We spent much of this year looking at houses for rent. We had not intended to stay longer than a year in the first cottage we rented, but we ended up staying a year and a half because we could not find something that we liked better. I came to England with a North American sensibility towards housing. It did not matter that I had stayed in many vacation rentals on many vacations. I did … Continue reading
In mid-September we spent a week in Gascony with our friend Chris at a farmhouse in the countryside near Condom. We all arrived Thursday afternoon. Chris was jetlagged having flown from California and we were exhausted from our one hour time change so we made a simple dinner at “home”. But the next morning we were ready to go and got several “must dos” accomplished the first day: coffee and croissant in a cafe, lunch sitting … Continue reading
British Airways are considering pumping fragrance into the cabins on their planes to replicate the experience customers have when walking into expensive department stores. I sneeze and then get a headache when I walk through the perfume section of expensive department stores and I don’t want to spend 10 hours on a flight having that same experience. British Airways already use scents in their Executive Lounge in Heathrow and want to put this fragrance on the planes … Continue reading
Last year in England it was sunny and warm – even hot on some days – from mid-May to mid-September. Our rain jackets never left the boot of our car. I wore short sleeves all summer long. It rained for a few days in July, but we were traveling in France and missed it. For us it was the perfect British Summer. But people said it was not a good summer. The school holiday schedule … Continue reading
I was one of the judges of the European Experiences photo contest. People who have been on their tours sent in photos showing their experiences. Here are the 10 winners. My friends Kathy and Charley Wood, who run European Experiences, are celebrating five years of doing small group tours of France, Italy, England and Austria. They do a great job – as is shown by these beautiful photos. If you don’t want to spend days … Continue reading
December and January seemed to last forever. In early December a cold snap hit and lasted for weeks. We had snow in the southern Cotswolds, but not as much as other parts of England. For a couple of weeks driving was difficult and, with the short days (pitch black at 5pm), we did not venture out of the house much. By the end of the month I felt “cabin bound”. In January the typical English … Continue reading
We were here in the Cotswolds four winters ago. January was cold and it snowed once, but it melted the next day. In February we had spring-like weather. We were test-driving England in winter and it passed. However, each winter since has been cold and snowy. This country is not prepared for snow. It seems like people hope these three cold winters are coincidence and not a change in weather patterns. The snow falls and much … Continue reading
If I have to be up early for some reason, I set the alarm, but I always wake up ten minutes before it goes off. My internal body clock keeps track of the time. It is the same with flights. We were scheduled to fly back to Colorado last week. We decided at the end of June that we were going to stay until next May (or longer), but I kept our booking in case … Continue reading
The travel section of The Guardian is always worth reading. This weekend they had an article about a new vacation rental agency that lets people rent modern architect-designed houses in unique locations in the UK. High design, low price: UK holiday homes, Alain de Botton’s set of cutting-edge, affordable holiday homes is bringing modernism to the masses, by Hannah Booth, The Guardian, Saturday 2 October 2010 Alain de Botton, the author of The Art of … Continue reading
In July we did a short trip to France – five nights in the Loire Valley followed by four nights in Normandy. We are currently living in England, so flew from Bristol Airport to Paris, picked up a rental car and drove four hours to the Loire Valley, west of Tours. We stayed in a vacation rental (gite) in the countryside north of the Loire River. It is flat in this part of the country, … Continue reading