Saturday - Stratford-Upon-Avon and the Cotswolds

On Saturday morning, we dragged rolled our suitcases to the lobby to be loaded onto the bus. We headed to Stratford-Upon-Avon. This was a day filled with all sorts of cool history.

We are in line at the cottage/home of Anne Hathaway. It was a brisk morning, but we were dressed appropriately (ish).

They provided a basket of windfall apples. Those are the apples that have fallen from the tree, but are still edible. It was one of the best apples! It was fresh and juicy.

There was a fun photo op while we waited. Mark and I had a friend snap our photo.

And then the three musketeers (Lisa, Laura, Terrie - we all work on the church staff) had someone snap our photo.

I loved going through this old home. The original cottage was built in 1463. Anne's grandfather moved to the home in 1542, and the family lived there for 13 generations. The home was modest at first but received additions in 1610 and 1624. 

They even had a laundry room!

The beds in all of these old homes were tiny. A house tour guide told us that they slept sitting up. They often did this for a mix of health beliefs, superstition, and practicality.

Can you imagine cooking in that ginormous fireplace. A fire that big would make a room really warm.

After we toured her home, we headed down to see Shakespeare's home. This is from Wikipedia: The house itself is relatively simple, but for the late 16th century it would have been considered quite a substantial dwelling. John Shakespeare, William's father, was a glove maker and wool dealer, and the house was originally divided in two parts to allow him to carry out his business from the same premises.

His dad was a glove maker and he could do business through a window.

They even had examples of how the animals for meals would be stored.

After touring the home and exiting through the giftshop (I didn't buy a thing), we asked the tour guide (Helen) from the other bus for a lunch recommendation. Mark loves Thai, Indian, etc. and we were told that the best in the world would be found in England.

We headed to Sabai Sabai. There were four of us - Ian, Nathan, Mark, and me.

It was delicious!

Our lunch took us right up to the moment where we needed to board our bus. I snapped a few photos of the scenery through the bus window.

I took this photo and texted it to my sister-in-law. She is from a town (in the U.S.) that has the name Clopton. Lo and behold -- Clopton was on this road sign.

I love looking at the pastures and sheep and other livestock. This looks so peaceful to me.

I've always heard of The Cotswolds, but had no idea what to expect. This village was so quaint and pretty.

I loved this display in front of a deli.

I don't think I bought anything in this town either. I love how this tree is growing up against the building.

We passed someone we know and we asked her to snap a quick photo of us.

We were almost back to the bus when I spotted this door . . . another lovely door!!

We arrived at the Delta Hotel in Swindon - a Marriott. This would be our home for a couple of nights.

This was the view from our window in our room.

I don't know if you noticed that this was Saturday. We all live right in the middle of SEC football territory and both Auburn and Alabama were playing in the evening. We took over a lounge in the hotel and had two Ipads - one with each game. The room was almost equally divided. A miracle happened. Alabama lost and Auburn won. People kept stepping into the room to see if they were missing a party. We tried to explain our football vs. their soccer(football or is it futbol? how do you spell it?)

It was a fun night.

Several had stepped out for more beverages, the bathroom, etc., in these pictures, plus more of us joined in. We apologized for being loud Americans.

 

How Can It Be November Hodgepodge??

 

Seriously -- how is it already November 4?

1. Our  November Hodgepodges always include a question related to gratitude. What is one small thing you're grateful for today? This is a big thing -- our daughter has been in the hospital since Saturday and she got to go home today. Yay! I know her babies will be glad to see her.

2. Chrysanthemums-pansies-burning bush-ornamental cabbage-camellias...your favorite in an autumn garden? Would we find any of these in your yard/garden this year? I love pansies and ornamental cabbage. My mother-in-law always had camellias. We haven't planted any fall plants yet. I mentioned that our porch pots needed some love, and Mark said "have at it." He didn't really say that, but he did indicate that I could handle them. I reminded him that he has the green thumb. I do not.

3. If you could clear out or organize one physical space or mental habit before the year ends, what would it be? I wish I could check my feelings at the door. When I am over-tired, my feelings get hurt way too easily. Is that a mental habit? Maybe not. I really want to finish organizing our attic, but it doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon.

4. Brussel sprouts...love 'em or no thank you? If you said love 'em how do you like them prepared? I love roasted Brussels! A local restaurant serves a shaved Brussels sprouts salad that is divine. I say "Brussel sprouts" like our wonderful hostess typed it, but I just googled and I think it has an s. Any English teachers out there? What say ye?

5. It's reassuring to know that God loves me even when I'm not at my best.

6. Insert your own random thought here. We are hosting a conference at our church on Thursday and Friday, and we have all been on edge. We've hosted other big events, but nothing quite like this. We have speakers coming from all over the nation. Common Table Conference starts Thursday morning and runs through lunch on Friday.

Also, I need to write a Halloween recap!!

Epworth and more . . .

Most of you know that I am a member of and also on staff at a United Methodist Church. My husband's maternal grandfather was a Methodist pastor. On this trip, we learned lots of things about John Wesley and his family. John Wesley was an Anglican priest. He and his brother, Charles, were members of the Holy Club at Oxford University. They were "methodical" in their approach of Christianity and out of that . . .came United Methodists (methodical - method).

On Friday morning, our buses headed to Epworth to see the home where John Wesley grew up.

I want one of these chairs - I love the shape haha!

John Wesley was very interested in natural medicine. He wrote Primitive Physick: Or an Easy and Natural Method of Curing Most Diseases. The gardens in the back of the house were awesome.

Below are some drawings of the gardens and plants.

Of course, I had to slip through this opening.

I actually bought my first "gift" here. My sister-in-law (married to Mark's twin brother) loves the natural English garden and has a riot of flowering plants. I bought seeds for her to plant (from the Wesley's garden) and a tiny garden sign.

It was a big house with very steep steps.

The three of us have a picture similar to this from our trip to Egypt. We were recreating it! Once again, it is so fun traveling with good friends.

Since both tour buses couldn't descend on the house at one time, we went to the house first while the other group toured the church. We walked from the house down to the church and passed by a statue of J Dub himself. 

In the little town, there were bras everywhere. Rather than go "pink" in October for breast cancer . . .they had garlands of real bras. I loved it!

This is the Market Cross in Epworth - another place where John Wesley preached outside.

The Red Lion Coaching Inn was across the street from the Market Cross. John Wesley stayed there. It was closed or we might have stopped for a beverage.

Mark and our friend, Randall. We had such a good time together.

This little lady from the church was adorable. She taught us a few English phrases - natter or nattering is one of my favorites. She said it wasn't gossiping . . . haha! This was the Wesley Memorial Methodist Church (or Epworth Memorial Church).

Both buses were able to join together for a time of communion.

This was our first group photo. Yes . . .that would be our senior pastor on the floor in front of the group.

Old churches are just beautiful.

After communion, we were invited downstairs where the ladies of the church had made lunch for all of us. The tables were decorated with fresh flowers. There were women and men who served us and their hospitality was wonderful.

They served Coronation Chicken sandwiches, Cheese and Tomato (like pimento cheese made with VERY sharp cheddar) sandwiches, an egg mixture (sort of like egg salad . . . but not quite), turkey and cheese or maybe it was ham and cheese (with buttered bread - loved it). I think there were at least one or two more types of sandwiches. They served potato chips alongside. You could have tea or coffee or water. They also served homemade desserts. I didn't eat any, but they looked delicious. This lunch was so much fun.

We had pretty napkins and pretty plates - they thought of everything.

I love this photo of the door. I may use it as one of my mixtiles when I order some from this trip.

For some unknown reason, I thought it would be warmer that day. Well, it was not, and I was freezing. My friend Debbie let me borrow her hat. Isn't it fun?? I was laughing so hard, and another friend snapped a photo and sent the one of me in the compression socks and the one below to our daughter. She said something like . . . "look at your mother."

We then headed to St. Andrew's church in Epworth. When John Wesley was forbidden to preach inside the church, he stood on his father's grave to preach. Two sweet members of the church told us about the history and allowed us to look around.

Brian (senior pastor) brought along a new guitar that is made for traveling. The neck goes down inside and it fits in a custom backpack. We sang a hymn by Charles Wesley.

Membership records are stored in this chest that is hundreds of years old, and it takes two people with separate keys to unlock it!

The baptism font was lovely.

We headed outside where a storm started to roll in.

I love this fall view - an old cemetery with leaves on the ground.

This is the view when looking back down the path toward town.

We beat the rain . . .it may have blown over actually. We went back to our hotel and then walked to a local pub.

I ordered a cider that was on tap, and it was delicious.

People kept coming in and we expanded our circle. Y'all . . .I really love the pub life.

This was such a fun night! We headed back to the hotel for dinner and crashed again! We actually had to pack up first . . .and we couldn't get our shower to work even though it had worked the night before and earlier that day . . .the sweet girl at the front desk came up. It was operator error. I guess we were suffering from a little jet lag (plus we are old haha!).