Wellbank Cottage Moreton-in-Marsh

With time rapidly dwindling I went down to Banbury way this afternoon to visit my brother et famille before I leave, taking the opportunity to say goobye to two young nephews - one of whom was able to appreciate some of the implications of what I am doing, "But what if you get sick?" he asked. :-)

Back up to Stoke in the late evening. Last day of preparations tomorrow.

Another scorcher today. I have to continually remind myself what country I’m in. It’s wonderful to feel summer finally!

The farmer came out to bid us goodbye, and we had another great talk and watched his sheep dog do amazing work. What a blessing to have been able to stay here and to meet such interesting people. He is just a treasure trove of information about the history of the area! We exchanged emails and I think we genuinely ...

... really heavy British accents here. The girl I talked to about getting our phone hooked up had to repeat herself numerous times before I could understand what she was saying. Anyway so very confused we walked across the street to try a different banks hole in the wall and when I pulled my card out of my wallet I actually looked at it closer and suddenly realized I was holding Scott's card and not mine. I burst out laughing and showed Scott the card and he burst out ...

... is a member of the library. THEN you have to get interrogated by the staff about your research purposes. The girl in front of me was trying to explain that her last name would soon change because she is engaged, and so the staff lady went off on a rampage about how disruptive this will be for both her library membership and because as a woman she should have the right to keep ...

... over the castle that Nathan couldn’t even hold the audio controller any more. Our feet and hands were numb by the time we got into the car.










We went home for lunch of a pastie and eccles cake and then drove out to the Castle Inn at Edgehill where Stephen and Michele used ...

... church of St. Lawrence. We then crossed little streams and did a huge uphill walk in deep mud tracks. At the top of the hill we followed the road back to Chipping Campden for the next 2-3/4 miles. The wind howled at times and was freezing. We passed fields of black sheep and then ...

... crooked walls, stone floors and period furniture. Youngest children slept in a trundle (trunkle bed) until old enough to handle a candle in their parents room and then up to 4 of them share a largish single bed.





We then walked around the markets and then past Garrick’s Inn, Nash’s house, the Alms houses and Hall’s ...

Woke up early again and it started to snow & was 0 degrees! Had a lazy start to the day. Nathan had a huge breakfast – 3 pain au chocolat, 1 apple, 1 mandarin, 1 piece of toast with an egg!








Today was our hiking day and we drove 1 hour to the village of Bibury ...

... picked us up and we went food shopping for dinner. Had a piece of pork and egg pie. Stephen cooked us duck with orange sauce and veggies. We put the dinner on and walked around to his local "The West End" and sat by the fire and had a drink. After our delicious dinner we watched a DVD – “Nanny McPhee” which was fun.

... and ducks and beautiful big old trees and willows, past the Shakespeare Theatre up to the locks and then into town past lovely stores, pubs, Shakespeare's birthplace and lovely Tudor buildings .










We stopped at the Crabtree & Evelyn Tearoom for a hot drink. Tried a warm apple juice with cinnamon – bit ...