It was 10 am as I pulled up outside Harington’s Hotel in the narrow Queen Street in Bath. Yolanda, Jon, Gillian and Diane were there and ready to go.
It’s always a little struggle to navigate out of Bath and make introductions!. But we managed it.
Whist it was a little overcast I was hopeful that the sun would come out. We were heading for Lacock Abbey. I dropped my guests off so they could exploer the Abbey and the photography museum at their own pace. We walked up the high street a little before climbing back into the car.
The village of Lacock dates from the 13th century and has many lime-washed half-timbered and stone houses. The Abbey was founded in 1232 and converted into a country house around 1540. The fine medieval cloisters, sacristy, chapter house and monastic rooms of the Abbey have survived largely intact..
The next scheduled stop was Castle Combe. As expected on this Bank Holiday Monday it was extremely crowded and there was no chance of parking and walking with them. So I primed them on what to look for and dropped them off at the Church. When they had done, Yolanda texted me and I fought the traffic and collected them.
Castle Combe has been described as the prettiest village in the Cotswolds. This magical and ancient village, mentioned to the Domesday Book of 1086, was once a weaving town at the heart of the Cotswolds wool trade. Now a popular tourist destination with good reason.
We had decided against booking anywhere for lunch and opted for taking pot luck in finding a table.
Walking down the high Street I noticed an empty table in the Summer Cafe. I was generoously invited to join them and we had a lovely meal and chat, thank you.
We wandered around the Abbey and the church yard. It never ceases to awe me!
Malmesbury is rightly called the “Queen of Hilltop Towns” being England’s oldest borough with a rich history over 1000 years. Officially Malmesbury can be traced back to the fifth century, but modern excavations have revealed the remains of an Iron Age Fort, which casts the settlement possibly as far back as 500 BC.
I knew that Bibury would be busy so I decided to go via the Coln Valley and stop and look at the river for a bit of tranquility. We were almost the only people there and it was lovely to look and listen. We were not disappointed and thte sun was out.
Th beautiful, peaceful Con River, A place of tranquility to stop and reflect before visiting Bibury, further up the river.
Bibury was as predicted was very busy. This was made worse by the council blocking off half the road for some roadworks for repairs some day in the future!
I managed to meet up and walk and chat our way down Arlington Row and back to the car.
The main attraction of Bibury is Arlington Row. A group of ancient cottages with steeply pitched roofs dating back to the 16th Century.
This image appears on UK Passports.
It was now time to head back to Bath.
We were very lucky with the weather and the sun was out and the Oil Seed Rape (Canola) looked fabulous. Again, the Cotswolds did all the work for me. I just added chat and hopoefully a bit of humour!
It was so lovely spending time with all of you. Thank you for being such lovely and enthusiastic guests.