End of June Weekend

Over the weekend, we went to Chastleton House, a National Trust property about an hour's drive from where we live in the Cotswolds.

"A rare gem of a Jacobean country house, Chastleton House was built between 1607 and 1612 by a wealthy wool merchant as an impressive statement of wealth and power. Owned by the same increasingly impoverished family until 1991, the house remained essentially unchanged for nearly 400 years as the interiors and contents gradually succumbed to the ravages of time. With virtually no intrusion from the 21st century, this fascinating place exudes an informal and timeless atmosphere in a gloriously unspoilt setting. "

The Chastleton House between the trees

We weren't allowed to take any pictures of the interior, but I did manage to take a picture of the two croquet fields out a window. "On the site of old orchards are the croquet lawns, where in 1866 Walter Jones-Whitmore first codified the rules of the modern game, and unsurprisingly won the first tournament."

I couldn't help but to walk around the gardens literally taking the time to smell the roses. There were so many varieties and colours... and they smelt absolutely lovely, just like roses should smell!
On our drive to the Chastleton House, we spotted a sign saying "Ice Cream Parlour" with an arrow pointing down a narrow street. Being that it was a perfect summer day, we decided to add to the "perfectness" and find the ice cream parlour that the arrow was pointing to. After driving past fields and a little village, we came to a farm. The ice cream parlour was inside a barn! (See the open door?)

And it sure was yummy... though Jeff's lemon meringue ice cream was the best.

On Sunday, we invited friends of ours from church, Jon and Claire and their daughter, Eve (I can't put their surname), over for the afternoon.
After lunch we watched England lose to Germany in the World Cup while Eve played with a basket full of dead lettuce and dirt in the garden... she loved it!

I served homemade lemon custard tart for dessert... yum-o! And yes, those are roses and lavender from my garden.

Eve conked out on her daddy.

The aftermath of Eve's fun in the garden.

Our very strange flower... I have no idea what it is, but it's pretty!

Chepstow with Emma

Not too much has been happening in our life... at least not much to blog about, but yesterday evening we met with our friend Emma Wakeford, a friend of ours from our days in Munich, in Chepstow. She moved back to her home in Cardiff in April after living in Munich for 1 1/2 years. We also got to meet 3 of her friends who she spent the afternoon with. After having a drink (J2O for us) at a pub, we went to a fabulous Indian restaurant... my first British Indian experience! And was it ever delicious! Her boyfriend, James Hyslop, also a friend of ours from Munich, called during dinner. We got to talk with him for a few minutes. He lives in Atlanta, but they get to see each other every few weeks since he works for Delta Airlines. He plans to visit Emma in a few weeks, and we plan to get together while he's over.

A bit of other news is that I was offered a new position at Sainsbury's. I've been working in the bakery there for a month as a bread packer... not a glamourous job by any means, but nevertheless, it paid and was quite flexible. However, on Thursday, I was offered the job of a PA to the store manager and "PR Ambassador" - basically, organizing outreach to the community in and around Gloucester. I start tomorrow. I'm a bit unsure about the whole thing since many people have basically said "Good luck working with John" (the manager), so we'll see. It was very unexpected, but I'm grateful for the chance to try something new.

Brimpsfield Walk

Today was the Spring Bank Holiday, so we decided to do one of the walks in our "50 Walks in Gloucestershire" book. The 4-mile walk we chose is called "The Medieval Looters of Brimpsfield" and is described as "a walk through a vanished castle and secluded valleys, taking in charming Syde and tiny Caudle Green". Over the course of 2 hours, we walked past the site of a vanished castle, a church in which "some of the castle masonry found its way into the fabric of the church", small, but stunning cottages and walked through fields, forests, valleys and flocks of sheep.

A row of huge hedges over the path leading up to the church

The church in the village of Brimpsfield

Following the guide book through a field

A field of butter cups we just with the church in the background

Walking through a forest

Climbing over one of numerous stiles that separates fields

Past the Brimpsfield House, more like a mansion

Through a valley with a flock of sheep and their lambs


Continuing through a tree-lined valley

We only veered off course once... not bad. We were very glad to make use of a free afternoon and perfect walking weather - not too hot, nor too cold, and dry.

After the walk we drove to a view point we had passed on the way. It over looks Gloucester and the hills in the distance, including the Malverns.

Signs of Summer

Summer really is just around the corner, and it decided to give us a taste of what will hopefully come this summer for a few days over the weekend. The weather was absolutely stunning! The temperature rose to around 85 degrees, which is very hot for this part of the world. Not to mention that the sun is up and shining at 5:45 as I drove to work... I even needed my sunglasses... yeah, at 5:45 am in morning!

This called for getting out the barbie (grill), albeit tiny, and grilling up some burgers. And were they delicious! Thanks to my wonderful hubby who worked so hard on them.
The berries looked so good at the grocery store, too. Why just have plain berries - even though they were delicious on their own - when you can make shortcakes to serve them on? (The strawberries were more expensive, so I opted for raspberries and blueberries).

In addition, my first rose bloomed in our garden. It is so beautiful and fragrant.

My lettuce is also coming up quite nicely. Need to get around to eating it.
Although it was almost too warm (remember we don't have the option of turning on the air conditioner in our home), I LOVE SUMMER!!! Well, in case you're one of those who prefer it to be cooler, don't worry, the weather returned to normal UK weather today... cooler, but dry.

Mom and Norm's First Visit

Last week my mom and my step-dad, Norm, arrived on Sunday morning (May 2) from Ohio. This was their first time to the UK, so I was very excited to show them our new home, including our first house, driving on the "other" side of the road, using "strange" words such as "lorry", "rubbish" and "ta", and just the lovely scenery that we're surrounded by.

On Sunday, we took it easy so they could recover from the trip over; however, we did make an exciting trip to Sainsbury. I showed them the bakery in which I start working next week.

On Monday, we drove out to Much Marcle to take a tour around Westons Cider, just as Jeff and I did back in September. While waiting for the tour to begin, we had a tea break in the cafe. During the tour, it poured buckets on us, and our tour guide just kept talking as we attempted to stay dry. Luckily, as if God turned off the water faucet, rain stopped. The tour was just as entertaining and as informative as I remembered it being. The tour finished off with a cider tasting... so refreshing.

Mom and Norm in the cafe.

During the tour just as the downpour was starting to subside...

...and only moments later the sun was shining and the birds were chirping.

Mom reaching for a taste of cider.

On Tuesday, we went to Bath, which was also my first time there. The Roman Baths are the main attraction in the city, although there are many more things to see and do in Bath. The tour of the Roman Baths was fantastic. Each of us were given hand sets to carry around for our own personal tour of the baths. There were even comments by Bill Bryson to listen to.

View of the Great Bath from the terrace around it.

View of Bath Abbey from the Roman Baths

Worshipers to the baths would pray to the goddess Sulis Minerva.
This is the head of the statue they would have prayed to.

After the baths, we ate lunch at Sally Lunn's Refreshment House: "Sally Lunn's is the oldest house in Bath (c.1482) and serves the most famous local delicacy; the Original Sally Lunn Bun. Sally Lunn, a French refugee, arrived 1680 and established her bakery. Today Sally Lunn's serve a menu based on the world famous Sally Lunn Bun during the day and are open for fine English food in the evening. Museum open daily, showing the original kitchen she used."

My bun as a turkey and bacon sandwich

Half of a bun with clotted cream and jam

It was a good thing that we had time to walk around the city after lunch!

The Pulteney Bridge over the River Avon

The Royal Crescent

On Wednesday, we drove into the Cotswolds and stopped in 3 villages: Broadway, Stow-on-the-Wold and Bourton-on-the Water.

Beautiful wisteria growing on the side of a store in Broadway

Twenty baby duckies in Bourton-on-the-Water.
I was trying to persuade Jeff to take one for me, but he wouldn't do it.

On Thursday, we took a tour of Gloucester, led by Val Etherton, a member of our church.

On Friday, we decided to stay home for the day, though we did make a few errands.

On Saturday, we drove over to Caerphilly Castle in Wales. It was a cold and windy, so it wasn't the best day for walking around a mostly open-air castle. Caerphilly Castle is/was one of the largest medieval castles in western Europe.

One week is never enough time with family, but we look forward to having Mom and Norm visit in the future, as well as many more (perhaps you!) visitors in the future.