Even though the weather has been ridiculously blustery for the last four or so days, we spent a lot of time outdoors this weekend because the temperatures were very cooperative. I definitely see where A.A. Milne got his inspiration for Winnie the Pooh!
On Friday, we had curry with the neighboUrs and our landlords. I am really going to miss that and all of them.
On Saturday, we headed to the Colesbourne Inn
for a delicious lunch with our friends, the Andrews, and a subsequent trip to Colesbourne Park. Since this is a return visit, I will direct you to a previous blog post. That way I do not have to reinvent the wheel. There were many flowers which had emerged, but I think prime snowdrop viewing might be this coming weekend or the following however, we are already booked so this weekend it was.
Winter Aconite
Cyclamen
SnowdropToday, Craig, Owen and I traveled to Uffington to see a variety of sites but we started our day with a pub lunch at The Trout Inn near Buscot on the bank of the River Thames just at the border of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire.
It was as authentic as they come and I think it was the first time that I had real, homemade Yorkshire pudding (which is not pudding at all) and they were scrummy! Other pubs use pre-made ones.
After satisfying our hunger, we first went to
I am not going to go into great detail regarding the site but this link will tell you everything you need to know and it is worth the read. I first saw this horse on the cover of a cassette I owned in the 1980's, English Settlement by XTC. I was a bit disappointed that the horse wasn't as white as it is shown in photos. Craig says they have a "whiting party" every so often. I think it's time the National Trust sent out some invitations to prospective whiteners! It's also at a weird angle that doesn't lend itself to be seen clearly, but it really is just a cool, weird thing made by humans. We stood by the eye and ear area and Owen petted its mane. There is a similar horse at Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. I might have to see that one day...
A real white horse on White Horse HillNext we walked down the hill to Dragon Hill
which was actually pretty neat. It was windy as all get out and if we had had a toddler with us, he might have been swept away; it was that windy!
Dragon Hill looks like a man-made hill fort and has a connection with Saint George who supposedly slayed a dragon (see link). We hung out there for a bit, resting and escaping the wind...
because we knew we had to climb back UP the big hill.
We finally started back up to walk to the crest of the hill to see
. This Iron Age hill fort was worth the visit, but nothing spectacular. It is super big though which was unusual.
Someone left their shoes behindAfter this, Owen had had his fill of rolling around in sheep and bunny poo so we headed home taking the hedge road way through some picturesque little villages.
A thatched roof with whimsical squirrel made of strawWe had a quick detour into the graveyard of
but the church was CLOSED!!! :-(
Amazing lichen
We arrived home on time for a rest and then a dinner of vegetable soup, bread and cheese.
3 comments:
1. Did know churches closed! That is sad.
2. GREAT photos, as always.
3. Gross to the sheep and bunny poop. Have many memories of that.
4. When we went to Cornwall we were visiting one of the many castles there and it was so windy that Patrick carried Aidan; so windy, though, that as Patrick carried Aidan around, we LOST his crocs because they blew off his feet and actually blew away. Sad day.
5. Great post, as always, making me a wee bit homesick!
The Croc story is sad but I would have laughed at the die-lemmer.
I made everyone look around the castle property for AGES looking for his shoes.
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