Great Britain {Sept. 2012}

John and I took a wonderful trip to Great Britain last month which included England, Scotland and Wales.  We decided to skip London this time and explore new areas - I think my favorite was visiting the Cotswalds.  It was such a fun experience to travel to the towns of both of our ancestors, hike the English countryside, tour castles (including the castle used in our favorite show, Downton Abbey) and visit so many historical sites. We had the funniest time driving a little car on such little roads... I can't believe we were able to return it all in one piece!  We were surprised by how nice the weather turned out to be for our trip.  We had heard that Endland had just experienced the wettest summer in 100 years.  We loved mingling with the locals.  I found myself speaking in an accent from time to time and using words like "lovely".  It was a "lovely" trip!

 

Highclere Castle - a.k.a. Downton Abbey
Day #1 - looking a little wobbly, fresh off the airplane.

...not so "lovely" here.

 Stonehenge

...one of many antique shops along the way.

Chard, England

We spent some time here looking
for my ancestors' graves.

Bath, England

The Roman Baths

 

Her Majesty, the Queen

 

Bath, England

Crescent Building

 

our B&B in Bath

 

Tintern Abbey in Wales

 

cute, little market in the Cotswalds

 Cotswalds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 early morning fog in Wales

Beaumaris Castle in northern Wales

Bourton on the Water

 This was my favorite village in all of the Cotwalds!

Bibury, England

 

 

 

 

Conwy Castle in northern Wales
(view from our B&B)

 Preston, England Temple in the city of Chorley

 

Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland

(from the movie 'DaVinci Code')

 

 

 

Edinburgh, Scotland

 

Edinburgh Castle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Royal Mile in Edinburgh

 

Edinburgh Castle

 

I saw this on Pinterest several months ago

and it was fun to see it in person!

 

The Highlands in Scotland

 

 Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland

(This was such a fun afternoon!)

 

 

 

 We took a high speed boat tour across Loch Ness.

Meg says this is a great look for us!

 

John... I think?

 

 

 

 Sadly... no Nessie sightings.

 

 

 

 

 

our B&B near Loch Ness

 

 

 

Hadrian's Wall

(This was a real highlight for John.)

 

 We took about a 5 mile hike this evening

- it turned out to be so much fun!

 

That's the sycamore tree 

from the movie 'Robin Hood'!

Thank you John for another amazing trip!