Back to the Cotswolds

The original plan was to see Stratford-upon-Avon today, but Malcolm has been there before and said the Cotswolds was better. So we revised our itinerary and returned to the lovely villages and gardens in the Cotswolds.

First up, the town of Broadway.

It had a fabulous cafe/deli with all sorts of treasures, in a multi story old building with odd rooms here and there. I bought an Eccles cake which is a Pommie thing I've always heard of but never knew what it was - a sort of flat flaky pastry thing with currants. Really nice. 

Somebody built a 'folly' tower in the middle of their property out of the same Cotswold stone. It's 3 stories with little rooms on each floor. We took photos of the outside but the 'narrow and steep' staircase was not for some (one) of us, and it was going to be £5 each so 'we' decided to pass.

Next stop, the National Trust Hidcote Manor and Gardens. Supposedly one of the best large gardens in Britain, so I took a LOT of photos, especially of lots of flowers/plants I've never seen before. I bought us National Trust memberships before we left Australia, so of the many many manor houses etc you can visit we are focussing on those managed by the NT as we get free admission to them. It only takes 3 properties until you are ahead on costs.  Hidcote mostly has cottage garden style layouts (rather than the formal patterns at other properties) but the manor and other buildings were also attractive and there were a lot of 'shaped' trees.

This is the bathing pool - the shadow at the top right beside the statue is a deep water area, the rest was about sitting depth.

Back on the bus (it was a big day!). Next was the Cotswolds Lavender Farm. I had seen their products in all the gift shops and luckily found a brochure before this day's touring as it was quite near other planned sites. The smell as you got out of the car just about knocked you over, it was gorgeous. Note the renegade white version in the picture (the first picture, not the large one in the second picture).

Disappointingly the items in the store were outrageously expensive. A very small bottle of bath wash would have been $8. So I didn't buy ANYTHING though some things got carried around in the store before I put them back. They DID smell nice! I almost bought lavender lemonade, that would have been interesting. 

Next, Snowshill Manor and Gardens (NT again). So, for those of you who know about all the junk stored at/under our house (Steptoe and Son), there are worse ones out there.  This guy collected anything that was craftsman-made and that people were getting rid of (just like retrieving stuff from council cleanup days at home, really). The owner bought the manor in the early 1900s, and moved into a 2-room cottage so he could fill the manor house with collections. For example, 26 suits of japanese samurai armour. As you do. He also laid out extensive gardens in small 'rooms' so that you keep walking into new areas. Including a huge dovecote.

As you can see from the blue sky, the weather is still being kind to us! It was Father's Day here today so all the properties were very busy with visitors but luckily we planned to and got on the road very early so we were at Hidcote (the busiest place) when it opened and were able to park nearby, not out in the fields like the latecomers! 

Tomorrow we leave Cheltenham to head to our next accommodation place at Shrewsbury.