Wednesday 22 July 2015

Roadtrippin'

We went, we saw, we did. It was totally fab and it's really opened my eyes to what this island I call home has to offer. We've already decided that every other year our holiday will now include exploring even more so if we're still blogging then, stay tuned for more road trip adventures. But for now, settle back and enjoy the journey.

Side note: this is the super quick version as I'll be blogging in more detail on my other blog. Which you can read here: 3 Things

Stratford Upon Avon: home of the Bard and all things Shakespeare. The very first ice cream of the holiday was consumed here (yum). Delightful little town with weeping willow trees and bunting lining the river, oh so charming. It started to lash down so we popped into the RSC and ended up on a behind the scenes tour (so good!) We started the following day at Anne Hathaway's cottage which was just so utterly charming I can't even...


 
Moreton-in-Marsh: (said in deep Gloucestershire, alright me lover type accent) When we realised we were so close we just had to call in here as one of my best uni friends grew up there. So of course we pulled up at the road sign and took a cheesy photo to send to her. But we also had a most delightful (warning: this word may be repeated many times throughout this post) lunch at an arboretum on this very bench.
 
 
Bath: stayed in a hotel in a village called Lower Limpley Stoke, which was either reached by the death road where we were narrowly wiped out by a white van (thanks sat nav) or by a much safer route simply by turning right (yay logic). Whilst in the delightful (told you!) Bath we visited the Roman Baths, the Abbey (where a crazy woman screamed the place down and lots of terribly British people tutted), ate takeout pizza in the park at the Royal Crescent, and may have consumed yet another ice cream or two.
 
 

 
Glastonbury/Street: We climbed the Tor. Ate another ice cream (ahem). Wandered the Chalice Gardens, trying to avoid the hippy woman who seemed to be doing some strange smell-o-rama ritual over the Chalice Well, drove to our simply lovely (trying to avoid use of delightful, oops) hotel in the town where Clarks shoes were made - who knew?!
 


 

Cornwall-bound (St Austell - The Lizard): The camping commenced! Meet Green, our tent (we called him that cos he's erm, green).


We ate the hugest fish and chips in Mevagissey:


Visited the Eden Project and the Lost Gardens of Heligan in one day, where my FitBit told me we did 20,000 steps and we were really rather tired.



I'll be talking about Cornwall more on the other blogs, but The Lizard gave us many delights including the most beautiful village of Coverack where the sea was turquoise, the cream teas were yummy, and the ice creams were actually made:


Wiltshire: Enter the luxury hotel. The most luxurious of all with only 3 rooms and a stonkingly good breakfast table.


Our sole purpose was to go to Longleat here. Which we did. And while we were there we went on a safari! The actual road is probably only about a mile but it took us 2 hours to drive it we were so excited to see the animals roaming around! Definitely very cool.


Oh and we found our way to the middle of the maze without getting lost, yay!


Salisbury: A flying visit to Stonehenge, and then onwards to Old Sarum cos we joined the English Heritage and so we can go loads of places for free now. Stonehenge was brilliant. I didn't have high expectations but it was really interesting and you can get a lot closer than you realise to the very very old and big stones.


The Making of Harry Potter: And last but not least we went to the studio tour. OH MY GOD. I'm unwilling to talk about this too much as if you plan to go I wouldn't want to ruin any of the surprises, as they are jaw droppingly and often gasp out loud surprises. Absolutely a 5 star attraction, and even Wavey who knows a big fat zero about Potter world absolutely loved this. If you are wondering about whether to go and if it's worth the money, your answer is yes. A very large YES. So good. Sooooo good. Beyond good. Just go. Seriously.


So there you have it. A whistle stop tour of South West England. Blummin' great it was. We're thinking Scotland for the next one, oooohhhh...