Moreton-in-Marsh-Chipping Campden

It was rainy and cloudy with some sunny periods. Unfortunately there are very few buses and they do not travel very often so seeing the country without a car is problematic. We took a bus for a 30 minute ride to the village of Chipping Campden. The bus rides are always an interesting experience, they go fast and then have to stop and let cars pass them, the roads are narrow and winding. There are lots of thatched houses, including some new ones. We only stayed in town for about 20 minutes because there was not much to see and if we did not take the next bus would have had to wait for 2 hours. We had lunch when we got back and checked email free at the TI. Spent rest of afternoon and evening at B & B. Market Hall-built in 1627 by a 17th century Lord of the Manor. Back then it was an elaborate shopping hall for townsfolk to buy produce.


There were lots of beautiful thatched cottages but the bus was going so fast with so many turns in the road I could not take a picture

Moreton-in-Marsh-Bath

We left in the morning a it took 3 different trains and 3 hours to get to Bath. The day was sunny and enjoyed watching the scenery from the train. We took a taxi to Travelodge and got there at 1:30 pm and could not check in or leave our luggage until 3 pm so we took our luggage and walked to a restaurant and had a mediocre lunch.

Abbey
I watched the choir in their beautiful costumes singing as they entered the Abbey.

Fashion Museum
After we got settled into the hotel we walked to what was the Costume Museum and was now a fashion museum. which was was not very interesting. There was an audio recorder included but I only listened to a little of it. The museum is in the building with the Assembly rooms where in the 18th century dances, concerts, teas and card games were held, but it was reserved for a wedding so I could only see from the door way. It is a beautiful room.

We had been to the Roman Baths last time we went to London so only looked at the outside of the building. It was Jane Austen week end and it was more interesting looking at people walking around in costumes relevant to Jane Austen. The hotel was noisy and hot. The window only opened a few inches and it was too noisy to keep open with people partying newby.

Bath-St Fagan National History Museum (Wales)

The weather started sunny, then got cloudy and then rain showers. We took a train to Cardiff in Wales, about 1 hour but then had to get off 3 stops before our destination and take a bus supplied by the train because the train track was closed for Engineer works. The bus took 1 hour but provided us with a nice look at some of Wales. Then we took a 30 minute bus ride to St. Fagans (all the museum in Wales are free). St Fagan National History Museum

This is a fantastic museum and it would have been nice to spend a lot more time there especially in sunny weather This 100 acre site is something like Heritage park in Calgary with 40 carefully reconstructed buildings. My favorite is an 1805 row houses, which displays ironworkers homes as they might have looked in 1805, 1855, 1895, 1925, 1955, and 1985. It was so interesting to see how different the homes look when done for the different time periods. The early homes had little furniture but what there was is dark and heavy. In the last one (1985) there is a TV and a dishwasher, looks roomier with furniture not being as heavy, even though there is more furniture.

17th century Cockpit-used for cock fighting until banned in 1849





Store-1880

My next favorite was St Fagan’s Castle one of the finest Elizabethan manor houses in Wales. The house was started in 1580 with many of the internal fittings done in 1620. In 1946 the castle and 18 acres were donated to the Museum. The grounds are beautiful with fountains, waterfalls, ponds, formal gardens etc.
St Fagan’s Castle

Row houses

Row house-1805

Row house-1925


Row house-1985

St Fagan’s Castle Garden

When we returned to Bath the train was running so only took 1 hour for whole ride and we sat with a very nice Welsh gentleman, who gave Ches a Welsh beer. When we got back to Bath we had supper at the Royal Hotel and everything we ordered from soup to dessert was excellent, by far the best meal we had in Britain.

Bath-Vancouver

It was sunny and we had breakfast at an expensive hotel near our not so nice Travelodge then walked around for a while. We saw beautiful historic buildings, churches and a park.

At 1 pm we took the train from Bath to London then another train to Gatwick airport. After the usual lines of checking in and security we waited around for 2 hours to fly to Vancouver. The flight home left at 7 pm (British time) and got into Vancouver (BC time) 9 hours later at 9 pm. By the time we went through customs, got our luggage customs, and to the Quality Inn hotel it was 10 pm and we had been up almost 24 hours. We managed to sleep for a few hours and have breakfast and back to the airport to fly home at 9 am. We took the airport van and got them to drop us off at our house.

The End

gingerbread houses-grandchildren

You can check for more information on my other Rauhala Rambler blog  athttp://sharonr1947.blogspot.ca/