Slowing Down

We took our cute little car back. All in one piece! Yah!

We want to slow down and relax for our last week. We just walked the streets today and cat wrangled. The neighborhood cats still come for food. We may never get that settled in the time we have left. Leave it for the next ones, I say.

I did wear my new undies today. Lovely, but my own self made do feel more comfortable. It's hard to get that perfect fit off the shelf. But M&S make a darn good try, and it's nice to have the options.

I have been away from my sewing room for over 3 weeks. I am starting to get itchy. I sent my 2 main machines in for a day at the spa before I left on this trip. It was a difficult moment! My babies! If they aren't ready when I get back, I may be more than a little distraught. I think I'll send off an inquiry tonight. It never hurts to check in, eh?

Cheddar Cheese

I have now been to Cheddar Gorge! The drive in is spectacular! MB, I can't believe you did that in a bus! I have a sister who could not have done that in a coma. The drive is, shall we say, challenging, and breathtaking.

Caves, nice town, high tower for viewing. And Cheddar cheese aged in the fore mentioned cave system! Delicious!

Good day.

Returned in time for my first visit to Marks and Spenser. Lovely! But the second floor was full of bras and such in my size! And at reasonable prices! I wept.

I bought one set but I shall return, methinks. I needed to recover, emotionally.

We went out to our pub for a pint of our Wild Goat cider. Staggered home happy.

Every pub and restaurant here is advertising Christmas dinner. Book your table now! It's a major campaign. I guess no one does their own turkey around here. Interesting.

We turn the car in tomorrow. Just as we were ready to go pro!  The driving is actually not too bad. Reading the road signs is hard. We'd be lost without the iPad. Follow the blue dot! Maybe one more trip tomorrow. See how we feel in the am.

Lacock Village

This is the village that starred in Harry Potter movies and others. Film crew setting up in the courtyard today. Really lovely. We spent most of our time at the Abbey and adjoining house. Wonderful gardens and stuff! The first photograph was done here. We are loving this relaxed, take your time pace. We interrupted our tour for lunch at the local. When we went back we were recognized by my quilted jacket.

It's a great traveling jacket. Cosy, comfy, good pockets and really easy to find in a crowd over here. People do not wear colors here. I get lots of compliments on it though.

Kleenex are more like printer paper. Toilet paper comes in every color. Mushrooms are cheap, but nothing else is. I have yet to see a hedgehog. I really want to see one.

In Lacock they drive down over the bank, through the river and up the other side of the Avon River. It's OK. It's paved.

We have now discovered why we are buying cat food at a fairly frequent rate. The neighborhood mooches are coming in, getting food pouches out of the box and escaping out the cat door. We interrupted this in progress tonight. Cat annoyed. Us too.

Don't ask where the washroom is. They have no idea what you want.

Pedestrians don't have the right of way here. Really. They don't. When you get a walk light you better trot right along, as there is only enough time if you hurry. There is a frantic beeper to hurry you along.

You often see craftspeople working at their jobs. Stone masons working carefully on walls, painters scraping doors by hand and filling pockmarks, thatchers working on roofs. This seems to be the norm. It's fascinating. I'm not sure we value this work as it seems to be here. Actually, the keeping of all this heritage is really making me ask questions. How does it come about that these things are still in use and seem to be the standard rather than the exception? We tend to tear down or 'renovate' things. Mind you, we don't have the age that they have over here.

Gardens are massive and ancient. Even little postage stamp plots are well established. We plant and if it lasts 10 years we are thrilled with the lasting and perhaps tear it out and replant for a new effect. We don't plant for the third or fourth generation from now. Maybe it's just me. I know I'm thinking this trip will have a lasting impact on me. I really need to do some major weeding when I get back.

The Henge

We took on our most challenging drive today. We went to Avebury to see their henge. A henge is a stone circle. We knew we could get right up to this one, unlike Stonehenge. It's also a bigger circle than SH.

Well, it was large and easy to get around. But it was a big pile of rocks. We think we'll probably skip Stonehenge now. We did get to see a white chalk horse on a hill, though. Now that was amazing! And we have almost conquered the roundabout!

There were several large groups of school children all over. They reminded me I love retirement. However, they were very well behaved. All of them. This seems to be the norm whenever we see school groups out - even the large groups of teenagers.

Must be something in the water.

Wild Goats

Today we went to Wells Cathedral and the next door church palace with moat and gardens. You know. To keep the only fresh water from the lowly villagers.

Amazing place! Really great volunteer local guide. We dropped Cheddar Gorge to stay and do the place justice.

But first we went off to the charity store and picked up the most beautiful pair of  Ungaro sandals with red berry decorations. I saw them in the window Saturday night. I revisited them Sunday. They were so beautiful!  We were on the doorstep well before opening on Monday and the kind shopgirl let us in. They fit just like Cinderella's slippers! 9 pounds later (DH threw in an extra pound because it was a joyous occasion) and I carried my prize home. My visit here is now complete. If I can just pick up some panties at M&S I will be done.

Off to the pub for a pint. We prefer Wild Goat. Lovely!

Castle Combe

Sunday we drove to Castle Combe. The driving went much better, and I have discovered that Maps has a lot more features than I thought. It even has voice directions, and recalculated when you don't listen. Trust the voice. 

The village is completely untouched by the last 500 or so years. There is a parking lot on the edge of town to keep it that way. So lovely! 

We walked through town and then out of town on one of the ever present local walking trails. Everyone walks here, and maintained trails are important. They aren't travelled, accessible perfection like our trails, but they are maintained to be what they are. You often see signs up telling the locals about what work is currently underway. It's worded in a way that says 'respect for your wanting to know'. Also keep dog on leash as we are losing sheep again. 

We got lost while walking and a local straightened us out. Getting lost has become our fav thing to do. Back in the town we checked out a house sale and picked up a bag of Liberty scraps for $10.  Haven't seen Liberty cheaper than that. Scraps included. 

Had a 'roast' dinner at the pub. Roast Sunday dinner is what you do. 

On The Road

So much excitement! We drove our little Fiat 500 (in bright yellow so the British can see us coming) all the way to Castle Combe Circuit. It was rally day at the track. My man was in heaven!  He got to meet his hero Ari Vatanen, and I have a picture to prove it. We saw him make doughnuts on the track. Wonderful! We saw lots of excellent drivers make doughnuts on the track. We saw a million cars of every variety. Some cars DH thought did not exist anymore, and there they were - a whole flock of them! He was very happy. 

I had a chicken burger. And got a free T-shirt. 

Actually, I really liked it as well. 

The driving was intense. DH focussed on staying in the correct lane and I navigated, with the help of Google maps. I am learning a whole lot more about that app than I knew before. It's quite robust in what it can do. 

Me, not so much. We actually probably weren't lost, but we're concerned that the 1 way cow path we were on may have been wrong, and we went back for directions. These included "go straight past the duck pond" but did get us there. We came back pretty well, and plan on going back Sunday to visit the town. Our wonderful neighbor has drawn us a map of a walk around the town that most people don't find.  She has been so friendly and helpful! Everyone here is. 

Now, strange behavior at the track. Drivers are on the track doing amazing things. There are thousands of people watching! Thousands! They all stand quietly, no pushing or anything impolite, but absolutely no noise. They don't cheer, they don't clap, no whistles - it's eerie! Same at the autograph sessions and famous people talking. The crowd had to be asked to move closer. They seemed to think this rude, but space was needed at the back. Children were well behaved and well supervised. This is a strange world.