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
One of the things that I love about traveling in England is the density of historic sites to visit. Last week our friends Wendy and Richard were visiting from London, so we decided to do some local exploring. We have all traveled in this area and have seen most of the villages and historic sites, so I pulled out my Cotswold guidebooks and maps to find some things we had not seen. This is what … Continue reading
In many ways living in England is very much like living in the US, but there are small differences. The longer I stay in a new place, the more I get used to things and forget the differences, so I am making a few notes here while I still see them. I have been working on this post for two weeks and am giving up and publishing when I still have a lot more to … Continue reading
What is a ha-ha? And is it funny? A “ha-ha” is a feature in English gardens that keeps the animals out of the garden, but does not look like an obvious wall or fence. It gives you an uninterupted view from the garden to the fields beyond. From one side you see the ha-ha, from the other side you don’t. You find them in gardens all over England but it is easy to miss them if … Continue reading
There was an interesting story on the BBC Radio Newspod yesterday (Friday, January 23) about tourism in Britain (it is the last story on the Newspod). People in the travel industry are expecting travel in Britain to increase for two reasons: 1) the pound is low making Britain a more affordable destination, 2) the economy is not doing well and Brits will save money by traveling at home instead of going abroad. A recent article … Continue reading
Finding good quality, organic, whole wheat bread is not always easy when you are traveling. In England you will find organic bread at Waitrose (a high-end supermarket). They sell the Duchy Organics breads and some organic loaves that they make (but they are not whole wheat). We spent two months in Nailsworth (south of Stroud) earlier this year and bought bread from Hobbs House Bakery (shown in photo), who produce a variety of breads, many … Continue reading
On January 1 a new three part adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility” by Andrew Davies started on BBC (part two on Sunday January 6, part three on Sunday January 13). We arrived the day after episode one was broadcast, but caught it at the hotel because their TV system has an “On Demand” type feature where you can watch recently broadcast programs. (Big thanks to Clive who picked us up at the airport … Continue reading