Having seen the beauty of Scotland's highlands, it was now time to give the English countryside a visit. We hopped into our rental car, scooped up a friend, and journeyed south.
A great way to experience British hospitality is to stay at a bed and breakfast. They are everywhere here and seem to be the default choice for many travelers. Quaint, charming and so much more personal than most hotels.
We pulled up into ours in the wee town of Shrewton just as the sun was setting.
An vintage stone manor nestled within the rolling hills of the English countryside. Could anything be more romantic? The boy tried his hardest to blend in with the setting.
The next morning, we tucked into hearty breakfasts. Unlike most places on Airbnb, bed and breakfasts here take the latter part of their name just as seriously as the former. Some common breakfast choices in the UK include porridge, smoked salmon with scrambled eggs, and my personal favorite, the full English breakfast, which is a glorious array of sausage, bacon, baked beans, fried egg, grilled mushrooms and tomato, and black pudding, which is made with pig's blood. All served with tea and toast, of course.
Our next stop: Stonehenge. I'll be honest - I wasn't exactly jumping up and down when I first heard we were going to visit a very old pile of rocks. But we arrived on a sunny day, and I was surrounded by friends and family, and everyone was in high spirits. So a lot of jumping up and down ensued!
After doing my cardio, I moved on to my strength workout.
We learned about the structure's past and the history of the people who built it over five thousand years ago. Most of the context as to why Stonehenge was built remains up for speculation (and probably always will, as there is no documentation of its use). The how of its construction was more interesting to me: I learned about several relatively simple techniques involving rope and wooden tracks that may have been used to transport the stones. A couple of researchers proved that a wooden sledges enabled a team of only sixteen men to pull a 2-tonne stone. Painstakingly difficult, but not at all impossible as we'd once thought, and definitely one of the more impressive feats of human engineering.
Stonehenge, you're alright.
Lunch was a quick stop over in the city of Bath, named so because the Romans had turned the place into a spa and erected their much-loved baths there two thousand years ago.
We saw a rather fantastic street performance by a violinist named Joel Grainger in the square where tourists lined up to see the original Roman baths. Here is his YouTube and Facebook. Really excellent stuff, and makes me feel a twinge of regret for not keeping up with the violin.
Our last stop was in the town of Castle Combe. It was so quaint and perfectly picturesque that I almost felt like I was wandering around an artificial theme park - just goes to show how green America is by comparison! But these stone houses were all very real and the town had just been very, very well preserved from when it flourished in the 1500's. No wonder it became a filming spot for movies like Dr. Doolittle and the boy's dad's favorite, War Horse (Joeeeyyyy!).
We stopped into The Old Rectory Tea Room and helped ourselves to scones and clotted cream in Anna's beautiful living room. A tasty, relaxing break from all the day's frolicking.
I'll conclude with what might be my favorite picture of the whole trip: my camera-shy, impressively-bearded siamese twin made a rare appearance. Say hello to my little friend!
Our next stop: Stonehenge. I'll be honest - I wasn't exactly jumping up and down when I first heard we were going to visit a very old pile of rocks. But we arrived on a sunny day, and I was surrounded by friends and family, and everyone was in high spirits. So a lot of jumping up and down ensued!
After doing my cardio, I moved on to my strength workout.
 |
| Do you even move giant monolithic structures, bro? |
Stonehenge, you're alright.
Lunch was a quick stop over in the city of Bath, named so because the Romans had turned the place into a spa and erected their much-loved baths there two thousand years ago.
We saw a rather fantastic street performance by a violinist named Joel Grainger in the square where tourists lined up to see the original Roman baths. Here is his YouTube and Facebook. Really excellent stuff, and makes me feel a twinge of regret for not keeping up with the violin.
Our last stop was in the town of Castle Combe. It was so quaint and perfectly picturesque that I almost felt like I was wandering around an artificial theme park - just goes to show how green America is by comparison! But these stone houses were all very real and the town had just been very, very well preserved from when it flourished in the 1500's. No wonder it became a filming spot for movies like Dr. Doolittle and the boy's dad's favorite, War Horse (Joeeeyyyy!).
We stopped into The Old Rectory Tea Room and helped ourselves to scones and clotted cream in Anna's beautiful living room. A tasty, relaxing break from all the day's frolicking.
I'll conclude with what might be my favorite picture of the whole trip: my camera-shy, impressively-bearded siamese twin made a rare appearance. Say hello to my little friend!
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