I think is good for everyone. It also means that there is frequently not much to report on a day-to-day basis, other than - "we got up this morning, and when I went to work, everyone else stayed home. The kids played and Michelle did laundry. When I came home, we ate dinner." I did manage to finish Sense and Sensibility, so I'm now on Pride and Prejudice. So, while there are still adjustments to be made, the fact that we are getting into a routine is both a good thing (for us), and possibly a not-so-good thing for anyone out there yearning for news of us on a more frequent basis. (Of course, I'd never know that there were any such persons, given the distinct lack of comments/responses, despite my very open prodding.)
That said, this past weekend, we rented a car in order to avail ourselves of the free night that I had earned with Marriott. We basically had to plan our time around what was actually available, due to my waiting to the last minute to book the hotel, but as we were able to do things we wanted to do anyway, it wasn't really a hardship. We left on Saturday morning and drove around the M25 and then out to Stratford-on-Avon. While I think the M25 bothered Mich a bit, I didn't find it to be that difficult to drive. The kids put up with my little journey into Shakespeare Country quite well, all things considered, and got to learn a bit about my favorite playwright. We went to Shakespeare's birthplace, and "New Place" - the house he built once he had made his fortune, except that "New Place" is now No Place, as it was taken apart several hundred years ago. I did find it rather interesting that Shakespeare's birthplace was actually a tourist attraction a mere 100 years after his birth.
On Sunday, we did something decidedly more kid-centric - Warwick Castle. Parts of the castle date back to 1086, as I recall, and it has several exhibits, including a recreation of several period rooms for the 1890's, some of which are truly exquisite, the Great Hall, with numerous examples of swords, shields, and armor, and the Dungeon. They also fire a trebuchet (catapult), have bowmen exhibitions, and exhibitions on falconry, which included a North American bald eagle who swooped down only inches above our heads. So, us grown up kids had great fun as well.
That evening, I wanted to try to see part of the Cotswolds, and we did make it into a couple of villages, although, more than anything, it just piqued my interest to go back, drive around some more, and get out and walk in some of these places. The Cotswolds are an area in the Midlands where there are several villages in which the houses are made out of limestone. Some of these villages have retained their character even after a couple hundred years, and have several stone houses and stores. There's a few pictures below, and if a picture is worth a thousand words, then hopefully you'll be able to see how truly beautiful some of these little towns are.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)