Saturday, October 6, 2012

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!