May 13th & 14th
We left he boat and then headed west to Wales. On the way there was a side trip to Hampton Court,
not the Hampton Court but a Hampton court
Names in England! Every thing from castles to the tiniest cottage has a name. No wonder they repeat them once in a while. Almost every village we've been through has an "Old ''forge" cottage and a " Rose Cottage"..
The Hampton Court we went to was built on land gifted by King Henry the second for service rendered. It seems if you knew the and were in his favour he may be inclined to bestow such a gift upon you. Nice work if you can get it!
The oldest part of the building was built in the 1400's and the whole was restored in the "American millionare" period of the 1980's.
The abode is quite grand and has beautiful gardens.
If you are grand yourself it can be let for a weekend wedding in the country.
The 24 bedrooms should be enough.
A hedge maze! I'm a little sad that theres no room for one at home.
Hay on the Wye
Entering Hay on Wye made me realize that each village has is't own sense of place. Building materials and styles slowly change as we travel through the country. Here most of the stone is quite a dark gray and seems to be a harder stone. Right in town there is the ruin of a Norman castle which dates to the 1200's. I heard the town is hoping for an American millionare of it's own.
We booked for two nights at the Swan.
Lovely dinning room, don't you think? I had a most delicious pork belly for dinner. My chat with the chef revealed his secrets. Long slow cooking , thyme, fennel, rosemary, garlic and a fantastic local rare breed pork producer. Well I can manage one of those at home.
Inn garden
This is a village of books and very narrow streets.
There are close to 30 book shops, yes 30 in this small village. Used Antique and new books every where!
A book lovers haven. This should give you a feel for it all.
Alas no books on pattern drafting, corsets or making hats, so so sad : (
I guess my interests are a bit too odd. ; )
Books everywhere but a girl still has to eat once in a while.
Thank you so much for the updates - I never would have imagined that book stores would be so popular! Looking forward to hearing more stories when you get home.
ReplyDeleteOh how I wish I'd gone with you. Can you imagine what heaven it would be for me to browse through 30 bookstores? Not to mention the castles, stately homes, thatched cottages, charming inns and eateries.....
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