Menzies Leofric Hotel Coventry

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.

... back. Huge room and beautiful! We sorted ourselves out and headed down to wetherspoons for lunch and some much needed refreshement!!! met up with everyone else and enjoyed some meatballs and beer! Then it was time to head back, and shower ready for the night at the fair. My room had the biggest shower i had ever seen!!! Bloody lovely though. Met up about 7 at the hotel and we all hit the fun fair. Let me explain. Warwick holds a fun fair called the Mop every year in October ...

I have added some random pictures and most of them have a story with them. I got a VIP tour of the RICOH Arena where the Coventry Club Football Team plays (soccer). It's beautiful and some of the hotel rooms exit into the stadium. A couple of the other pictures are from Birmingham Bull Ring (Mall), it really wasn't that ...

... it is kind of interesting picturing adults running to the ice cream van seemingly competing with the children in that street. At last, we arrived at old school area where the cars were parked. John drove me back home. He chose a different way to show me what ACW have been doing. I saw some renovated gates to enter the fields, it was amazing. For pictures and stories about what this organisation is doing please visit ww.acoventryway.org.uk. On the way home, we ...

... Earl of Leicester, transformed Kenilworth from a medieval fortress into one of the greatest Tudor palaces so he could entertain Queen Elizabeth I in style for 19 days in 1575, costing millions of pounds. The Keep was breeched during the Civil War in the 1600s. The Great Hall where they dined was huge. It was so cold ...

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 ...

... 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 ...

... another pretty little Cotswold village with a stream, pub and a trout farm. We had a map with directions and they were very bad directions, because we got lost from box 1 and ended up doing the walk back to front and totally wrong sections. It snowed the whole time and was wet snow so after a couple of ...

... Butts (in all towns you will find a Butt Street). With the crossbow the church tried to outlaw them as they were so lethal. Even armour could not protect you. The arrow could not pierce the armour and the person would not have a mark on his body but would die due to rupture of their organs from the shock pressure.







We then ...

... 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