10 & 11 February 2016 –
Good bye Cardiff! Good bye Doctor Who Experience! Good bye ocean….
We're off to …ummm…so, where are we off to?
Oh yeah! We're making our way back towards London with a brief overnight stop in the area of England known as The Cotswolds.
We're starting out in Cheltenham and heading north along the red route. We'll see how far we get in the few hours we have left before our day runs out.
We made it as far as Broadway.
This is a cute little town!
We spent a few hours shopping as there were several shops lining the main street of the town. I bought a piece of Staffordshire pottery (the same pattern as my wedding dishes) and Mark an English gentleman's country jacket…or whatever you want to call it. It looks good with the cap I got him from Ireland.
Watching the sunset.
The sun is setting….and we're ready to find something to eat. Hopefully at a pub that serves excellent beer!
Found this place….The Crown and Trumpet. What a name!!!
The name of the ale??? Flowers! Pretty awesome! And I think this is my favorite ale that I've had on this trip…it's hoppier than all the other ales I've tried. Pub ale is different from bottled ale – it's not as carbonated (fizzy).
As you can see…this ale was easy to drink!:
Mark and the girls played a round of Dominos waiting for our meals to come out. There was also a friendly pub cat that paid us lots of attention (whoops,no photo).
Shepherd's pie for dinner:
Sticky toffee pudding:
And this dish? This dessert has the funniest name of all: spotted dick. (insert giggle)
I was hoping that I'd really like spotted dick but …. it was full of either dried currants or raisins and I'm not a fan of baked goods containing raisins (or any dried fruit for that matter). I did like the pourable, warm vanilla custard in the jug (next to my steamed spotted dick).
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We spent the night at a bed and breakfast in Cheltenham. While the place was lovely the woman running the place made us feel a little on-edge and unwelcome. We made a hasty exit after breakfast (and after we paid our bill, of course!).
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Our goal for today is to end up back in London….but we are hoping to stop and see a few things on the drive.
So, on a whim we pulled into this little town called Northleach…for no particular reason at all.
A shop called Fruit Cakes??? (bakery with a tiny grocery)
We found this in a shop. Fairy detergent…made for the cleaning fairy?????? I love it!
Wow! Now that's a beautiful church!
I can't help it – graveyards are FASCINATING! The headstones offer a tiny glimpse into past lives. Do you ever find yourself reading the headstones and wondering about the lives of the people buried there?
Inside the church:
Unusual brass memorial…dating back to 1500s!!!
Annika took lots of photos. Most of her photos were either of the clouds in the sky or photos of flowers.
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The girls had peppermint tea while Mark and I enjoyed a cup of coffee. I know, I know. We should be drinking proper English tea BUUUUTTTTT I neeeeeeeeed coffee!!!!
Check out this quirky building…especially check out the second story:
The butcher…where we bought several cheese varieties for the road. Yummy snack!
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Drove to another town (whoops, can't remember the name!) – we walked up and down the street checking out all the shops:
Having fun reading all the signs in front of the various shops:
The girls went a little crazy in this sweets shop. We tried to find English toffee. Which, we could NOT find. Why is that???
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These towns have narrow, winding streets with buildings that nestle right up to them. It's very cozy!
Now off to London…