Cotswold Grange Hotel Cheltenham

... Next morning after a wander around an old church we had a light breakfast and embarked for London to drop off the hire car and check in to The Beaufort Hotel, just around the corner from Harrods department store.<br><br>Tonight we will go to the Uriah Heep concert in Highbury.<br><br>To those who don't know Uriah Heep, firstly shame on you and secondly google them right now. We will keep you informed......

... in your snaps). However the numerous pubs, restaurants and coffee shps promised a fine time later in the day.<br><br>Finally I should note that there are many fine views as you walk back along the main road, but my spare camera battery was in the car and so I cannot share them.<br><br>Beautiful place, much closer to my home than the airport or the coast, but to be fair possibly further from your home.<br><br>I am now fired with enthusiasm to visit local towns and villages.<br><br>

Hey there!!!<br><br>11 days until I head off on my trip to Asia!<br><br>The nerves are setting in a little. This'll be my first time out of Europe in an non-English speaking country! Scary stuff? I think so! I've always settled for the resort holiday: hotel pool, drunken scots, mcdonalds etc. Time for something a bit different.<br><br>I really can't wait to see the differences in culture and they different ways of looking @ life. I don't want to go ...

... lopsided!<br>- birthplace of Shakespeare<br>- resting place of Shakespeare<br>- a street market with a massive pig on a spit (that smelt REALLY good)<br>- some old dudes doing "Morris" dancing (mum enjoyed that so much she wanted a photo with one of them)<br><br>The following day we hopped aboard the Countess of Eversham Restaurant Cruiser boat. It was GREAT! We had a lovely meal whilst the barge took us on ...

... 5pm so I managed to sweet talk the lady behind the counter for a free wander around for 15 minutes. It was £6 each to get in!! Bargain.<br> <br>We then headed back to Cirencester for a late Pub Lunch and a wander around the old capital of the "wolds". Nice little town but not an awful lot to do apart from see the church (which was getting renovated) and take a look at the old buildings around).<br><br>So we woke up after staying at the Travelodge just ...

From Dad<br>I am writing from our warm and friendly farmhouse at Harbury in Warwickshire. We arrived yesterday night and we have just finished a great day in the area.<br><br>The Farmhouse<br>We are staying in an 18th Century, two-story farmhouse, with a lot of charm and comfort. <br><br>Warwick Castle<br>Today we enjoyed 'Britain's Greatest Medieval Experience' at Warwick Castle ...

... go cell phones from the Orange store for £40 - really easy to set up and a lot easier than having to worry about roaming charges on our US phones. Plus we can use them next year. <br><br>It didn't take long to adjust to hearing all the British accents again. By the time we'd arrived at Paddington I had stopped being surprised! <br><br>We waited at Paddington for 2 hours for our train. We had brought our tickets in ...

I arived back in Cheltenham at 11pm exhausted. Walked back home past the drunken Idiots in Cheltenham highstreet to see Mum and Davo just leaving to pick me up from the bus station- a bit late!! :-) We chatted, Iate some nice cheese and then I slept like a baby. As ...

... On my left is the view of the vast expanse of valley that can be sampled from the bay window of the hotel lobby, with farms in varyzing shades of green, faraway clumps of buildings signifying country villages, and rims of mountains fading into the misty distance. On my right is a steepish hill punctuated with well-trodden paths, occasional clusters of sheep and the abstract terraces that their grazing has produced. I wander along the ...

... years ago. After our stop at the Hathaway home, we headed into town to spend a couple of hours and to visit the homestead of Shakespeare himself. They have maintained the quaint look of this town very nicely. Stratford sits upon the River Avon, hence its name. It rained in the afternoon, but we were prepared and no one melted.