Take the Good with the Bad

My friends, I have both good and bad news to share. Let's dispense with the bad first.

Unbeknownst to us, ANDY DAVISON was due in England on business right now. The plan had been hatched that his sister LOUISE would drive us to the Charlton Village Hall, to discover ANDY sitting on the memorial bench to their parents, reading a newspaper. (There is a third sibling, Virginia, whom we are yet to meet.)

Now that would have been SPECTACULAR if this had happened yesterday.

So Bad News Story No. 1 is Andy's business trip has been postponed until January 2013.

Today we set off to find a certain stained glass window in the St. John the Baptist Church in Charlton. It turns out to be the same church Louise showed us yesterday, where her sister Virginia and Guy were married!! And, like yesterday, this small church was closed.

The window commemorates the 20th Earl of Suffolk, who, according to Andy on the phone this morning, was not too interested in being an Earl. He even worked in Australia as a jackaroo for a while. So when World War Two came along, he joined the bomb disposal squad, wishing to make a useful contribution. The Bad News Story No. 2 is he was killed by a bomb and, with the church closed, we could NOT see the stained glass window in his memory. You need to be INSIDE looking OUT to gain the full effect.


The church was right beside the gates to the Earl's estate. It was amusing that, when we drove up, the gates silently swung open. But given the stern "Private Property - Not for Public Entry" signs, we reversed rather than proceeded!!!


Bad News Story No. 3 involves an old friend of Sue and Andy. Sue suggested I call in and give her old friend Phil Ashby, who works in a local Malmesbury bank, a big hug for her. The Malmesbury folk told us he is now in the Tetbury branch. As we wished to visit the Highgrove shop, off we tootled to Tetbury.

Poor Phil!!! As Woodsie kindly explained to me later, I probably should have explained my mission BEFORE hugging him with the enthusiasm I knew Sue would wish. Below is Phil with me, after he recovered from his shock.




Next was the Highgrove Shop, located very conveniently only a few doors down from Phil's bank branch. Highgrove House is, of course, the home of Charles and Camilla. Sadly, neither we're behind the counter to serve me as I stocked up on a few mementos.




Tetbury was yet another charming village, especially on such a perfect summer day. It seemed chock full of antique shops AND one naughty fake ivy dog.













Woodsie nostalgically gazed at a man mowing the Tetbury cricket club wicket.





Then we set off for Oxford. I THOUGHT I had set the GPS for the university town, via Faringdon, which was a short detour but Andy had claimed it was a few extra miles well worth driving to see.

Bad News Story No. 4 is somehow I managed to enter (without noticing) Farnborough, not Faringdon, so we detoured alright!!

Now there is some good news for the day. Good News Story No. 1 is we followed the advice of Louise and did not drive into Oxford ourselves. We followed the clear signage to the 'Park and Drive' which is a series of large car parks on the outskirts, each serviced by a regular stream of buses, which take you right into Oxford, then return you straight back to your car park.




When we finally made our way to the Tourist Information Centre, we were told their last walking tour for the day had already left. Outside, we saw another walking tour just beginning.

I bowl up to the guide and ask if we can pay and join in.

"No, this is a private tour ... of Australians."

I pipe up. "But we are Australian, so don't we qualify?"

He reluctantly conceded we could, but only if his group agreed. Now this was definitely Good Luck Story No. 2. This group of mainly women are from the N.S.W. coast, between Sydney and Newcastle. A more friendly and welcoming group we could not find.




They are all in an aqua aerobics group and decided to take a holiday. When we visited the chapel at Trinity College, one asked Allan, our guide, "Is that the stairway to heaven?"




Poor Allan was a bit pompous and not quite in sync with the irreverent, hilarious nature of these women. But I loved them.

Oxford held so much history and amazing buildings ...












and statues and carvings ...







and open green spaces and gardens ...











that it was a pleasure to wander around to see and learn about so much.

Christopher Wren, the famous architect, was a Professor of Astronomy here. The writer of 'Alice in Wonderland' taught Mathematics. The Bodleian Library is one of the largest in Europe and has 90 miles of bookshelves!! One bell chimes 101 times at 9:05 each evening. Why? Oxford once comprised 101 colleges. 9 o'clock was curfew. And before Greenwich Mean Time, 2100 hours in London was 2105 in Oxford.

Oxford has educated 12 SAINTS, 30 Archbishops of Canterbury and 50 Olympic medallists. John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, went here.

Oxford is a place STEEPED IN TRADITION.

Downton Abbey

Do you remember Lord Carnarvon, who was connected with Howard Carter, in relation to the Tomb of Tutenkarmen? Well, I visited his estate today - Highclere Castle. Not the same one, but his descendant.





Does it look familiar? This is where 'Downton Abbey' is filmed. No photography is allowed inside, but we toured around the ground and second floors. We saw rooms like Lady Sybil's bedroom and where Mary and Matthew danced together. If you are not a fan of the show, this all means nothing, but as I am, it was AMAZING!

We were in a drawing room and there are guides in various rooms to answer questions. One said, "How old do you think this rug is?"

We looked at the enormous rug and gave various guesses. All incorrect.

"Three weeks," she proclaimed. It was new!!

Filming for series three just finished there a few weeks ago.

Here is the castle looking up from the wildflower meadow. Last month, these flowers would have been a sea of colour.



This is in the Secret Garden, which is set some distance from the house, which is surrounded on three sides by sweeping lawns, with one side of outbuildings and a chapel.


And here is our very own personal driver and tour guide today: Louise Davison. Louise lives in Bristol and through our Greensborough friends, Sue and Andy, caught up with us today. (Andy is her brother, so I've met Louise on several of her Oz visits.) What a wonderful day we had.




Before Highclere, we left Malmesbury for the next village of Charlton, to pay a very special visit to ... a bench. But not any bench. This one is in memory of Cyril and Freddie DAVISON, who were instrumental In the rebuilding of the Village Hall you see behind.




We saw several of the homes the Davison family had lived in, including one gorgeous place set beside the original farmhouse. The barn had been converted too and now several homes were part of this development, overlooking green meadows.







Lunch was in The Royal Oak in Marlborough.


Now most have heard of Stone Henge, but it is not the only henge in England. Louise took us to see Avebury stone circles, passing the enormous Neolithic mound, Silbury Hill on the way.




There is an enormous, deep ditch around the stone circles.



But progress being what it is, and conservations not always keeping ahead of developments, look carefully below. A road had been built between two sections of the circle. A smaller circle is contained in the field in the foreground, but the larger circle is dissected by a road.


Castle Combe is where 'Dr. Dolittle' was filmed and this is the essence of a Quaint English village. It was just delightful.










It was a wonderful day "puddling" around through so many little villages, especially past places of significance to Sue and Andy. I know that Woodsie really appreciated the opportunity to just sit and take it all in, without the responsibility of driving. Plus we had the bonus of Louise, to pepper with questions about all we saw.

Then, as a complete surprise, on returning to The Old Bell, our hotel, Louise produced a hamper of goodies for us, courtesy of Sue, Andy, Emily and Hannah, back home, to both celebrate Woodsie's milestone birthday, and as supplies to watch the Malmesbury Carnival Parade Saturday.




Just amazing! In fact, our whole day with Louise was just absolutely sensational.

Not a Typical Day

Breakfast this morning was muesli and yoghurt at Dublin airport, before a 6:40 regional flight to Bristol. We were met there by steady rain. England is experiencing its wettest summer in one hundred years.

In our hire car, a snappy looking Peugeot, we headed straight to Bath. We found a car park near the town centre, which is not always possible. Perhaps the damp weather kept tourists away. Raincoats on and umbrella up, we finally located the Roman Baths. Entry tickets come with audio guides. So along the various exhibits we went, learning about how the Romans developed the natural hot water springs into an enormous complex, complete with temple and pools to also promote healing.










There is a scale model of what the complex would have looked when first created.





The stone walls remain, but the original wooden roof rotted in the Roman times, to be replaced by a high arched roof using bricks. The technical skills of this civilisation were truly impressive. Below is an overflow drain they built which allowed excess water to be channelled out to the river.





The Romans built bath houses in their various centres in England. So sophisticated was the engineering, after the collapse of the Roman Empire, the English bathing standards slipped somewhat and it would be another one thousand years before the English would have such bathing facilities again.




This pool, now empty, has a bench seat around the edge, indicating people would come here "to take the waters" in seeking a cure for their ailments.


One fascinating exhibit is the remains of a man, in his 40s, believed to be from Syria and probably wealthy. Experts determined by his teeth his diet included honey, which only the rich could afford. From his skull, his likeness has been recreated.







A Roman stonemason took this photo of us. At least, that is how he was dressed and what he told me he was. Who am I to doubt him?




Next we paddled our way along some beautiful streets lined with wonderful buildings, to ...





The Jane Austen Centre. She never lived in this building, but she did once live in this street. The Centre promotes her work and focuses on how her various times visiting or living in Bath influenced her writing. A wonderfully whiskered man with a broad accent greets you on arrival. (Though he may have been on a break, as we only saw him when leaving.)




"Mr. Bennett," I said. "I didn't expect you to have such an accent."

"Damn B.B.C. types," he explained. "Makes everyone sound so la-de-da. Don't you be fooled, now Miss. Mr. Bennett would have sounded just like 'moy'."

Rob and I went to the Jane Austen Tearooms on the second floor for lunch. All the employees in the Centre wear Regency costume. I had TEA WITH THE BENNETS (sangers and a slice of Victoria sponge cake) and a pot of JANE AUSTEN'S BLEND OF TEA.

We headed off to Malmesbury, to the Old Bell Hotel, which claims to be the oldest hotel in England. The abbey next door was founded around 676 AD as a Benedictine monastery. So many scholars came to study their vast library, a place to accommodate and feed them was built next door around 1220.

It was still raining as we departed Bath ... as seen through our windscreen









but the weather cleared and we saw the most brightly coloured rainbow as we drove along.







On arrival, we discovered our room has been upgraded. We are now in the Sir John Rushout room. The Malmesbury Carnival is on this Saturday, and we will have a perfect view of the late afternoon parade from our second floor window.









Off we went to wander along the winding streets, peer down lanes and i to shop windows, then have a drink of 'Reverend James Ale' in the quaint Smoking Dog pub.

Then we grabbed some fish 'n chips (battered cod) from a shop facing the square, used as a car park, outside the Town Hall, and sat on the bench to the left of the gates to the local library to eat them.

Breakfast in Dublin, lunch in Bath, dinner in Malmesbury. Not quite a typical day.