Travelling through England to visit our son Day 2

 

Arlington Row, Bibury in the background

Today was the day we intended to spend in the Cotswolds, and we did - but with a bumpy start!  

Of course, traveling with a dog, we need to factor in walks and The Falcon at Hatton is the perfect setting for travelling with a dog. I have mentioned the fabulous door to directly outside, then the walk along a farmer's field and a lovely view of a mansion.  That part was great! 

Breakfast is included with our room, so Alan got the "Full English" and I got Eggs Florentine. Both were delicious. But being sat in teh pub and any from the regular dining room....we missed out on the orange juice, pastries and all the things that usually go along with breakfast at a hotel or B&B.....there was no rule that we could not go to the buffet part of breakfast provided, we simply did not think of it and no one mentioned it to us. We will make up for that tomorrow. 

Our itinerary for the day was meant to be Bibury, Bourton on the Water, and Lower and Upper Slaughthers. There was also the possibility of Broadway, and if we were really lucky Stratford upon Avon.    How perfectly innocent and ambitious!

We left the Falcon until about 9:30.  That is late, but not exceptionally so, we had not slept well the night before.  But then....a Diversion and road closed ahead sign, local access only. But instead of taking the diversion, Alan tried to outsmart it and go along the road closed until something stopped him. In his defence, we have done this before, even driving across a closed bridge once when we were really young and reckless.  Lived to tell about that, so going too Bibury on a closed road seemed feasible.   But it wasn't.

We tried various routes, and I even went into a Post Office and darling little shop to ask directions and buy a map.  Directions were wrong, map unhelpful.  We must have spent about an hour trying to get to Bibury.  Moral of the story is: do not forget your map and buy an up to date sat nav!

 

But guess what? It was so worth it when we arrived!  Bibury is literally one stip of medieval houses that simply take a person's breath away. There is a sign that says at one time Bibury was considered the most beausitufl village in Europe.  So all that pain and heartache was worth it. 

Bridge to Arlington Row

Arlington Row, Bibury

Arlington Row

House on Arlington Row

Arlington Row in the background

We also rewarded ourselves with coffee and scones at a lovely coffee shop before heading off - away form the closed road - to Bourton on the Water.

These doors made me feel tall!
 

I could sit there all day.....

This was part of a Kingfisher Parade!
Like the cow parade from years ago.

I love this!

Arlington Row in the background

Just a lovely cottage in Bibury

And then, the beauty of travelling on your own steam and not with an organised tour.  Alan noticed a church spire right before we arrived at Bourton on the Water and we turned a sharp right....to Northleach.  This is the only village in the day that we had never visited, nor even heard of before today. And it was magnificent! 

The town itself, and yes it is a "town", is very pretty as all Cotwold villages and towns are, but then up on. hill is an enormous church!  When I say enormous, I mean enormous!  So we had to go check that out. 

Northleach Church

As usual, Alan and I took turns going inside while the other person waited with Skye.  But Skye was invited in by the volunteer hosting visitors that day.  So we were all in the church together.  And this volunteer held a goldmine of church information in his head.  And he made the history and stories fascinating.  We were so lucky to be met by him.

He explained that Northleach was the most influential town in Europe at one time in regards to finance and the wool industry.  Hence the huge church. He also told us about how the church was built and showed us Mason's marks from about the 1500s.  But the best thing of all to me was the date of construicont of the room with the Mason's marks - that date was 1489, but it was really hard to figure was the date 1089, 1689 or 1889?  And it was none of the above.  He then explained this was done about the time the world was changing from Roman Numerals to the ones we use today, which are Arabic.  And the 4 the way it is shown there is truly half an 8!  How cool is that?

Under the frame, the big "T" is a mason's mark

This is the date 1489

The altar stone is one large piece of granite, it must be 10 feet long.  And during all the time of King Henry the VIII, his descendants; Edward, Mary and Elizabeth, the recognised and accepted religions ping ponged between Catholicism and Protestantism.  Edward and Mary's reigns lasted 5 years, so when Elizabeth I came to power and wanted all aspects of Catholic practice destroyed, the church elders decided to wait out her reign and hide this alter instead of permitting it to be destroyed.  However, Elizabeth I reigned for over 40 years and these elders probably went to their graves without telling anyone where the altar stone was buried.  It was not until Victorian times that the church was renovated, the floor dug up and the altar rediscovered and replaced!  This photo shows the altar and the tiles where it was hidden under.  

Location of missing statues

There are also many missing church statues and the legend is that they are also hidden within the church, but not yet rediscovered!

What a treat!  And a wonderful surprise to discover such a new and interesting town in the Cotswolds.  

We bought our lunch rolls in Northleach and it appears they are also suffering from lack of food and the choices we had were extremely limited.  We took our rolls and had a lovely picnic along the water at Bourton on the Water.  

Here are some other photos of Northleach:

Cotswold Stores

A butcher shop in an old Tudor Building

The Peep

Gorgeous damage

And a Rolls Royce

Another view of the Rolls Royce!

As we were leaving Northleach

Bourton on the Water is very popular and has so much to see.  But is is also very peaceful and simply a delight to be there.  We added to that delight by getting ice cream, which is a bit of tradition when we are there!  

And a few more from Bourton on the Water:  

Ice cream!

One of many ice cream shops

Duck Crossing

Beautiful Shops

The Windrush River goes through Bourton on
the Water

Another view

This looks like it might be a hotel! 

Lower Slaughter

The day was getting late but we really wanted to get to the Slaughters.  These are some of my favourite places in the Cotswolds, I don't know why.  But it is so peaceful since you have to walk between the villages, Upper and Lower Slaughter.  And we never made it to Upper Slaughter.  The day was too long, our dog was too tired and - to be honest - so were we. So we bade farewell to the Cotswolds and headed back to the Falcon.

More photos of Lower Slaughter:  

Walking along the water

This sign made me laugh, right 
before I saw a bunch of kids jump in!

The mill, there is a shop there, but I don't 
think this is a working mill anymore.

Gorgeous house

We took Skye on the Hasely walk to the church and loved seeing the rainbow above the Manor House in the distance. And we could hear church bells very faintly.

We then ate dinner in the Falcon, in the pub again since we had Skye.  Lovely meal and setting again.  

Now we are resting and wondering if our dog is too tired to go the the pub and sit out in the marquee like we did last night.....I hope she isn't!  PS, we never made it to the pub!