Meandering through Southern England

In true Robinson form, we didn't travel far but we saw a lot in a small area.  That is part of the beauty of England.  Around every corner there is something else interesting to see.  This was just as well because travelling just a few miles seemed to take hours.  

We started off in Oxford with family.  We spent a relaxing weekend punting on the river and more Harry Potter sightseeing at Christ Church College.

Christ Church Hall, as used in Harry Potter

This might be time to comment on our favourite drinks enjoyed in the UK.  The children enjoyed the standard cordial drank in the UK.  A brand known as Robinsons.  Dave and Jenny took a particular liking this time to a beer brewed in Oxford which was Brakspear Triple.  With 7.2% Alc/Vol it was a serious beer.  It supplanted our previous favourite being Theakston's Old Peculiar.

Five days in the Cotswolds went by incredibly fast.

We enjoyed 'rambling' on public footpaths and right of ways and walking across woods and farms.  This is a novel experience for Australian's who aren’t used to accessing private land.  The kids loved the stiles, kissing gates and walking amongst domestic animals.  On one walk we saw cows, sheep, chickens, pheasants, squirrels and were stalled by an inquisitive mob of horses who wanted our company.  And we did as the guide book directed us to, we descended sweetly across a field back to the starting villiage.  And of course there was always a sight to see in the middle of the walk.

Decending "sweetly"

While in the Cotswald area, we also took in Blenheim Palace, Sudeley Castle, Chedworth Roman Villla, more Harry Potter in the cloisters of the impressive Gloucester Cathedral, the Rollright Stones and were introduced to Geo Caching by one of Jenny’s cousins.

Our wettest English day was spent a day at Warwick Castle.  They have developed the interpretive aspects of it a lot since we were last there.  We started by watching and chatting with an expert long bowman, saw a trebuchet fired and learnt how the castle was used during different periods from medieval times to the early 20^th century. 

Another weekend with cousins.  This time in Solihull which is near Birmingham. More walking and a huge lunch in a 16^th century pub. And lots of time for the children to simply play.

Then a quick change of plans and we were off to Bath for another Roman history lesson.

We also visited a fashion museum.  Mia was particularly intersted in the dress ups.  She is dressed in outfits worn by children of the Victorian era for sport.  She decided quickly that sport would have been difficult in such garments.

They also had an exhibition of dresses worn by Princess Diana.  It was interesting to see the effects of time and history up close.  Our children had no idea who she was.  It was amazing to see clothes she had worn though and get more of an idea what she actually looked like.

 Being people who prefer to avoid the main tourist track, we passed by Wookey Hole Caves and the Cheddar Gorge and caves and went for a short walk at a small gorge instead.  We were met by this stick bear which looked very realistic.  This type of sculpture must be quite a thing in England as we later saw a book full of picutres of structures made out of sticks.

We explored a little of Dartmoor for the first time.  We did the most fabulous 10km walk on the moors. We lunched in a round house built over 4000 years ago by the Bronze Age inhabitants of Dartmoor and saw mining ruins and stone circles.

With guide book in hand, we asked at the pub for directions to start the walk.  The bar lady didn’t like us going with only a guide book and insisted we borrow a proper map to use.  She said it was difficult country to navigate.  She didn’t have an understanding of our navigation experience in Australia.  When the book said stand in the middle of the stone circle and then walk straight up the hill following the path over a stile, that is what you did.  Couldn’t be easier.  And if you couldn’t see the stile, or the hollow or whatever you were looking for, walk 50m in a straight line, and there it would be. 

That night we camped in a perfect campground with drystone walls, animals all around and hot croissants delivered to our van the next morning.

A Bronze Age Roundhouse

The Eden Project in Cornwell was fascinating.  In an old clay mine they have created a facility to showcase plants and the environment from around the world.  The have created these things called Biome's which house tropical rainforests and another with a Mediterranean climate.  

Across to Tintagel where there is a ruined castle which is said to be the place where King Arthur was conceived (myth or fact?) in the 5^th century.  However what is there turned out to be 12^th century ruins.  We were there on an extremely windy day and we couldn’t imagine why anyone would go to the trouble of building a castle in such a windswept place.  Despite that it was dramatic, especially Merlins' cave which goes right through from one beach to the next. 

We spent time with Dave’s cousins and had the opportunity to visit his aunt who unfortunately is now in a nursing home with dementia.  It was good to see her although she didn’t know who we were.

We had an interesting day in Exeter with Robin, one of Dave’s cousins.  He has recently moved to Exeter so we went exploring together. 

Underneath Exeter is a fascinating network of tunnels built as a water system in the 14^th and 15^th Century.  It was the only place in the UK to have such a system.  It was initially constructed to carry water direct to the Cathedral.  The tunnels were built to be large enough for people to work in to repair the pipes.  Pipes were made of lead.  Leaks were common and were fixed with cloth soaked in animal fat.  However rats liked the fat so ate the cloth.  So repair was needed again.  The system was later expanded to supply several hundred houses.  It was lost once a full water supply was installed to the town.

Stonehenge was on Joel's list to visit from the beginning of trip planning.  We managed to take that in on our return back towards London.  Despite what people say, we found it a worthwhile excursion.  The stones are quite majestic.

The following day (and our very last activity for the trip) found us visiting the Avebury stone circles.  We found them more interesting still than the more famous henge that every tourist seems to go to.  You can walk in and around the stones and touch.  They are a lot more extensive, even if smaller, and very few tourists seem to actually get there.  Lunch was had in a thatched pub in the villiage.  Out the window were standing stones.  Incredible being in 2010, in a 16th century building, looking at stones tranported and installed there 4,500 years ago.

 And what a way that was to finish our trip.

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