Bradford on Avon, England

If I told you I'm nearing the end of our England trip from May, would you believe me?  HA!

Well, Lisl and Chris know us better than just about anyone and took us to all the right places...this day, to Bradford on Avon.  Strap on your seatbelts!

But first, on the way, we stopped off to see the White Horse at Bratton Camp.

You can see a peek of it in the bottom-left image above.

And there she is, bigger than life on the side of the hill.

It's believed to have been cut into the hillside in the 16th century!

Astrid climbed down to take a picture of the horse's eye.

What a way to start the day!

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Straightaway from there, we drove 2 miles to the priory church in Edington....

 To be specific, the Priory Church of St. Mary, St Katharine and All Saints, Edington!

It's from 1352.

The sense of history is palpable, don't you think?

I always want first to see the nave...and then the details.

You know how the organ and pulpit are important to me because of Mom and Dad.

That's an old Book of Common Prayer, from 1718!

The green man (top-right) is hidden...but we found it.

And remember, I'm collecting church cushions.

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By then, it was time for lunch in Bradford on Avon, 10 miles away.

A picnic lunch, right on the Kennet and Avon canal...

 ...right next to the narrowboats, many of which you can rent.

See what I mean about how our English friends know us.  It still amazes me.

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Then we started walking (and playing) all over Bradford on Avon. 

This Barton Farm Country Park reminds me of an open-air museum.

It's where the Saxon Tithe Barn is from the 14th century, also known as Priory Barn.

The barn is empty of tithes now but is worth seeing for the wooden vaults alone.

From there we could view the medieval stone Barton packhorse bridge, crossing the River Avon.

As we walked around, we came across several Asian painters at the landmarks,
like the Holy Trinity Church from 1150. Later I wished I had asked who they were!

I had no idea we were climbing up to the top of the city till we got there.

The overview was spectacular.

And yes, that's the more famous Town Bridge (bottom-right).

Impressions.  Always impressions.

Near the Town Bridge we saw two more churches, one right after the other.

 First was the St. Thomas More catholic church in the old town hall.

You can see how modern it looks, converted on the second floor of the building in the 1950s.

But my Hart & Soul are with these older churches, as you'd guess.

This is the Saxon Church of St Laurence, perhaps as early as 700, if not the 10th century.

You can sit there with Lisl and just be amazed.

 All that AND weathervanes.

And flowers everywhere, in May....

...and I do mean everywhere.

Remember that Chris calls Astrid his Little Sis.  I call Lisl my Big Sis.

(All from meeting on the internet, as Astrid would say!)

It doesn't get much better than this, except that it does, when we go next to Bristol....