Today was Linda’s last day here, and we decided to check out the Cotswolds. Surprisingly, it was cloudy and a bit drizzly when we woke up. We decided to head toward Cirencester. Linda found two small towns to drive through along the way. Burford was very pretty with a nice church, but we decided to drive through without getting out. We parked instead in Bibury, and walked past the trout farm to a row of houses that William Morris described as the prettiest in England. The houses are all stone, with slate or even think stone roofs. There were hanging baskets everywhere. We walked to the church which had a sign in the churchyard that said ‘Dogs Please Do Not Foul the Churchyard’.
Getting out of town was problematic. There were multiple tour buses with limited parking. Coupled with narrow roads and a one-lane bridge, everything was at a standstill. Finally we chose another way out of town, which led us to the tiny and unvisited village of Barnesly.
Cirencester was apparently the second Roman city in Britain after London. As we arrived in town, Linda found a restaurant online called The Malt & Anchor, which had won awards for their fish and chips. It was excellent. Linda and I had mushroom pies with mashed potatoes, gravy, and mushy peas. Ed had fried plaice and sweet potato chips.
After lunch we went to the Corinium Museum, which highlights the Roman history of the town. It had a lot of mosaic tiles, column pieces, coins, utensils, tools, etc. There were a few ‘coin hoardes’ or vessels found filled with coins for whatever reason. There was also a section on the Anglo-Saxons. I had skimmed a book at Dad’s called ‘The Story of Britain’ before we left. It was a Christmas present to Linda from Barb and Alan when we were kids. It was actually a useful refresh of British history, and has helped me this trip although it is simplistic.
Next we went to the New Brewery Arts complex, which is contemporary arts studios and galleries. There was not much going on in the studios, but it was good. Ed bought me a pair of earrings from Cornwall in the gift shop.
On the way home we happened to notice a sign for the Uffington Horse, so took a detour to see it. It was drizzly so we didn’t want to hike much, but we did see it at a suboptimal view. I had written about a horse in a hill I saw from a train in 1984 and assumed this had been it, but there are others in Britain. This is about 3,000 years old and made with chalk bricks set in trenches in the side of a hill. It is very stylized, but best viewed from the air!
We stopped at a liquor store in Summertown and also got some Indian food at Marks & Spencer’s.
Greg and his family came by to say goodbye to Linda who was leaving in the morning. Tiffany came by an hour or so later because she was flying to New York the same evening.