The Cotswolds

As you can tell, I have has a marathon effort today trying to catch up on my blog. Most fortuitously, I had a free afternoon and the place I am staying at in Jasper has excellent WiFi. I have no idea when I will be in a position to upload my next post. I am setting off on an ‘Ice Explorer’ tomorrow to walk on a glacier, which should be very exciting.

 On our way back to Stratford-upon-Avon, we drove through the region known as the Cotswolds. We drove at speed through a couple of the villages and were delighted to see some thatched roofs, though of course wished the coach went much slower so we could take some photos of them. 

However the village where we stopped was a very busy tourist village, with more people than it usually has because not only was it the weekend but also it was hot and sunny. Residents and visitors mainly headed for the small shallow river that flowed through the centre of the town. Many, mostly children, were paddling in the water and having a wonderful time. It was just lovely seeing the joy on their faces and to hear their laughter, but it was disappointing that the village did not fit in with what we all imagined villages in this region would be like. 

Anyhow, one of my American friends and I visited their craft market, perfume shop, gemstone shop and finally a tea room. My friend had been dying to have a real British scone, with jam and cream, and finally she had it. In fact, we had not expected to be served two scones each! And with clotted cream. What an indulgence! But it was really nice, as was the cup of tea, which she was beginning to like very much.

I had a very amusing time on the walk back to the bus along a laneway. My friend had rushed ahead because we suspected we were a little late. (As it turned out, we weren’t.) Anyhow, two teenage boys were behind me, swaying and singing along with their rock music on an i-Pod. I turned around and grinned and said  “I see you both are real rockers.” They grinned back and in the end we had a great little conversation. They said it was so rare to have a sunny day they came to the town to walk in the river. Naturally I encouraged them to come to Australia one day - they could hardly believe it when I told them about all the sunshine we get! We eventually parted the best of ‘mates’ and they walked away with an even greater swing to their step. My age did not seem to matter a hoot - they really liked someone talking to them as ‘real people’. (It always worked a treat in my teaching career. Kids like to be liked and to be listened to with respect!) 

Altogether we were only in the village for just over an hour. We had to scurry back for our final, very special dinner in a 400-year old Shakespearian mansion! That will be the subject of my next post.

The name and map of the village - in the car park. Notice they describe the village as the 'Venice of the Cotswolds'. You can see how shallow the water is from the photos below. 

Where the craft show was on display. The plaque on this building is shown in the next photo.

One building that looked like a traditional Cotswold building.

One serve of scones, strawberry jam and clotted cream! And unlike most scones I have been served on my travels, these were light and fluffy, not like a hard biscuit!  It made our time there very worthwhile.