Happily Ever After
Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running
Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.
A Cotswold Break
by admin - 23:36 on 25 October 2011
The Cotswold villages are glorious – at least, they would be if there weren't so many cars cluttering up the streets. It's difficult to picture gracious living in the eighteenth century when Mercs, BMWs and 4x4s are parked bumper to bumper along every spare stretch of roadside.
Matchgirl and I for the next few days are the guests of Richard in Royal Leamington Spa, from where we left today for a brief tour of Stratford, Chipping Camden, Broadway Tower (a folly with Pre-Raphaelite connections and a view of thirteen counties on a clear day – I think we could see about half that) and Broadway itself.
Broadway was where we got the best idea of what the villages looked like two hundred years ago. There's no parking on one of its long side streets, a no through road, so there was nothing to interrupt views of honey-coloured stone houses, all boasting well manicured gardens and, as we noted in an estate agent's window, prices to match.
The excitement was too much for Matchgirl, who on her return to Richard's flat declared that she could feel a cold coming on and needed medicine, of which Richard fortunately had plenty. This may have been a ruse to avoid joining us to see Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy at Leamington's cinema, but her lack of appetite suggested she really was poorly. Hopefully she'll perk up after an early night.
She missed little at the cinema. I went with high hopes but anyone who remembers the BBC serial will be underwhelmed by how sketchily the story is told.
Add your comment
© Russell Turner 2008-2024