The sad thing is that I hated the car!
It was too big for Wales’ ridiculously narrow roads and parking spots; it had a very jumpy gas pedal (you basically had to punch it to make it go and then it jerked); twice it refused to go back into Drive after I put it in Park (once at a toll booth on the M6!) and I never found out how to downshift if I wanted to (there was no manual).
The car did hold all our luggage, most likely better than the smaller car would have, and it did seem to be pretty efficient, which is important when it cost about $100 to fill the tank!
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| What we got, what we booked, what we should have gotten |
We were driving north, first to the Cotswolds and then on to the Lake District. Fortunately, we didn’t have to drive through London as I was getting used to sitting on the right and driving on the left. The car had great lane-creep warnings (so that helped train me fast along with Caty’s “Mom, you are too close to the line/hedge/wall”). I did manage to never damage the car despite brushing some hedges and maybe a gate.
The GPS, of course, had a British accent that was very upper-crust. We should have recorded the snooty sounding, "the speed limit is 30 (or whatever) miles per awwwwhhr." We laughed every time "she" said it and she said it every time I exceeded the limit by one mph. If that doesn't make you stay five mph under the limit, I don't know what will. And, yes, the UK uses miles, not kilometers, to measure distance and speed.
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| Charming, but oh-so-narrow! |
The driving was nerve-wracking because, after we left the main highway, most of our driving was on two-way-less-than-one-lane-wide or two-lane-with-cars-parked-on-both-sides roads. Watch here to see a typical (actually fairly reasonable) UK road.
We chose to drive because we wanted to see the Lake District’s and Wales’ gorgeous scenery. We didn’t count on two problems: very few turn-outs or shoulders to pull over on and hedges so tall you couldn’t see anything. That combined with white-knuckling it around curves hoping not to encounter cars coming at me made for lots of driving with little actual sight-seeing.
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| Welsh roundabout; Photo: iStock |
In places where the roads are wider (sometimes even a lane or two for each direction!), there are roundabouts at almost every intersection. You have to pay close attention just to stay on route. I must have driven through 150 roundabouts!
I think that the way to see much of the UK is to walk. Our trip was short and we wanted to see a lot, so spending a full day walking at multiple locations wasn’t really feasible. But, quiet strolling seems to be the British ideal.
Don’t get me wrong, we did have lots of great experiences, it was just different than I expected and far more anxiety-inducing. A smaller car would have been better. A driver maybe even more so.
Heading North
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| Red Kite; Photo: BTO |
On the way to the Lake District, we saw a bird that I had hoped to see, but thought was rare: the Red Kite.
Of course, we were driving, so we couldn’t take photos. In the U.S., I would have pulled over, but in the UK, there is seldom anywhere to pull over to.
We did a “drive-by” of the Cotswolds, a region of rolling hills, meadows and valleys in central southwest England. The rural landscape is dotted with quaint stone villages, stately homes and gardens. We saw some pretty vistas from the M6 and smaller roads as we approached our destination, but couldn’t capture many photos.
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| Pretty countryside |
Designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in 1966, the Cotswolds covers 787 square miles. It lies across the boundaries of several English counties, mainly Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, and parts of Wiltshire, Somerset, Worcestershire and Warwickshire.
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| Sheep are everywhere |
The highest point in the rolling hills of the Cotswolds is Cleeve Hill at 1,083 feet. Roughly 80 percent is farmland, where the primary crops include barley, beans, rapeseed oil and wheat. Livestock includes Sheep, Cows and Pigs.
There are over 3,000 miles of footpaths and bridleways and 4,000 miles of historic stone walls.
The area has been inhabited for centuries. There is evidence of Neolithic settlements and burial chambers and there are remains of Bronze and Iron Age forts. Later, Romans built villas, towns and paved paths.
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| An old cemetery |
During the Middle Ages, the Cotswolds became prosperous from wool trade with the continent, especially Italy. Much of the profits funded Cotswold stone "wool churches," many of which still survive.
The affluent area attracts wealthy Londoners and others who own second homes there or have chosen to retire to the Cotswolds.
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| The locals are known for their gardens |
We visited Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire, which is regularly voted one of the prettiest villages in England.
Lying on a wide flat vale within the Cotswolds AONB, the village's high street is flanked by long wide greens and the River Windrush that runs through them. The river is crossed by five low arched stone bridges built between 1654 and 1953.
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| The bridges led to the nickname of "Venice of the Cotswolds;” Photo: Caty Stevens |
Bourton-on-the-Water often has more visitors than residents during the peak tourist season.
The houses and shops in the village are constructed of the ashlar yellow limestone characteristic of the Cotswolds and they have the embellishments that make Cotswold architecture picturesque: projecting gables, string-courses, windows with stone mullions, dripmolds and stone hoodmolds over the doors. There are 114 buildings in town designated as historic by English Heritage.
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| An old sign |
The Cotswolds are featured in many movies, including the Harry Potter series, Bridget Jones' Diary, Pride and Prejudice, Braveheart, Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016), Vanity Fair, Persuasion, Dracula and The Duchess. TV shows include Poldark and Downton Abbey.
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| Lots of shopping |
Some 300,000 visitors arrive each year as compared to less than 3,500 permanent residents. Tourism didn't become significant in the village until the 1920s and 30s. Since we were tourists, my complaint is a bit hollow; but, I found Bourton-on-the-Water to be a bit too touristy and crowded for my taste.
But, as a person who generally visits wild places, I am not quite sure how to explore places where people actually live. I am not comfortable gawking at occupied homes. So, I didn't really know what to do once we got there.
A “Model Village,” featuring doll-sized replicas of the town’s stone buildings opened in 1937. It’s a bit hokey, but also endearing. The Model Village includes a model of the model village itself (a model within a model).
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| Bourton-on-the-Water Model Village |
It was built by local craftsmen in the 1930s using uniquely precise details and the genuine building materials and methods used in the construction of the real village.
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| Very realistic |
We tried to visit an Iron Age building at the Greystones Farm Nature Reserve local farm on the outskirts of Bourton-on-the-Water. The archaeological site is a prehistoric earthwork enclosure erected in the Neolithic period, over 6,000 years ago. Unfortunately, even though there is no mention of this on the directional sign on the main street, the area is open only a few random days a year. We could barely see the building.
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| Left: what we saw; Right: what we wanted to see; Right photo: Britain Express |
But, the walk down the narrow lane was pleasant ...
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| Quaint paths and homes |
Even though this trip was definitely not a birding trip (as became obvious when I tried to bird), Britain is filled with gardens and trees and hedges, so there are birds. In Bourton-on-the-Water, I saw my first European Robin, another Red Kite and lots of Gulls, Jackdaws and Crows.
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| Clockwise: European Robin, Red Kite, Yellow-legged Gull |
Plus, there are lots of rivers and streams ...
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| Peaceful water |
... so, that means fish ...
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| Brown Trout in the Windrush |
We then drove a couple of hours north and spent the night at The Crewe Arms, a charming county pub, situated in the village of Madeley Heath.
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| I was going for quaint and succeeded |
The Inn was surrounded by gardens ...
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| The flowers are gorgeous |
... so I was able to do a little bit of birding in the rain ...
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| Clockwise: Common Wood-Pigeon, Eurasian Jackdaw, House Sparrows, Eurasian Collared Dove |
Unfortunately, the owners were on holiday so, although the pub was serving drinks, it wasn’t offering dinner (and reviews had said dinner was excellent).
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| It's OK, we had pub food later; Left photo: Crewe Arms; Right photo: Booking.com |
We had some so-so middle-eastern take-away.
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