Day 12: Escape to the Country... but exactly which country are we escaping to?

The day dawn bright with the promise of sun as it was time for the Jenga boot puzzle for our depart from Stratford. Seems we are collecting more bags and the Jenga is more challenging . Today was supposed to be an easy day of driving through the Cotswolds, but really that is probably an understatement. We encountered really bad traffic at a major intersection that saw us delayed by about 20 minutes. Traffic over, it was a run into the “Venice of the North”, Bourton-on-the-Water. A stunning yellow Cotswold stone village built on a canal, it has a lot of cafes and tourist traps, but on such a lovely sunny day it was also affording visitors the opportunity to picnic on the grass and play in the shallow streams. We stopped at the Croft pub, where we were hoping to order lunch, but when we tried to place our order at 6 minutes to 12, we were told that the kitchen did not take orders until 12. Go figure. But lunch came in its own time and was fine, and then we mooched around the shops and bric a brac. Liz even bought an Old Country Roses tea cup...now to get it home! Such a pretty little village. 

After lunch we went in search of Bibury which is an old Industrial revolution town that has been restored to look like a model Cotswold village. Unfortunately while we saw it and drove through it, there were so many visitors that it was impossible to park. Still it was very pretty to see. 

Our final ‘destination’ of the day was Lacock. This is a small town adjacent to the Lacock abbey. One of its claims to fame was that it was the village that was used as the township of Merton in the BBC Pride and Prejudice series. Apparently they did not have to do much other than throw dirt down over the bitumen surface. It also had a starring role in some of the Downtown Abbey episodes and the upcoming Downtown Abbey movie.  It certainly had a familiar look about it. The village of Lacock has an old church dating back to the 12 century. Time has weathered the colours of the work in the Lady Chapel which was one of the oldest parts of the church, but it was truly beautiful. On the way back from the church we watched a huge tourist bus, that should never have come into the village, try to negotiate its way out. It side swiped at least one car and caused no end of chaos. That over, it was off to find our new accomodation, the Final Furlong Air BnB on Higher Greenscombe Farm... 

Now you might think that to be an easy option, just follow the signs and all will be well. But no dear reader! No signs and even though we had a location point , neither google maps nor the sat nav could find it and we had to call the host 3 times. Oh my! It is down some seriously narrow winding laneways and then up a “bridle way” that would make a 4WD enthusiast salivate. But we finally made it and when we arrived and saw the accomodation we were thrilled. It is a brand new barn conversion: two story, two bed, three bathrooms and finished to an incredibly high spec. (Seriosuly sounding like Escape to the Country) Rachel the hostess is lovely and she helped us settle in. 

Of course there was dinner to be had and Martina had spied the Roth Bar and Grill, just out of Bruton, the nearest small town. It is just out of the town, formerly held a Michelin Star til the wasps made things too tough. The vibe was jumping and the food was excellent. Didn’t realise that it was where the young ones hung out on a Friday night of a Bank Holiday weekend and here we were in our travel clothes.. but it didn’t stop the enjoyment of the food. Sadly at the end of dinner, Enid had misplaced her wallet. We were all quietly confident that it was back at the farm or in the car. After a somewhat hairy drive back in the dark the worst fears were confirmed and the card needed to be stopped! It was a stressful evening and we had to make plans for how to try to find it if possible... but you will have to stay tuned for the next instalment in tomorrow’s blog to find out the outcome.