Agressive Tourists Needing Vacation

On the train from St Austelle in Cornwall to London Taylor sat by a man who turned out to be a tour guide for Road Scholar.  I idly listened as they chatted and I overheard Taylor use the term "aggressive tourists" to describe us. Taylor's seatmate expressed surprise at the term.  Hmmm.  I considered the words, and silently agreed with Taylor.

To describe ourselves as "aggressive tourists" means that we are busy.  We get up early and  are constantly on the move with places to go, things to see.  We can go quite a while without tiring, but eventually our pace catches up with me (I'm not speaking for Taylor).

Fortunately,  we headed off to visit Taylor's friends Sam and Uschie. On a previous trip we had dinner with Sam in their lovely London home. Now we were off to their home in the Cotswolds. As I got to the little village of Bledington, and settled into Sam and Uschie's country home, I realized that I was running out of steam and what I needed was a few relaxing days in the country.

Bledington has a population of about 500, and Uschie can tell you everyone's name. We reached Bledington by taking the train to Kingham from Paddington Station.  Sam picked us up and drove us a very short distance to Uschie's home.  The village is classic Cotswolds  - just like in TV shows.  It is so far off the beaten path that there are no tourist facilities, so no tourists would even know to go there.  It was just the thing to renew our energies for our final few days in London. As far as I could tell the only  business in town is a pub.  Of course, there is also a church.

We walked to the pub for lunch on the main road going through town. One of the first sights was this thatched roof cottage. Look closely at the roofline.  There are straw ducks and ducklings!!!

 After a delicious pub lunch we walked to Uschie's home through the back streets.  We passed another thatched roof cottage, and a row of smaller connected home known as the Four Bells.  They have the name because they are across the street from the church and the residents always hear the church bells.

A second thatched roof cottage.

This is an entire row of 4  connected cottages, called The Four Bells..  This particular one's owner certainly works on curb appeal.

St Leonard's Church dates from about 1170-1175.

We passed the church and got onto a public footpath that eventually led to a pasture or two and back to Uschie's house. There is a hedge dividing Uchie's main property from the sheep pasture.  She has cut windows and a door into the hedge.  We walked through the door to get back to the house.

I took this photo from the sheep pasture.  Euschie's yard is just beyond.

We walked through the gate and were back home.

To help with dinner preparations I volunteered to walk to the veg patch to harvest some asparagus.  This is the view I had walking back to the house.  Notice the second door cut into the hedge.

The back of the house.  I never got around to taking a photo of the front.  It is also lovely.

Here's our lovely hostess Uschie ready to serve us a wonderful leg of lamb (from a lamb raised in the pasture behind the hedge) and fresh asparagus for dinner.

It wasn't until we were leaving that I realized how much I needed this country break.  Spending two days relaxing in the country was a little slice of heaven.  We have been so fortunate during this European adventure to spend time with two sets of people we knew, and in their own homes.  It helps me feel like I understand the particular countries a little more when I see it through the eyes of people who live here.  Taylor and I are so lucky.