A Celtic Prayer

As found in a small prayer book purchased at the Dyhram Park Church:

May every task be done with joy
and every word that we employ
show the Lord in heaven above
that all we do we do for love.

Day Three - To The Cotswolds

Okay, technically Bath is part of the Cotswolds but it is a fairly big town. It is not one of those "so cute you could pinch it's cheeks" small towns that dot the countryside. Our first stop of the day was Dyrham Park, another manor managed by the National Trust. It was also begun at the turn of the century, the 11th century, that is. But most of the house dates from the 1690s. It is a gorgeous house that sits at the bottom of green hills on one side and wide open vistas of the countryside on the other. It is a gorgeous day with a bright blue sky and just a few perfect white clouds floating across the sky. We stroll through the house admiring the beauty of the architecture and its furnishings. A favorite room was the creamery where they made their butter, separated the cream from the milk, and we are quite certain made their daily batch of clotted cream! It is a room covered in delft tiles with a spring fed fountain in the center used to keep the milk cool.

Dyrham Park

The Beautiful Creamery of Dyrham Park

We hiked back up to our car and then took the backroads through many pretty Cotswold towns. Flower boxes overflowed with colorful flowers and plopped in the center of several towns were the bright red phone booths you see on postcards. In between the town are fenced and hedged fields where bucolic sheep and dairy cows munch contentedly on the lush English grass. This is the England of American imagination and we are enjoying every minute!

Is The Grass As Soft As It Looks?  Ask Heide

We ended our day in Stow On The Wold. A sheep market town built mostly in the 1100's.  It was the sales destination of hordes of sheep and their wool. Now it is the meeting place of hordes of tourists but the buses had all gone by the time we arrived and we had it mostly to ourselves. We found a B & B right on the main street aptly named Sheep St. With a recommendation from our B & B host, we headed up the street to The Queen's Head Pub. It couldn't have been a more perfect ending to our day. Half timbered with slanting floors and ceilings and a jovial bartender at the bar, it was the quintessential English pub and the food was fabulous! Topped off with a pint of Stowford Press hard cider or Donnington Ale, it was another perfect English day.

We Need To Interrupt This Blog....

We are sorry for the lack of photos on our blog. We are trying to correct this technical difficulty. Please stay tuned.

Day Two

After a late start we headed out to the airport by tube. When there are two destinations for each track, it is best to check exactly which train you are boarding. Luckily Carol Jean was paying attention so we only passed the transfer station by two stops. (This would be a good time to remind you the next time you travel, pack light!). Hauling bags up and down stairs to multiple platforms is a less than gentle reminder you have overpacked. Eventually we and our luggage arrived back at Heathrow to pick up our rental car for the next week's adventures.

We picked up our gray Ford Mondeo with Janet in the driver's seat and the rest praying fervently in the passenger seats. We headed out. We made it to the interstate without incident and aimed for our first stop, Stonehenge. It was a gray, blustery day - perfect for contemplating the mysteries of the stones. It is an awesome sight - all those stones set so precisely on the broad sweeping plain.

Stonehenge On The Plain

We then headed to a second nearby stone circle much larger than Stonehenge, Avebury. It is so large a town was built within it. One of the estates built there in 1050's, now maintained by the National Trust, was our first stop. We enjoyed wandering through the home with docents in each room to tell us about the ghosts that haunt the rooms and gardens. We can not confirm their existence as none of them appeared to us. The gardens were beautiful filled with colorful dahlias and fanciful topiary.

Avebury Manor House

The Stones Of The Avebury Circle

Heaven On A Plate And A Tray 

After visit to the manor, we went to the tea room and had our first cream tea - tea and scones with strawberry jam and that most delicious of substances, clotted cream. Really, they should just call it heaven on a plate. We left and wandered past some of the stones, watched a little of a cricket match and jumped in our car heading for Bath.








Bath is a beautiful city filled with regal homes built of creamy colored stone. We arrived at around 8pm. Our goal was just to eat dinner at Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant and scope out a few stops for tomorrow. We ended up passing the Roman Baths which was to be our first stop on Monday, only to find them open to 10 pm. We decide to go tonight. We were so glad we did. There were few people there so we could wander unimpeded and as the evening grew dark the fire lit torches surrounding the baths reflected in the water and gently lit the stone walls - it was magical.

The Roman Baths At Night

We arrived at our hotel exhausted but satisfied we had completed a great day. Maybe we'll sleep in a little bit tomorrow.

Day One

Once the Chicago ladies arrived, we headed out to see London. We hopped on the Hop On, Hop Off Bus Tour but we just stayed on until we had seen all of London. Our tour guides (yes guides - we were on so long our first guide got off for tea!) were quite amusing and informative. We finally got off the bus at St Pauls just in time for a warm up Chai tea from Starbucks and then the five o'clock evensong sung by an Oxford choir. Beautiful voices, gorgeous inspiring setting!

A few of the sights we saw:

We then took a river cruise from the Tower of London to Big Ben - free with our bus tour ticket. We walked to Trafalger Square and then into our first British pub for our first taste of Fish & Chips. A very full day of the best London had to offer. We can't wait for Day Two.

Today is the Day!

It all began with a simple conversation between Ellen and Carol Jean. Soon a plan was hatched - three sisters, one cousin and a wish list of English sights to see. After months of planning, today is the day to board the plane and cross the pond to London.

This is where you can read about the adventures of Four Ladies Across The Pond. We hope you enjoy reading about our adventures as much as we enjoy having them.