Today we have an appointment to test drive a car that Aaron looked at yesterday, and then we are going on to Chedworth Roman Villa. Leaving home about 10.30 after loading the car with the obligatory jumpers, jackets and umbrellas. Simple drive to Malmsbury and the car yard. Holly and I take a wander around the village while we are waiting, checking out the 3 op shops and picking up a few books for the kids as well as a book for Aaron. Added to the chocolate orange we bought him, that pretty much sorts his birthday presents. There is a perfect winter coat for Holly (which, frankly we need right about now) but it is white - wouldn't last even one day.
Returning to the car yard we find Aaron in the office negotiating a deal, so at last the search is over and we are the new owners of a Peugeot estate. Insurance, MOT and goodness knows what else to organise, so we put down a deposit and leave.
I want to have a quick look in the Abby before we leave. It turns out to be particularly impressive. More than 2/3 of it has fallen down, and the current churchyard is where once was the abbey. When it was built the spire made it the tallest building in England, but it fell in the 15th century, and later the tower fell too, so only the nave remains. In the church yard is a headstone for a woman who was apparently killed by a tiger from a travelling circus in 1703. It reads:
She's snatched from hence
She had not room
To make defence
For tyger fierce
Took life away
And here she lies
In a bed of clay
Until the resurrection day
It is nearly lunchtime by now, so on our drive to Chedworth we pull into a Waitrose at Circencester because supermarkets here do awesome sandwiches. Now Waitrose are a bit more expensive, but they have an information desk ?!*@?, toilets and... a cappucino machine where you can make your own FREE coffee!! Totally converted. I will happily pay 30p more for my sandwich when I am saving 2.50 on my coffee. Aaron is tempted first while Aidan and I are inspecting the facilities and as he gives it the thumbs up I can't resist sampling the wares. Not the greatest coffee in the world, but easily as good as any I have had in the UK. In fact, based on my experience on our last trip, I haven't even bothered having a coffee since we arrived. At $5 a cup, plus whatever we end up buying for the kids, it is an expensive exercise for a poor quality product so I have been making do with the nescafe cappucino sachets which are oddly enough, miles better than the same product in Australia. So this is my first proper coffee in 12 days.
Time is getting away from us so we pack back in the car and find our way through the countryside to Yarnworth and the Roman Villa.
Set in a lovely location, we flash our National Trust cards and find a nice place to sit and eat our lunch before the tour being run. Our guide is Censorinus and he runs an informative and mildly entertaining tour of the ruins.
The ruins are home to a species of protected snail.
Fines and even a gaol term can apply for interfering with a snail. The only time they can be touched is to remove from a path if they are in harms way, but they must be placed going in the same direction.
In the middle of the site is a Victorian hunting lodge. Something that in any other location might be regarded as a site in itself is, in this location strikingly out of place.
After sampling the kids activities,
we are ready to leave and decide to drive to nearby Bilbury before we go home. Driving down a lane we spot some swans so we pull into the pub parking to have a look. Turns out to be an Inn set in stunning gardens, with a lake. Too good to pass up, especially now the sun has come out, so we order a drink and enjoy the idyllic setting for a while.
Time is getting on but we press on to Bilbury. Well worth the drive down some very tiny lanes.
Wended our way home for birthday cake, courtesy of Marks and Sparks. And yes, the sun did finally come out.
Saturday 4 June
Up at 6am to catch the 7.30 train from Chippenham into London.
Holly and I are wearing our long underwear under our summer frocks as it is pretty fresh at this time of the day and frankly not really likely to get much warmer as the day goes by.
Train ride is smooth and quiet at this time and we arrive at Paddington in good time. Making our way to the tube, we quickly discover that the entire circle line is closed this weekend for maintenance. Of course it is the circle line we need, and we do not have a back up plan to make our way across town.
Never fear, a friendly and well informed Policeman at the station calls up an app on this phone and tells us that the no. 23 bus will be arriving in 2 minutes just up the road and will take us where we need to go, so it a quick sprint up to the road just as our double decker bus is pulling up. Phew, crisis averted.
We alight at Trafalgar square and make our way down, with many other similarly well dressed people to Horse Guards parade.
No problems at the entrance, and a short wait in the queue to get through security scanners and very thorough bag checks. Through to the parade ground and we find our seats, though we did sit in the wrong row for a bit. Not as bad as others in our row though, who had to move 3 times before they found their correct seats.
While the scheduled start time is 11am, this is when the 'Queen' arrives, so the guards, bands and horses all start arriving shortly after we are seated. Each regiments' band marches down the Mall and arrives separately
Once they are all in place, the regiments arrive,
then the artillery and the horse guards, followed by the carriages which will contain the Royal family come Saturday's big day.
The (empty) carriage carries out an inspection of the line, then the massed bands Troop'.
The Colour (this year the Coldstream) is collected and is then trooped through the ranks. While all this is going on, the guard on each stand is indicating to the crowd when we need to stand and sit.
There is a march past, and then the Royal Artillery, the Life Guards and the blues and Royals do their ride past, accompanied by the mounted band.
Once the ride past is has done its circuits, the regiments form up and gradually leave the parade ground and head back down the Mall.
We are allowed down from our stands and make our way back to Trafalgar Square for a coffee and to contemplate the experience, though not before grabbing a quick photo opportunity.
There are a couple of hours until our train home so we decide to walk back to Paddington, via the shopping streets of Regent and Oxford.
We pause to look at the window displays at Hamleys but dare not go in.
The entrance to the Disney store is too hard to resist though.
It ends up being a fair hike back to the station and we have to get a wriggle on as we are not sure exactly how far it is, but we arrive with 10 minutes to spare and find our train waiting on platform 1.
Home again to a happy to see us Rufus.
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