Holiday Inn Kenilworth

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.

Well it's been a while since I last made an entry. Things got very hectic once I moved onto the UKCMG conference. Tony arrived Staurday morning after a bit of scheduling drama in Hong Kong, and I drove back to Stratford (from Cambridge) to return my hire car. We were going to meet a the hotel (I had to catch a train) but some of friends of ours, seeing Tony ...

... toward the stretch where they had the Summer Eights yesterday) and ate brie and wheatcakes and strawberries--yum. You also pass the Botanical Gardens, which are quite nice. We made it back in almost exactly three hours (the amount of time we had reserved the punt), so that was excellent. Meghan and I then made it to the Rose to have tea and read (I am still working through Brideshead Revisited and she is reading Time's Arrow by Martin Amis), and now we're relaxing before dinner.

... live and work. It overlooks the plains where the Civil War was fought and was built after the war in 1750. It had a lovely lounge in which we had a drink and then drove back and did our packing.







We walked around to the local for a drink by the fire and then ordered Thai food.

Stephen drove us to Chipping Campden (20 min. away) for our 4 hour walk. It was bitterly cold as a wind was blowing but the sun was out. It was a lovely village and had a lovely open stone market hall from 1627 with an uneven stone floor.









We ...

... back to the river. We went and did a brass rubbing for 7 pounds 50p ($17) of the Earl of Warwick from 1406. We were so cold when we got home that I had to put my feet on the central heating pipes for ages. Called Lavinia in London and arranged to have dinner Monday night. Went to the local for a drink and then home for Coq au Vin.

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 ...

Stephen dropped us to Warwick Castle – a 10 min. drive away and we had a wonderful time exploring over it for the next 4 hours. Entry was 26 pounds 95 including a 3 pound guide book ($64). Lunch cost us 9 pounds ($21).









It is set in 60 acres of beautiful grounds and is up high overlooking the town on one ...

... Stow-on-the-Wold and saw the Royalist pub 976AD – oldest pub in England and then to Upper Slaughter and Lower Slaughter – 2 lovely little villages around a stream and then on to Broadway.










Went out to dinner at Margaret’s in the village of Radway. She lives in the old school house next to the church

... Castle is huge and imposing. We walked around cute little streets and went to a tearoom and had tea with scones and jam. Nathan had a hot chocolate with whipped cream. Took a photo of this really crooked shop. Drove the 1-1/2 hours to Stratford. Nathan fell asleep the last ½ hour. Stratford looks very cute in the dark. Stephen is walking distance to the river Avon and town centre and lives at 22 ...