Trip to England May/June 2009 Part 2

Part two

Tuesday May 19, 2009

Got off to a good start heading to Stow on the Wold in the Cotswolds, the meaning of wold is an open space at the top of a hill. On our route we came upon a farmers market in the village of Morton on the Marsh. We had a great lunch purchased from one of the stalls. The place was crowded with tour buses stopping and the people from the area coming to market. Not many parking places left in the small village. We arrived at Stow on the Wold about 2pm, found a good B&B right in the middle of town. We spent the rest of the day walking this market town looking at the shops and older buildings. The building the B&B is in had just had its 300 birthday a few years back. One of the things that define the Cotswolds besides the rolling hills is the colour of the stone blocks that make the buildings, they are a pale yellow. We also found our first modern food store similar to our Safeway. Dinner this evening was a venture to an Indian restaurant right next to the B&B. One thing we noticed is that because England had close ties to India in the past, the English love curry. We enjoyed our food at this restaurant.

Wednesday May 20, 2009

Breakfast was served at 8:15 and what a great English breakfast it was. The other couple staying at this B&B were from Seattle and travelling with their small son. The couple who ran the B&B were characters and made our stay enjoyable. I believe we lucked out getting into this B&B as they are booked now until November. We set off for Stratford-on Avon with as stop at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage. We walked around the downtown of Stratford and of course walked by the birth place of William Shakespeare. We did not stay too long as this is a tourist town with lots of people and all stores etc. are ones we had seen before. Quite frankly we are finding the stores in the tourist areas very pricy. It was then on to Warwick Castle. Visiting this Castle had been recommended to us and when we got there we thought we may have found an amusement park. The Castle was taken over a number years ago by the owners of Madame Tussaud’s as a place to set up historic wax figure displays. It has grown from that beginning to lots of outdoor activities that interest children. Most of these going on are of the medieval castle type of fun. There were many bus loads of children. Once we got in and had a lunch and started to study the guide we found lots that interest us and it was an enjoyable afternoon. Of course the wax figures as part of the displays were very real. The up keep on this castle was the best we had seen. We left Warwick at about 5pm arriving home at 6.45 after stopping to shop for dinner.

Thursday May 21, 2009.

Hard to believe we have been here one week so we decided to stay close to home today and walk around Keyworth. We spent the late morning and in to the afternoon walking the town. Keyworth appears to be a bedroom community of Nottingham. Very lovely homes with small shopping areas spread through out the community. Lots of services for families such as a pool, gym and youth centre. We purchased our meat at the local butcher and other supplies at a local small grocery store. A highlight of the trip was a stop for lunch at the Salutation Inn and of course it has a good pub and an Inn that has been around for centuries. A neighbour across the street said it is the local pub he goes to for a beer. We had a wonderful lunch and I was able to test a new bitter beer. The pricing I got on my lunch meal was what the locals call the wrinkly price because I was over 60 I got a £1 off. Marilyn did not have the meal. We continued our walk around town after lunch. One of the advantages of a home exchange is that you can take time out to enjoy the area. Today the weather has improved. Back home I was looking to cut the back yard grass but it is a little too wet yet hopefully I can do this tomorrow. Marilyn was able to sweep the debris off the front area.

Friday May 22, 2009

Today we decided to do some local visiting. Marilyn wanted to see the Ruddington Framework Knitters’ Museum. It was just a short distance and a great display of these hand knitting machines of the early 1800. We were able to get a feel of how life was those many years ago and it was not fun. We enjoyed a lovely lunch in the village of Ruddington. On our way home we stopped a large grocery store called ADSA Superstore and what a large store it is, in fact, bigger then the Wal-Mart Superstore in La Quinta. It appears this company has a large connection to Wal-Mart as it had similar advertising and the web site has a link to Wal-Mart. We arrived home at a reasonable time because I wanted to cut the back lawn. We have now had two days of no rain and the lawn was drying. I got that done after finally figuring our how to start the Briggs & Stratton powered lawn mower. It has been a few years. After dinner we went for a walk around the residential areas of Keyworth.

Saturday May 23, 2009

Today we went to downtown Nottingham by bus. The bus fair return was £3.90 or about $3.60 Canadian for a one way fare. The trip took 20 mins. The purpose of today’s trip was to see some historic sights, for Marilyn to enjoy the downtown shopping and get a feel for Nottingham life. We did get to see one very large shopping centre and some of the downtown stores. What we did not expect was the concert we got to see in the down town Old Market Square. Nottingham has about 275,000 people and the downtown area must have had everyone of them down here today. When we first went by the market square we saw a large bandstand so inquired what was happening and were given a program for a three day event. This weekend is also a bank holiday. We lucked out today because at 12:30 The Merseybeats ‘I Think of You, Don’t Turn Around, Wishin’& Hopin’ then at 2:10 Dave Berry and The Cruisers ‘The Crying Game, Little Things, Mama’ and at 3:40 The Manfreds with Manfred Mann ‘Do Wah Diddy, Pretty Flamingo, 5-4-3-2-1 and they also had two featured guests Zoot Money and Alan Price. We were at the concert until 5;45 and only left after we could not stand any more. It was quite the afternoon. Marilyn was able to sneak in some shopping at a 40 minute break in the action. This long weekend of a free music and dance festival had events going all over the downtown area. It is called City Pulse and sponsored by the city of Nottingham and the downtown merchants association. Vancouver could learn a thing or two and the merchants were happy with all the people this event drew in to this area. We got home about 6:15 exhausted. Spring lamb has just hit the local butcher shops so we had a great lamb chop BBQ and of course some wine.

Sunday May 24, 2009

Today our friends the Pollock’s arrive after having spent about the same amount of time in Scotland. Jim and Bob Pollock and wives Wendy and Yvonne are friends from our Happy Wanderer park in Indio. We have some grocery shopping to do and Marilyn has planned a British dinner of Roast Beef, potatoes and vegetables around the roast, gravy and Yorkshire pudding. One thing we learned is that in the stores they have Yorkshire putting already made up and all you have to do is heat it in the oven. Should be a fun day as the weather looks great with lots of sunshine and the evening should be great with friends. We will up date you in part three of this blog as I am now going to publish this five days.