Our 2023 England Trip Overview

It was May of 2022, last year, when we last visited England, to be with our Shutterchance's photoblog friends, so it felt good to keep the every-year schedule, even if at a different time of the year.

Like last year, we split up our 10 days between two friends:  first it was Lisl and then Bill (with wife Ange).

1.  With LISL in Winsley, Wiltshire, England, from September 4-11:

As we always do with Lisl, we take walks.

This (Sept. 5) was a Winsley parish-church walk that we didn't do last year.

And, yes, we hit the wild-blackberry bushes along the way big time!

The next day (Sept. 6), after that walk, we took a 2-hour train ride, each way, to Abergavenny, Wales,

to visit the city with Lisl's childhood friend, Marie, who lives nearby.  Besides walking through city

center, we visited St. Mary's Priory church from 1070 as well as the nearby castle from 1175.

Signs of the times inside churches these days, I'm afraid.

(sigh)

Obviously the pigeon doesn't know how to read!

But can you blame him/her on a hot day?

By now it's Sept. 7, with no moss growing under our feet, even though we were in a heatwave.

This was the day friend Chris (with friend Katy) took Astrid and me to Great Chalfield Manor. 

The gardens were incredible!

Still can't find who built that but talk about scale!

Astrid and Chris enjoyed hobnobbing with the nobles.

Because of the heatwave, the next 2 days we basically stayed at home playing games!

Oh, yes, and eating good food, like from Lisl's favorite fish-n-chips place.

We called off the parish walk planned for the 9th with Chris, because of the heat.

Sometimes you just have to be sensible.

But Marie from Wales drove over to enjoy the Sunday roast on the 10th at Winsley's pub,

just like she did last year.  It's now a tradition to include her!

2.  With Bill and Ange in Droitwich Spa, England, from September 11-14:

 Monday the 11th was our transition day from Lisl's to Bill and Ange's home in Droitwich Spa.

But first, we had a mini-meetup of 9 of us at Chad and Norma's (where we stayed last year), for

a morning coffee/tea in their garden, followed by a meal at the nearby pub outside of Corsham.

From l-to-r (center):  Astrid, Chris, Lisl, Alan, Ange, Bill, Chad and Norma.

I'm a huge fan of Norma's art studio in their garden...

as well as her accessorizing finesse.

Did I mention how much we love England's hard ciders?!

AND their drystone walls, even when damaged!

Because it rained the next day, the 12th, we changed original plans to visit Warwick

to stay put around home, visiting the Droitwich Sacred Heart church's incredible mosaics,

a coffee stop at an incredible antique dealer's store, followed by another pub meal.

Are you noticing a theme here???

On the 13th, Wednesday, our last full day in England, we had another mini-meetup,

this time at the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, with 7 of us:

Bill, Ange, Alan, Astrid and 2 new ones, Martin and Elaine.

It's not call BLACK for nothing!  Fossil fuel at it's worst?

This is Astrid's photo collage of that outing.

Our meetups were cozy groupings this year, without all who sometimes come.

Those bigger groups usually happen every other year, so this was an in-between time.

By the 14th, Thursday, we were ready to fly back to Amsterdam!

Thanks to Bill and Ange's generosity, we left on the happy note of a full-English breakfast,

joined by Bill and Ange's oldest of 2 daughters, Kathryn.

And just like that, another trip to England came and went so quickly.

We call England our second home away from home, our first being Atlanta, USA, of course.

Speaking of which, that's the last big trip on the 2023 calendar, starting October 19th with my kids.

I always tell Astrid that once we hit September, I feel like we're sliding down to the New Year.

I'm saying that, of course, just 6 days before October.

See what I mean?

ENGLAND 2012: Ledbury and WALES

A year ago when we were out-n-about with host Chris, and saw a bridge out on the landscape that took you to Wales (yes, we were that close!), I immediately said I wanted to go to Wales one year!  Truth be known, I really wanted it to be this year...this trip.

And so it was!

Thus, the day after our Blists Hill blogger meet-up (last post), we drove all over tarnation for about 6 hours, getting from Bath to...eventually Wales...and then back home again.

We first stopped in Ledbury, a town in Herefordshire, known for it's timber-framed buildings.  See what I mean about how Chris knew exactly what we'd want to see without even asking!

The Market House from 1617, standing on its 16 pillars, is the most notable.

I love architecture like this!

A stone's throw away, across the street, is Ledbury's library clock tower.

It's dedicated to poet Elizabeth Barrett-Browning who lived and wrote in the town.

We didn't stay long but...long enough to get a taste for this quaint little English town.
Notice I said English and not British.  Chris often had to correct my...English!

Once back in the car, and within minutes, still within the Ledbury district, Chris then stopped at this little gem:  the Church of St. Michael and All Angels in Castle Frome, Herefordshire.  And it was open!

It was out in the middle of nowhere..."at the end of a farm track well away from the village."

When we arrived it was sunshiny (left side); when we left a storm was brewing (right side).

The font from c.1170 is one of the wonders of the church (top-right image)..

When I walk inside these quaint churches, I always wonder what my preacher dad would think!

And speaking of out in the middle of nowhere...just off the church property is this rapeseed field.

Astrid had been talking all trip about getting good pictures of the rapeseed in bloom everywhere.

BINGO.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Back in the car again, towards our "final goal" of stepping foot inside Wales...it was time to stop and eat lunch.

Leave it to Chris to have picked up some lamb meat pies for us in Ledbury.

What a host with the most!

It so happens we stopped to eat just after crossing this private toll bridge.

To avoid delay, have coinage ready.  80p.

It still blows my mind that such a bridge can be owned by a private family.

They operate it and maintain it via the toll that comes in.

See all the debris at the bottom of the pilings?  Hmmmm....

Once again, we were out in the middle of nowhere.

Sometimes those are the best places for photography!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Then suddenly...we were in WALES!

 Hay on Wye, to be specific, right on the Welsh-English border.

All signage while in Wales was in both English and Welsh.
It's a good way to learn another language, right?

 Wiki says Hay on Wye is known as the town of books.

It has a literary festival every June that draws approx. 80,000 visitors.

(The town itself has a population of only 1500 people!)

This particular bookshop in the Hay Castle is Europe's largest secondhand bookstore. 

 And YES, it was open!

Can you imagine trying to find a specific book there???? 

We couldn't leave, of course, without our favorite treat.

I scream, You scream, We all scream for ice cream!

By now it was time to head back to Bath!  My feet had touched the very land of WALES and I was a happy camper.  My day had been filled to the hilt!  I was short of eyes....

But Chris was not yet done!

 What to our wondering, short-of-eyes should appear but...Tintern Abbey, from 1131!

It is probably the most spectacular ruins of an abbey we will ever see in our lifetime.

 It, too, is in Wales, just over the River Wye border from England.

Wouldn't you want to do a photo shoot there?!

So you see, in one swell foop, we had such a fabulous day in the life of our 2012 England trip.  Are we lucky or what!  And I'm not even done yet....