Chepstow Castle

Wales is a hop, skip and a jump from Cheltenham. As part of our commitment to see castles, we found an awesome ruin on the River Wye. While we consider Chepstow Castle a ruin, there are many birds who for generations it seems, find the castle and it's grounds homey and supportive of their needs. Magpies, gulls, pigeons, and some sort of English crow, caw, coo and scream at the visitors who interrupt their Sunday afternoon.

The castle is well positioned at the top of a cliff right over the river and the river's bend, which might be considered an estuary, not sure on that. It is not hard to imagine the busy community the castle once supported. The historical society provides drawings of what the castle looked like in it's day and during various stages of construction. With the remains, the drawings and some imagination the whole scene comes to life. If you add the smells of some cooking fires and horses, and the sounds of a small but bustling town the scene appears before your eyes.

The building of this Norman castle began in 1067 after the battle of Hastings. It is clearly a fortress of importance; the defensive position on the cliff provides a panoramic view in nearly every direction.

After exploring we went across the street to a pub for lunch. The food was wonderful. This area, near Cornwall is famous for it's pies or Pasty's. We had a meat pie, sausages and mashed potatoes. And beer, not because we wanted to, but because we are committed to authentic reporting. The hostess was a rotund Jack Russell Terrier who only took notice of patrons when their food arrived. She sat square on the diners feet and turned her head in the position of up, put on a well practiced and patient dog smile and waited for her fair share of whatever it was the owner of the foot was eating.

In Wales they speak Welsh, it's own mysterious language. I am hoping we have an opportunity to hear the Welsh language spoken. It is not possible to read it and come up with sounds that resemble the placement of the letters. There will be more trips to Wales; they have many Castle ruins and the drive is short and beautiful. Hopefully we will have an opportunity to overhear some conversation, I have this idea that it will be sort of sing-songy; Gaelic like. More on that as discoveries are made.

Horses, Rambling and Rugby

The better part of last week was spent looking for housing and with the exception of a HUGE monkey wrench thrown into the project at a very late hour which will be another story, I would say the apartment (flat) hunting was a success. Cheltenham is quite a cosmopolitan town bordering the picture perfect country side region know as the Cotswolds. We can be in a thatched roof village in fifteen minutes or less from our hotel in Cheltenham towne center (a.k.a. downtown). On Saturday we took a drive through Winchcombe, Broadway, Stow on-the-Wold, Upper Slaughter, Lower Slaughter and Bourton-on-the-Water, all charming Cotswold villages and all within 20 miles.

Broadway is home to a very high tower which you can climb and see the vast rolling sheep dotted countryside for miles, except on days when the fog is so thick you can't see the tower when you are standing next to it ... which happened to be the case on Saturday. We wandered around the general area of the tower for a bit, unable to see more than 50 feet and unsure if there actually was a tower. We came to realize the tower was actually closed, but it would not have been a day to enjoy the view anyway, so we'll go back in the spring.

The roads through the Cotswolds range from two lanes just wide enough for two soccer (football) mom vans, to paved lanes slightly more than a standard car width. Passing on the later requires the use of designated pull-over areas, although this inconvenience barely manages to keep the speed below 40 mph and does little to relive the anticipation of a head on collision. We were driving on one such road when we came upon a storybook scene.

As we drove through the fog on what I would call a moderately narrow road we saw a small group of figures appear ahead. It turned out to be five or six very grand English equestrians sitting high on their beautiful horses. The riders boots were so clean and shiny it looked like they had never touched the ground. They all had riding caps, riding pants tucked in the boots, and BEAUTIFUL riding coats. My favorite was a woman in a red coat with gold buttons. It felt like we had been transported back in time to a scene so perfect I could not have imagined it.

Prior to searching for the alleged Broadway Tower, we stopped in the village of Winchcombe, home of Sudeley Castle, which we saw last year. Winchcombe has everything a little village in my dreams should have; a butcher, a baker, a ... real estate office. Anyway, it's amazingly charming and complete with an Abbey. We actually did speak with a real estate agent (a.k.a. letting agent) about renting a furnished cottage around Winchcombe and I am hoping to speak with someone in greater detail sometime this week. I can't imagine how cool it would be to live in a village like Winchcombe.

In Winchcombe there are seven marked walks of 4-7 miles each, all originating near the abbey. The Cotswolds are full of walking trails as is much of the UK. Unlike the US where private property is strictly private, there seems to be much greater public access to the countryside in the UK. I don't know the rules and I don't know if walkers are welcome, but it feels like so long as you are respectful of the property and stick to the path there are limitless opportunities for beautiful walks. There are official groups called "rambling groups" and they walk the fields and countryside. They literally go up and through the hills, past the sheep, over bridges and stiles, woodlands and streams. When we get home we are going to get whatever gear we need (John is handling this) so we can go walking on Sundays. Most of the of the villages seem to have a book that describes the local walks in pretty good detail. We bought the Winchcombe guide and a fairly detailed hiking map of all the Cotswolds trails. With John, good boots, our GPS and a compass I am confident we will have some terrific adventures.

On Saturday night we walked to a small pub in Cheltenham, The Beehive. When we walked in EVERYONE was glued to the rugby game between England and Wales. When Wales scored two guys jumped up, yelled and screamed and slapped high fives. When England scored, the rest of the bar yelled and screamed, all the men slapped high fives and exchanged cheek kisses ... of course the two Wales fellows just shook their heads in disgust. Although I will say the England fans were far nicer to the Wales fans than than says Packer fans would be to Bears fans, or visa versa. It was fun to watch the rugby and the fans, I think it's more fun than American football, but John still likes the Bears. I don't think Peyton Manning would be very good at Rugby. Fortunately, England won.

Pretty Girls in Cashmere Sweaters

As part of our apartment hunting or "flat research" we have been walking around town to see how far it is to walk from a particular point to another. For instance, how long to get from a neighborhood to the grocery store. On our way to the grocery store, "Super Store", we walked past Cheltenham Ladies College. It is a boarding school that has been in existence for over 150 years. Girls go to the school as young as 11 and stay through to graduation. We saw the girls walking all over the place, in groups going from building to building. They wear heathered green cashmere sweaters with a white collared shirt underneath and a wool skirt the same color as the sweater. The sweater has the crest of the school embroidered above the left breast. Approved leg wear: black tights or nude stockings. Hair that is longer than shoulder length must be pulled back and up. Shoes: Black, closed, flat. I had a great time just watching them. Obviously.

The Adventure Begins

What is a good adventure without a mishap or two? For instance, this blog, for the next two weeks anyway, will be decorated with all of the wonderful images you can muster from the depths of your imaginations. We have photos we will add later as soon as we are reunited with the little cable that connects our camera with our computer. It is safely tucked away in a drawer in Tipp City, OH, U.S.A.

Windsor Castle is on the way from Heathrow to Cheltenham (pronounced CHELT-num) so we made that our first stop. I think this is the case with most fortified castles- the entire town revolves around the castle, one way or another. The Queen was not in residence when we visited. The Union Jack flies when she is NOT there, her standard flies when she is. We could see the Union Jack flying long before we reached the town. The castle is endlessly huge. If I were the Queen I would insist that someone take me on a tour of my castle and show me each and every room. We took the "Kitchen Tour". The kitchen we saw is one of several on the property and is used to prepare state dinners often up to a thousand meals a day. There are copper pots and skillets hanging all over but they are no longer used. The castle has 20 or so chefs, they travel with the Queen taking all of their knives and equipment with them. There is a working gas stove in the kitchen installed by Queen Victoria. Actually, I think she may have had someone else do the installation.

The art work, weapons, costumes are all fascinating. My favorite, besides the kitchen, was a room with a HUGE (the size of a powder room maybe) doll house that belonged to one of the princesses. I could have looked at it for hours.

Sunday Roast. There are signs outside all the little restaurants and pubs advertising "Sunday Roast". The last time we were here together we decided for sure if we came back we would have Sunday Roast. Just outside the castle grounds there are pubs and shops and all sorts of touristy things in really old buildings. Did I mention the castle is about 1000 years old? Anyway, we had Sunday Roast in a tiny pub. Tiny like the size of a large bedroom. Bar, tables, chairs and fireplace, in the space of a bedroom. We had it in our heads that Sunday Roast was just roast beef and whatever else came with it. Not so. Sunday Roast means that on Sunday they roast a variety of meats and you can choose what you would like. Roast lamb, Roast Chicken, Roast Beef...and it all comes with Yorkshire Pudding and oven roasted potatoes with lots of gravy and a cabbage, carrot mixture. We find this very agreeable and it is our intention to go to as many Sunday Roasts as possible while we are here. But only on Sundays. The day was cold and windy and everyone who came in went right to the fire and stood and warmed their hands before they sat down or ordered a beer or tea or whatever.


John has the courage to drive here. I might try to later. Much later. We drove on a dual carriageway (two lane highway) from the castle to Cheltenham. From the hills above Cheltenham looks like a bowl in a valley. The town is as picturesque as you can imagine. The hotel where we are staying is the Queens Hotel and was built is 1838 and named for Queen Victoria. Royalty, Prime Ministers and celebrities stay here when they come to town. The hotel is beautiful. But...there are only a few suites. Most of the regular rooms are quite small, not well appointed and very ordinary. The first time I was here we were lucky enough to have a suite. Large and beautiful, curtain behind the big bed, a sitting room, all that you would hope for. Which is what I had in mind when John asked me where I would like to stay. When we walked in to our room on Sunday we were not filled with delight. The room was small. Smaller than any hotel room I have ever stayed in. I could not imagine staying in that room for the next 12 days. There were 4 hangers in the wardrobe and no clock in the room. I called the front desk and asked for a clock and about 18 more hangers. The very nice man said maybe he could get us a different room. I am happy to say we are now in a suite and the housekeepers don't seem to hate me even though I hunt them down and ask them for things just about every day.

More later. Lots more...