While most of our first week and a half in the UK was overshadowed by the delayed baggage, we did manage to have some good times. To be honest, I wasn’t too excited about this leg of our trip. I am excited to get to Scotland and Ireland to see family but otherwise, I am all about new experiences on this trip. I have been to England several times, each time usually near family in London or near Birmingham. We’ve lost touch with our family in England in the last few years so there will be no opportunity for visiting this time. Brett had never been to England so he was much more enthusiastic about this part of our trip.
After dealing with our lost luggage at the airport, we made our way from Gatwick to our Airbnb in Surrey. The space was so perfect for us. It was a detached cottage on an idyllic property south of London.
The kids had one of their favorite features – a sleeping loft that they could share. The hosts were so accommodating and thoughtful – they put the AC on before we got there and it was so refreshing after sleepless nights in 40+ degree heat in Spain to walk into that cool apartment. They were also so happy to help us with anything we might need since we didn’t have our bags. Their son and daughter both came out to ask our kids if they wanted to play and that gave Brett and I some much needed quiet time. We will always be grateful to have landed at such a wonderful place after the luggage ordeal. I hope that the kindness of strangers continues to be a theme in our travels.
Once we got our bearings, we drove into the nearby town of Oxted to buy some essential toiletries. Even the shop clerks were so nice to us, greeting us with a smile and wishing us a nice stay in their town. These small experiences really leave an impression.
The second day we mustered up the energy (in our two-day old clothes) to take the train into London. The primary purpose was to shop for some replacement clothes to get us through until our bags arrive but we tried to plan it around some sightseeing. The train was easy and pleasant. $35 for a ~30 minute ride from Oxted to London Bridge station for the five of us. From there, we walked around, crossed the Tower Bridge and eventually made our way to the One New Change shopping center where we found everything we needed. We wandered around a bit more, ate dinner and then took the train back to Oxted. That was it. That was our London experience. It was short but it was fun. It was enough for us to know that we will want to return some day when we have more time and more money to enjoy.
The following day we drove to our next place in South Cerney near Cirencester on the eastern margins of the Cotswolds. On our way out of London we stopped to visit a friend from high school that I hadn’t seen in over 25 years. It was great seeing Monika and meeting her husband Gabor and son Oliver.
Our standards for accommodation will be tested a bit on this trip because of our budget. We knew that at the start. It makes sense that the standard we look for on a 2 week vacation can’t be maintained for a year-long trip without breaking the bank. Some of the places that we stayed at on this trip were selected mostly because of cost and if we weren’t on a budget we probably wouldn’t have considered them…but as you will see, they ended up being gems.
I honestly didn’t realize until we were driving up to our place in the Cotswolds that it was in a caravan park. This detail was somehow overlooked when looking at the place during booking. We are totally fine with camping but the idea of a caravan park has never interested us – something about the uniformity of all the caravans, lack of trees, ….a massive parking lot full of identical mobile homes. But, it was booked and there we were, so that is where we would be.
Driving up to the caravan park was a bit depressing, knowing we only have a few days in the Cotswolds and this would be where we were staying. We were definitely relieved and even pleasantly surprised when we got inside our Airbnb. It was way more spacious than we imagined and had everything we needed, even TWO bathrooms – that rare treat for Brett and I. Almost every place we have stayed has only had one bathroom. Every single time before we get into the shower, we ask the kids first whether they need the bathroom. Despite this, almost every single time one of them realizes that that they desperately need the bathroom as soon as we step foot in the shower. Two bathrooms is so luxurious. We may not embrace the caravan park world but we were happy that we had this place to come home to each day while exploring the greater Cotswolds.
The highlight of this part of our trip was undoubtedly our visit to Avebury, the site of Europe’s largest Neolithic stone circles. It was such a nice day. The kids were generally getting along, another rare treat for Brett and I these days, and the weather was great. There were dark clouds in the sky but the sun was shining for most of the day. I’ve been getting more and more interest in, and enjoyment out of, photography. I know very little about it but we bought a decent camera for this trip and I have really enjoyed capturing moments on our journey. As we arrived at Avebury I was so excited about the taking some pictures – the contrast of the sunshine, the large shadows from the stones, and the ominous dark clouds in the sky was so striking. For the first time on this trip, the camera battery died as soon as we got there. For the first time on this trip I hadn’t packed a spare. All the photos here were taken with my IPhone.
There are a lot of other things to visit and view while at Avebury. There are two museums that explain the history and significance of the stone circles. There is also the Avebury Manor, a 16th century manor house that has various rooms restored to resemble the era that the residents lived – Tudor, Jacobean, Geogian, and Victorian. In addition to the décor of the rooms, there are traditional clothes for each era available try on in each room.
On the walk back to the car we just happened upon a cricket match. We stopped for a few minutes only to confirm that we have no idea what cricket is all about.
Another day we decided we wanted to do a bit of a walk through the countryside and see some typical Cotswold villages so we did some research and decided to drive to Upper Slaughter and do the short 1 mile walk from Upper Slaughter to Lower Slaughter. Upper Slaughter was very small and quaint.
We walked around for a while and then started on the trail to Lower Slaughter…or so we thought. We followed the trail for what felt like about a mile and then we got to a portion of the trail that ran alongside a main roadway. It was a treacherous walk with young kids with very fast traffic whizzing by very close to us but that walk will be more memorable for our collective introduction to stinging nettles.
At some point we had gone so far along the roadside trail that we couldn’t turn back and we had to encourage (force) the kids to continue to walk through the nettles since there was no option to walk along the narrow road with the constant traffic. After a couple of hundred metres of this I realized that we had gone the wrong way. We should have gone on the trail on the other side of Upper Slaughter! We had to backtrack. After a few tears and tantrums (honestly not as bad as it could have been all things considered), we made it back to Upper Slaughter and onto the right trail to Lower Slaughter. It is such a quaint and picturesque village. We wandered around and eventually indulged in some ice cream before heading back along the trail to our car.
There was so much more to see in this area of England. I suspect we could have spent a couple of weeks and still felt like we hadn’t seen enough. We were right next door to the Cotswold water park but never did get out on the water. I guess it’s not so bad to leave things to do on the next visit.
Onwards to Bishops Castle!