Thursday 27th March: Train Trip to Bristol and City Tour

Today was another travel day heading to Bristol, where Evie was born and raised until age 7.  Kate and Dave's daughter Amber and her 3 year old grandson, Ben,  were just arriving all the way from Australia for a visit. They arrived shortly before we were set to leave so we chatted with her while Dave played with little Ben until it was time to head to the station.

We said our sad goodbye's and hauled our belongings to the correct platform for the 45 minute trip to Temple Meads in Bristol; it was a very smooth journey through lots more green and slightly rolling countryside, lots of sheep grazing and occasionally cattle and horses.

Cheltenham to Bristol

Winter in England this year has been the wettest in a century or so; part of the same weather pattern that gave California it's drought and ice storms in the Mid West and East Coast.  There were three big storms in a row just last month, causing significant flooding and destruction in, especially in the southwest of England. The groundwater/aquafer in some locations was so completely saturated that the earth itself was like a thin skin on top.  We saw TV images of people bouncing on grass as if it was a big water bed.  They are only now drying out properly; thankfully, the amount of rainfall since we've been here was been minor and of short duration.

We arrived in Bristol at Temple Meads station and took a taxi (blue here by city decree, rather than the almost universal black in London) for a very short ride to a Novatel Hotel near the center of town.

Fairly new hotel in downtown Bristol

We decided in order to reorganize ourselves and orient to Bristol, we would have a half day and a night at a hotel prior to visiting her relatives. We had a nice room there with a two twin beds put together to make a King, very nice bathroom with a tub and separate enclosed shower, microwave and even a fridge!

We took a walk up the street and crossed a main bridge over the river.  Some barges had been converted to restaurants along the quay there, quiet expensive but presently we stumbled upon an ancient pub where we found a great deal for lunch two lunches for 10 pounds, pay at the bar first.

View from main bridge over River Avon

The Smuggler's Bar, an ancient Public House in the heart of Bristol

We then looked at a tourist map we picked up in the tavern and discovered that the old Vic of Bristol was on the next block; a very famous theater and related to another one in London. We walked past it, took pictures and presently arrived at the main quay, recently renovated into shops and restaurants and a museum. The Bristol visitor center was there,so we stopped in, picked up some free literature and a small book on Bristol and sat outside on the quay taking in the people and the view of the central harbor; this is the site of where the old slavers were moored that carried their illicit cargoes to America.

The Old Vic of Bristol

Pretty pink restaurant on the same block

The Harbourside area with house boats moored.

Looking the other way from the same spot

Pero's Bridge, named for a favored local slave

View of harborside entrance

Bristol is England's 6th largest city; a major port and formerly the most important shipbuilding site. There was a Roman settlement here connected by road to nearby Bath (site of useful hot springs and, of course, Roman Baths).

Bristol was the starting point for many important voyages, including John Cabot's 1497 exploration of North America. The city is closely associated with the slave trade, as early as the 11th century but especially in the 18th where Bristol and Liverpool were the two main English ports for the "Triangular Trade" between England, Africa and North America.

"In the first stage of this trade manufactured goods were taken to West Africa and exchanged with the heads of tribes for Africans slaves; then in the second stage or middle passage, transported across the Atlantic in brutal conditions. The third leg of the triangle brought plantation goods such as sugar, tobacco, rum, rice and cotton back to England. During the height of the slave trade from 1698 to 1807 when slavery became illegal in England. More than 2,000 slaving voyages were made and many ships were fitted out at Bristol, carrying a conservatively estimated half a million people from Africa to the Americas where they were enslaved (courtesy Wikipedia entry)

Bristol is particularly associated with the noted Victorian engineer with a strange name: Isambard Kingdom Brunel.  He designed the Great Western Railway between Bristol and London Paddington, two pioneering Bristol-built ocean going steamships, the SS Great Western (1837),the SS Great Britain, the first iron-hulled propeller-driven steamship in the world (1843), and the Clifton suspension Bridge. Of course, you can't forget that it's the birthplace of Cary Grant!

Clifton suspension bridge, just upriver from downtown Bristol, designed by Brunel (web image)

 After a nice rest, we set about walking up a hill a couple of blocks to Bristol's cathedral. Right about then it started to rain so Evie popped out her tiny umbrella and we hustled into the haven of the cathedral.  This one isn't as old as some others and not quite as grand but still pretty ornate with special "fan" type ornaments supporting the roof.

Bristol Cathedral after the rain cleared

View from garden out back

A newly ordained chaplain chatted me up and told me he was the official greeter; he then told me his life story which includd a bought with brain cancer, throat cancer, then a heart attack, all before being ordained at age 62!  I was glad to get away to the toilet when someone Evie approached with a question and found it through a beautiful cloister and out into a nice garden.  By this time it had already stopped raining and was almost sunny and took the opportunity to take some nice photos, including one of a charming weeping cherry tree.

The central nave

Cloisters along the side

We walked a bit more and found a Spanish tapas restaurant, had a little bread and cheese along with the required tea for Evie, then went across the street to look at a wall mural by the famous British graffiti artist Banksy.

Street scene in downtown Bristol

Bristol is a hilly city like San Francisco

We walked all the way back to the hotel and had a little lie down.  I had wanted to go out for some live music which we had chanced to find across from the pub but it was a dubious group and it was bitterly cold out so instead we went downstairs to the hotel restaurant and had dinner before going to bed a little earlier than usual. Tomorrow Evie's cousins are coming to pick us up and take us to their house on the outskirts of town.

Bristol is an important port city, although it's several miles from the ocean and at the junction of several rivers, including the Severn which is quite wide and is a tidal estuary.   We had seen just a small part of the port a good deal of which was reconstructed after the closure of the ship yards in recent decades. It's now a commercial and tourist center.  Actually, it seems like most villages and towns in England have some major tourist attraction to them, whether a castle, palace, cathedral, birthplace or site of a historic battle.  Believe me there have been lots of battles over the centuries from Roman invasion before the end of the first century, the Galls, the Norman invasion of 1066, multiple wars of royal succession, another French invasion, two civil wars and heaven knows what else.  It's a small place with an extensive and deeply colorful and long history, so every place has been yet another important part of it.

Wednesday 26th March: Day Trip to Gloucester, Richard III Exhibit, dinner at the Green Dragon

I had a nice breakfast of cereal with raisins and bananas, with toast and peanut butter-home-made bread no less. We took our time, then set off with Kate to the larger near-by city of Gloucester (Gloster), where there was a traveling exhibit about the recently discovered skeleton in Leicester of King Richard III, the last English king to die in battle, in 1485.

Gloucester is a short drive away,and is another old city founded by the Romans in 97AD. It is situated on the River Severn, an important navigable waterway and is the county seat with its own cathedral and a population of some 125,000 people.

We parked in a parking garage and entered the museum housing the special exhibit.

View of main pedestrian street in downtown Gloucester

King Richard III only served for two years and was subject to a vicious propaganda campaign by the victors, who became the Tudor dynasty, and Shakespeare's play about him casts him as a hunchbacked tyrant. But in truth, in the short two years of his reign, he introduced a court for poor people to seek justice (like small claims, I assume), instituted the use of bail and prohibited property from being confiscated before conviction; further he ordered that all of the laws be translated and printed in English (after several hundred years of Norman, i.e. French rule).  He also prohibited the church from ordering the burning of books, this just as Gutenburgh's invention made the printing of books an big issue.

A forensic specialist took the severely damaged cranium and rebuilt his face which they displayed (the chief attraction of the exhibit).  Turns out that it is remarkably similar to a portrait of him painted in his lifetime and further proving its accuracy.

Reconstruction of Richard the 3rd from his skeletal remains found under a parking lot recently

We looked around at the other exhibits in the museum, which included a couple of dinosaurs unearthed in the area and showed off some of the artifacts from the furniture making that the area is known for. We then walked around the central shopping street, also a pedestrian mall, past the cathedral which was used in the filming of several of the Harry Potter movies.

Gloucester Cathedral, used in the Harry Potter movies

Quaint old street near the Cathedral

Street scene in Gloucester

King's Gate

We ate at the Guildhall right there in the center, cheese and tomato sandwiches with a pint of beer for me after which we returned home and rested a bit before taking our wonderful hosts Kate and Dave out for dinner.   They recommended a 17th century inn in the hamlet of Cockleford in the Cotswold's called "The Green Dragon" .

Romantically blurry hand held shot of The Green Dragon

I ordered lamb with mint sauce, not jelly, and it came with some sprigs of mint on top.  It was very good as it seems to be with all British food. There are some special hard-to-understand named desserts, including one called a Bannoffe pie, bananas and toffee; there is even a "spotted dick" which is a suet pudding with currants mixed in, steamed and served with custard.  Many pies and desserts here have hot thick custard on top, usually just off the stove and extremely hot!  I do prefer it cold though.

Roads out here in the country are narrow, with no shoulder at all, there isn't room and sometimes a farmer is stopped to open a gate completely blocking the lane.  English people seem to take it all in their stride. We made it back home safe and sound and off to bed by 11:30.

Tuesday 25th March: The Cotswold's to Stratford on Avon

Today was a very bad weather day, but in these parts you can't let that get you down, so Kate and Dave gamely drove us to city of Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford on Avon. Lots of green countryside along the way, gentle rolling hills as we drove into the Cotswold's; this is a SW central England area of rolling hills and small mountains, the tallest being just over 1000 ft, that is some 25 miles wide and about 90 miles long. The area is characterised by attractive small towns and villages built of the underlying Cotswold stone

As we drove and left Cheltenham, we did get a good glimpse of the town down below in what would have been a great view on a clear day.  Kate took us on the scenic tour, through several picturesque

Cotswold stone houses (from the web)

old villages. One of the main features of the Cotswold's is the ancient underlying limestone which results in a golden colored "Cotswold Stone" that has been used almost exclusively for buildings over many centuries, giving each of the villages we passed through a most uniform look.


We stopped for lunch at Stow on the Wold at a up-market place (Eng. word for swanky) called Morton's.  The actual entree menu was in the 20 pounds per person range but we settled for sandwiches;good English food here but lousy service which took nearly an hour to start our lunch!

Dave and Evie in doorway to Morton's

The rest of the journey to Stratford was less than a half hour.  The once-village (in the time of Shakespeare) has grown into a city now (population some 25,000), partially because of his fame. The name itself is Middle English for "a road that fords a river" (in this case, the Avon; only some dozen miles or so downstream from Warwick castle). It is a major tourist attraction, partially because of it's famous son, but also because it's become a theatrical center as well, with a couple of very well known playhouses and theater companies there.

Our first stop was at Anne Hathaway's cottage, the home of Shakespeare's wife's family (before she was married) which houses a nice garden.  We didn't take the tour, as it was too wet and nearing closing time (4PM).

Anne Hathaway's Cottage in Stratford

The garden, on a rainy day

Kate then dropped us a block or two away from the main attraction and Dave, Evie and I braved the rain to walk to what is now a pedestrian walkway past the house Shakespeare retired to after he made his money in London. He was born here, in more humble lodgings, and after making his fame and fortune in London, he could afford to build a retirement home here in about 1605.

Evie and Dav walking through downtown Stratford on Avon

Shakespeare's birthplace

His back yard

Even though this was a weekday and off-season, there were still plenty of people about and several tour buses had just come in. There were throngs of foreign tourists of all nationalities. We were a little late in the afternoon to take the tour of the house and I really wasn't that interested anyway as it was some 15 pounds per person to get in; I did take some pictures and we walked through the gift shop and bought a few souvenirs for home.  I did see an interesting just published historical novel on sale that I'll look up when I get home, called "1599", about one particularly important year in Shakespeare's life.

We walked around a bit; there were lots of high end clothiers and gifts shops in the area. The main drag is for pedestrians only and preserves some other very old structures dating back to even earlier than the Bard's time.

The main street in Ye Olde Stratford

We wended our way back to the car where Kate was patiently waiting and headed back out of town; we
drove a different way home, getting in towards sunset.

Evie and Kate went out to pick up fish and chips at their favorite establishment, Simpson's, but not the cartoon characters.  This Simpson's is a chain known for using sustainably harvested fish, the three basics of cod (preferred), hake, or haddock.  I chose to have scallops and chips, which was more breading than scallops but still tasty and an option that we never get at home.

We sat up and watched a little tele before getting to bed late.

Monday 24th March: From Birmingham to Cheltenham: Kate and Dave Gegg

oday we're in for a change of location to the second of a series of Evie's friends and relatives in the Cotswolds. After breakfast Margaret took us to Coventry to catch our train and after grateful farewells for a very comfortable stay with her, we were off; first to the major city of Birmingham (pronounced with an "um" on the end rather than a "ham") where we then changed trains with all our luggage,for a quite short jaunt to Cheltenham (Cheltnum) where we were picked up by Dave and Kate, old friends of Evie's since 1969 before any of their respective children had been thought of!

Coventry to Birmingham to Cheltenham

We arrived in early afternoon in the middle of town and after parking, Kate directed us to a restaurant she had in mind for a nice pub lunch.  Dave is a music fan and mentioned a used CD store next door;  of course I was looking forward to seeing if there were any bargains to be had here. The place was tiny, more about vinyl than disc, but I did find a couple of things.  Dave recognized the owner as being from his old school years ago and they chatted for a bit.  After we stepped out and met Kate and Evie, I suddenly realized that one of the big buttons on my coat was missing!  I knew immediately why; due to  carrying a back pack (which was a bad idea) AND a shoulder bag, I'm sure that in taking one or the other off it must have caught on the button. My coat is the one I bought from a vintage clothing store in Tucson, AZ, so it comes from the 40's and I thought that finding a button would be impossible but Kate said that there was a "button shop" just around the corner and headed straight there via the pedestrian mall to the shop.

Pedestrian street in downtown Cheltenham

Park nearby

It was a sewing shop and they did indeed have a huge selection of buttons.  I couldn't find the exact button of course, but did find the same size, and Kate volunteered to sew all three front buttons on, so I bought 4 so I'd have one extra, all for a little over a pound.

The weather was cloudy but not raining as we headed to their house through some wider streets than we had experienced in Kenilworth; the streets were not really built for car traffic and the houses rarely have garages or driveways so cars are parked on both sides of the road with only room for one direction of traffic (even though it's a two way street). If someone is coming the other way you look for a space to pull over and let them by. 

Kate and Dave with Evelyn infront of their house in Cheltenham

We were lucky to be able to park just across the street from their house, carried luggage in and settled in. By now it was late afternoon, so no other trips today, it didn't bother me to just stay in and it was nice to just spend time together. Kate cooked up a nice meal for dinner and we sat in the living room and chatted for the entire evening, watched a little tele and then off to bed.  This bedroom and bathroom were fairly spacious, with a shower curtain like I am used to instead of glass at the hotels and a bathtub with an adjustable shower head so you don't have to stoop over to get your head wet! In England, and generally in Europe so I understand, the houses are smaller and the bedrooms fairly tiny compared with America; hence no one has a King size bed with the possible exception of maybe Kings and other royalty who reside in large palaces!

Sunday 23rd March: Kenilworth Castle and Ramble

Margaret provided us with cereal, toast with peanut butter and a glass of milk for breakfast and I felt quite at home.  Then we were off to visit another castle, this one right in the same town of Kenilworth, less than 2 miles from Warwick castle.

The Kinilworth Abbey

Pond with swans

We walked through town passing the local Abbey and a picturesque lake with swans and at last arrived at the castle.

Margaret and Evelyn march ahead to the castle

This was started as a small fort shortly after the Normal conquest of 1066 expanded multiple times and turned into quite a spectacle at one time.  They even made a dam on the river that flows by it and flooded a huge area, leaving only a small causeway to enter.  It was besieged during one of the civil wars, and it took six months to starve them out, and eventually it was abandoned and wound up a ruin.

View from entry.

They have restored two later additions; one of them serves as a restaurant and gift shop, where we had a lovely little meal.








We explored the ruins for awhile amidst a cold wind and drizzle.  The Garden was being restored so was covered in scaffolding. Since it wasn't quite Spring yet around these parts, not much was flowering, but this downloaded picture gives you an idea of what it is supposed to look like on a decent day!

The Elizabethan Gardens on a better day

A model of the castle at full build-out, with moat. The bottom right area is now the parking lot.

Evelyn peaking out from small opening

Suddenly it started really raining which drove us inside the restored stables for lunch.  We had a delicious steaming hot butternut squash soup with a tasty baguette, along with the mandatory tea which really hit the spot.

The reconstructed stables with the great hall

The great dining hall in the stables.

 
After an hour or so of indoor warmth and food, the weather cleared up to just cold and windy.  I had asked to go on a "ramble" (Britspeak for a hike or walk) and Margaret was happy to oblige since she leads the Kenilworth Rambling Club. Evelyn wanted to explore the town instead so we parted our ways and Margaret and I set off into the countryside.

View of castle walking away on our "ramble"

 We walked through pasture lands, past stands of trees, through some serious mud, and at each pasture there was an ingenious little hinged gate--perfect for allowing a single person at a time to go through, but to keep the mostly sheep grazing in the fields from getting out. All the fields were private property but some custom or law in England allows access to "ramblers".  Several that we came upon had their dogs with them.

Gates at entrance to each field

  We saw only sheep on our walk but some areas feature more cattle and sometimes bulls.  One newspaper article I saw mentioned someone who had been attacked by a farmer's bull while on a ramble and seriously injured.



We walked for a little over two hours; at times it was quite windy and at other times it died down and got almost warm before suddenly rounding a stand of trees and getting another blast of cold air. Margaret had provided me with a pair of ear muff which I haven't worn since being a kid; these made it fairly comfortable.  I had brought a pair of hiking shoes especially for this walk; believe me it was a substantial sacrifice of space in my suitcase but definitely worth it for this ramble.

View of castle on from across what would have been a flooded field.

By the time we got back to the castle, we had some nice views over the fields as we approached it. The clouds parted just briefly to allow me to get the sunlit shot above. I was ready for a rest but we still had to walk all the way through town again to get home first!

When at long last we arrived, I was glad to get my coat, hat and shoes off and have a nice little lie down.

Evelyn mentioned that after we left, she had toured the restored Gatehouse, which I had barely noticed. This addition was built in the 1570's to attract Queen Elizabeth I to visit and was an attempt by the Earl at the time to entice her into marrying him.  Although she did indeed visit several times, the ploy didn't work, but the four story building has period furnishings in it and the original bed that the Queen had slept in; Evelyn said it was all quite impressive.

The restored "Gatehouse", converting the castle
into a "Renaissance Palace" fit for a Queen.

After my little nap, I got up in time for dinner, a delicious dinner which Margaret cooked for us again. This time roasted chicken with potatoes and veggies with roasted parsnips which were tasty. We watched some tele' again before retiring after another full day.

Saturday 22nd March: Warwick Castle

Today we have scheduled a visit to a famous castle in Warwick (pronounced "Warick"); after a nice breakfast, which for the first time included actual peanut butter on toast (which was a surprise to some), we piled into Margaret's llittle car and headed a few miles across town.  Margaret wanted us to have the opportunity to see Warwick town center and so parked at the public parking lot close to a local Sainsbury's (grocery chain in UK). We proceeded to stroll through town passing Elizabethan cottages and the charming market square before arriving at the castle!

Open air market in Kenilworth town center.

The town's church and one parking space!

 

 

The street leading to the castle, with a Tudor house where someone died in 1573

This castle is in very good condition and was used up until sometime early last century.  It is completely intact (unlike many others) and has a number of attractions, some of which are at extra cost (a house of horrors for one).

City gate leading to castle

First view of Warwick castle

We paid the entrance fee and walked in to see an impressive view (above) of one of the castle towers.  This turns out to be only a small portion of the entire fortification.  The main entrance to the interior is on the left or this picture.

Central court from fortified hilltop, Ethelfeda's Mound

 The three of us walked around the main court yard (referred to as a "bailey" from an old French term) to get our bearings.  There was a light drizzle, and a view of the same tower and wall we saw from the entrance, as well as another fortified on the opposite side of the court. This turned out to be the site of the original fortification on a raised earthwork called a "motte" with a stone structure on it called a "keep", the site being on a bluff overlooking a bend in the river Avon.

Ethelfleda's Mound, site of original fortification

Tower from inside court yard

This castle was built on the site or an early Anglo-Saxon fortification, dating from around 900 AD, to protect against Danish marauders!  When the French/Viking King William conquered England in 1066 (the famous date of the Battle of Hastings in which his forces defeated the Anglo-Saxons), he had this hill (motte) created and a keep built on it within 2 years. A French nobleman was put in charge and given the very English title of Earl of Warwick. The rest of the castle, which encloses the court, was built in the next century, so the way it looks now dates from just before 1200 AD, but additional improvements were made over the centuries. During the 16th century, as the use of castles declined, many were converted into luxurious residences for the noble families that owned them. As their fortunes diminished, they turned to tourism and paid admissions to maintain their properties and downsized their lifestyles;  this one was was opened to tourists back in 1900!

We discovered that there were a couple of events scheduled for the day.  The first was a display of the mighty Trebuchet, and a little later, a "raptor" show. Both sounded interesting, so we headed out the side wall gate, around the fortification and down a hill to the River Avon, the same one that flows past Shakespeare's village.  The sun came out briefly as I was setting up a picture from the bridge and it suddenly looked all bright and shiny, and the pocket camera in automatic mode captured it pretty well.

View from bridge over River Avon--completely different looking castle from here

 On the opposite side of the river, actually an island, stood the Trebuchet, a humungous catapult that was a powerful siege engine, state of the art in the 1400's.

The Mighty Trebuchet

This working model, constructed in 2005, had developed a crack in the throwing arm, so they couldn't fire it for us, even though it was made of a special combination of woods that are now rare and which had to be imported from Europe. The "Trebuchet Master", Mark, provided an informative presentation in period attire, along with his two "apprentices", pointed to a flag stuck in the ground at a great distance down a field that was the target they normally shot at using only partial power.  They did fire a tiny replica so we could see how it worked, kind of like a huge sling shot. This siege engine could pound a castle walls to pulp, but had no wheels, it would have been too heavy to transport without paved roads anyway, so they carefully took it apart and reassembled it at the siege site. It had over 300 pieces and weighs some 22 tons and is just under 60 feet tall. It can throw a 330 lb. object over nearly 1000 feet. It takes four men, hamster-like, in each one of the two 13 foot' wheels, to wind it up. It was so disorienting inside these wheels that they selected men for the job who were either fully or partially blind (many times from war inflicted injuries). This at least it gave them a job. This one was patterned after the first modern reconstruction, done in Denmark, and beat that one's record for distance thrown in 2006.

We then walked back inside the castle walls, and up a steep incline to the "keep", called Ethelfleda's Mound, after an early Saxon Queen and not a name one hears much these days. The view was great from there and you could see the River Avon flowing by and the green fields extending into the distance.

View from keep, moments before it rained

 That's when it suddenly started to pelt us with cold rain, so we had to hustle back down the stairs and into the castle's living quarters for shelter.  We discovered that it was still filled with all the furniture from the Victorian era (late 1800's to turn of century) when it was owned by another in a long line of Earls of Warwick, and includes wax figures dressed in Victorian attire representing the landed gentry that lived there in the late 19th century.  They even had recordings of imagined conversations between them. One room had a card table with three men playing and "talking", and an empty chair that visitors could sit in and take a picture, which of course I did.

Fleecing the locals at cards

By the time we finished that walk through it was sunny again but still quite cold so we ventured out again to see the raptor exhibit.  That one was great!

A trainer brought out three different birds, one at a time.  The first was a falcon, which did some swooping and diving. Then he brought out a Sea Eagle saying it was the largest of the Eagles and had it soar up to the castle wall and then back down right over our heads before landing on a perch.  It was indeed huge and came within a few feet of us, wings fully extended.  After that one did some flying about, he pulled out and American Bald Eagle!  Not quite as big, but still a spectacular bird, it soared off into the distance and back, landed up on the parapet, swooped down and landed right on his arm.  I think he said it weighed in at 15 lbs or so with a wingspan of some 10 feet!  It was gorgeous.  My little pocket camera was no good for tracking it in the air but I did get a shot of it on his arm.

American Bald Eagle with trainer

After the show was over, we went back inside to their restaurant and had a very hearty "carvery" meal, with a beef stew, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes with gravy and lots of veggies. It came with a dessert and drink for ten pounds, a great deal!

We took our time and walked out refreshed. I elected to climb the stairs of the great tower, some 500 in all.  It was somewhat frightening ascending the narrow, winding staircase and neither of the ladies came with me. When I got to the top, the wind was howling, rain was drizzling, but I got some pictures from up there of the castle grounds and the city at its feet.

View of court yard from the top of the Tower

The next tower over and walkway between

Down another staircase to the top of the castle wall, up another tower, back down, through some displays of canons and a huge rifle from the 15th century.

They were well protected and apparently fought off one long siege.  The problem with a great castle defense is always a long siege when they can just starve you out or break down the walls. English history is filled with barons, dukes and  fighting Kings, struggling for succession and the like.

I think we spent a good four hours there during which time it also hailed briefly; Evie and Margaret agreed that this was typically English weather, often changeable.  I would be happier with a nice blue sky and plenty of warm sun but given that it was still only March, this wasn't likely to happen here yet!


After a leisurely stroll back through town to the car we stopped at the Visitor Center in route and passed a couple of large churches; there were lots of picturesque Tudor style buildings, many of which date back to before 1500.  Tired and happy, we headed home.

Street scene in Kenilworth

Margaret cooked us a very nice meal of roast lamb with mint jelly and roasted potatoes and veggies. We ended  the evening watching a recent English series on the tele' " Caicos and Turks" with Evie's favorite actor, the very British Bill Nighy, and then retired for the night.