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Exploring Europe

December 2019 - January 2020
December 2019 Read more
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  • TravelerExploring Europe
    1
    Day 1

    Holiday time!

    December 14, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    14th December 2019, departure day. It was the day we had been anxiously awaiting, the day where we set off on our biggest adventure yet. 4 weeks of exploring new countries, eating new foods, experiencing new cultures and 4 weeks to slow down and unwind. Bring it on.

    (Let me just note that I just finished my last day of teaching yesterday and have been fighting sickness all week and I woke up today with little energy, a terrible chest cough and congestion…what a great travelling buddy I will make. Poor Asher!)

    It all started when our alarms went off at 8am. We bounced out of bed to finishing packing and cleaning ready to leave at 11am. We pride ourselves on being speedy packers and we were all packed and ready to go by 9:30…then I was ready for a nap.

    We had time for some quick goodbyes to Mum and Dad 2, Shem, Jesse Abi and Dad then we were off in the car heading to the airport…it was all starting to feel quite real now! We made good time and arrived at the airport at 1:20pm, with Jess, James and Hudson hot on our tail. It was a quick goodbye to Jesse and a big thank you for taking us down. In we went to the international airport ready for the longest flight of our lives!

    We excitedly met James, Jess and Hudson at the luggage gate ready to check in our monster suitcases, a pram and a cot. Everything started to feel real as we checked our bags in, went through the security checks, ate a quick airport meal and rushed ourselves to the gate. 3:50pm and time to board our dreaded 15 hour flight to Dohar.

    Several movies, plenty of complimentary drinks for Asher and a lots of short naps later we made it safely to Doha. The 15 hours was over, we made it safe and tired in Dohar ready for our next leg. We only managed a brief stretch of the legs before it was time to board our next flight. We couldn’t believe it. 7 hours and we’d be in London!

    We’d attempted to do the sneaky on this flight and book seats with one in-between us, hoping that no-one would book it and then we could have a whole row to spread out. We may have celebrated too early as the last guy to board the flight just so happened to be the same guy who booked that seat! Not to worry though, we were very tired on this leg so we managed to sleep a lot of it away. With a bumpy decent and a screech of wheels, we touched down in London! Excitement is high!!! Ready to explore the city and stay awake as long as we can.

    Jo ♥️    Read more

  • TravelerExploring Europe
    211
    Day 2

    Sleepwalking through London

    December 15, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    We’d arrived! 26hrs later and 6am on the dot. London Baby!
    Gatwick airport was very quite on a brisk early Sunday morning. Our tired, red-eyed faces were graced with the fresh, brisk air of London’s winter as we downed our long desired coffees and set on off to navigate the intrinsic railway network of London.
    We managed to make the 40 minute express train ride into London Victoria station without any qualms. Passing all the quaint terraces homes and small towns outside London
    We purchases our unlimited underground railway passes for the week’s adventures and after taking several wrong turns with our massive winter packed suitcase in tow, we finally managed to find our way to the correct train, next stop; Earl’s Court, our home for the next 7 days.

    Earl’s Court is a stunning suburb just south of Kensington, full of incredible old terrace mansions, now operating as various hotels and bed & breakfasts. From the moment we walked out of the station we were taken in by this place. As we lugged our monster suitcases to a little luggage storage place near our Airbnb, we couldn’t wait to get out and explore this place. We had a few hours to kill before our little apartment was ready so with excited/quite exhausted spirits we set off on foot towards Hyde park.

    After dreading the prior weather forecast of rain, London really turned it on for us with sunshine and clear skies. We strolled through the surprisingly massive Hyde park, from one end to the other. What better way to stretch out the legs after more than 24 hours of travelling.
    We were taken away by the beauty of Hyde park. Even in Winter with it’s bare trees it was quite stunning. We managed the lengthy walk to the other side where we discovered London’s Winter Wonderland. This picturesque winter show was something to behold. Smells of delicious BBQ mixed with fresh cinnamon donuts assaulted our noses as we wandered the many stores serving up delicious food & drinks. We started off with a steaming hot cup of spiced mulled wine which warmed your entire body before moving on to shishkebabs, German sausages and hot Nutella crepes. We mossed on out of the wonderland going against the crowds and crowds of people heading in for their Sunday afternoon. With our Airbnb still not quite ready we set of to tick more major tourist hotspots. This one was a big one, Buckingham Palace.

    We weren’t really expecting to head here on day 1, tired and sleep walking, but we were in the area so why not?
    Buckingham palace is one of those places we thought we’d seen lot of after binging the entire 3rd season of The Crown, but it’s sheer size when you actually walk up to it’s front gate is pretty impressive. Jo was in her element! We snapped the essential photos, waved to Lizzy and kept moving, we were craving a bit of horizontal time.
    Our Airbnb still wasn’t quite ready so it was to the classic English pub down a cobble stone side ally while we waited. Rested and refreshed we picked up our massive bags and headed to our apartment for hot showers and a chillout.
    The time difference was catching up to us and with sunset at 4:00pm it wasn’t long before we started falling like flies for bed. We were all in bed by 6:30pm an that was it. A great sunny start to our London leg of the trip!

    Asher ☺️    Read more

  • TravelerExploring Europe
    1
    Day 3

    Early Bird Explorers

    December 16, 2019 in England ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    Wide awake at 1am is never fun, especially when your husband is snoring himself off the bed, quite literally! Asher actually almost fell right out of our small double bed last night. Save by fast acting wife reflexes and sleep depriving affects of jet lag.
    It was a bit of a rough morning, all of us extremely tired but still unable to sleep any longer. We were all out in the lounge room by 6am which is pretty much unheard of in our house. Outside it was still pitch black like it was midnight, sunrise wasn’t until 8am.
    We killed a bit of time taking it easy and dosing on the couch while we waiting for the sun to come up, checking out the morning news. Turns out there was an epic 50 million pound jewellery robbery right around the corner from us throughout the night.
    We showered and gathered our weary bodies and set off for the day. We hit up a few shops on High Kensington St, just near our place, walked past the scene of the previous night’s robbery, and then jumped on one of those big red buses London is famous for and headed towards those infamous squares. Piccadilly Circus was first, with a hustle and bustle of classy shops and one whopping big screen. We couldn’t resist checking out M&M world and of course LEGO world. Then it was Leicester square with it’s rows and rows of musical ticket booths. We checked out some pricing for shows we wanted to see and booked a few tickets.
    It wasn’t long before we made it down to Covent Garden, a beautiful part of town with many quaint alleyways and markets. We stopped for lunch on the beautiful street and explored some of the markets which included more mulled wine of course, and then continued on our way.
    Next up, Trafalgar Square. This enormous square was quite impressive. Named after the Battle of Trafalgar where the British navy defeated Napoleon’s French and Spanish fleets in 1805. The huge column dedicated to Lord Nelson is surrounded by 4 huge lions which were so much bigger than we thought they’d be. Very impressive!

    From there we moseyed on down to the river, stopping to check out the household calvary, the scaffold covered Big Ben (very disappointing), and of course Westminster Abbey. This place was spectacular! The sheer size, ornate architecture and simple beauty of this old building was stunning. Everywhere we go in this city we’re taken back by the incredible old buildings and architecture. It’s style has lasted through the ages and each building is so rich with history.

    We rested our weary legs overlooking the river Thames and with the sun gone by 3:30pm we decided to head back. We were all feeling pretty tired still, none of us had had much sleep and our beds were calling us once again.

    We hit up the local pub for dinner and the patisserie next door for a bit of dessert and hot chocolate before zonking out for the day. We needed a good nights sleep before the big birthday shenanigans tomorrow!

    Asher ☺️    Read more

  • TravelerExploring Europe
    Day 4

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY JO!

    December 17, 2019 in England ⋅ 🌧 6 °C

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY JO!!
    It was a relatively early start to the birthday celebrations. We had big plans which meant we needed to be on the Underground by 8am. We filled a big paper bag with delicious pastries and coffee from Paul’s patisserie (our local) before jumping on the train, destination, you guessed it, Harry Potter World at Warners Bros studios to celebrate the big 24th birthday!
    It was about an hour on a few trains before we made it to the Night Bus bus stop at Watford Junction. It was cold and rainy, the perfect day for exploring the world of Harry Potter.

    We rolled in on the bus, grabbed our audio guided tour kits and got in line for the entrance. We entered the entire studio through the great doors of the Hogwarts Great Hall. As it was her birthday, Jo had the honours of actually opening the doors for everyone! It’s true, I may have been more excited for her than she was.
    And then we were off into the world of witchcraft and wizardry!

    There was soooooo much to see in this place! From interesting facts about the making of, to thousands and thousands of genuine props used throughout the 8 Harry Potter Films. We couldn’t believe the amount of effort and detail that actually went into making these movies. The amazing special effects and the tiniest of detailed props that went into the sets was remarkable. It was pretty surreal for Jo to be able to look at the making of one of her favourite stories from childhood.
    As we wandered through this amazing world, we hit lunchtime and hadn’t even scratched the surface. We stopped for delicious butter beers and questionable hot dogs before continuing on.
    It was so so impressive to see how they put these films together and interesting how it was literally hundreds of people's entire lives for the 10 years of production. Once you enter the studio it was just another world.
    Highlights would have to have been the sheer scale of some of the sets like Gringott’s bank, the detail in the huge Hogwarts model castle they used for long shots, and of course the Hogwarts Express steam train. All in all it was an incredible experience!
    To be able to see behind the scenes of some of the greatest movies made was amazing.

    From there we headed back home before Jo and I headed out to dinner and a show to keep the birthday celebrations going. Dinner was an amazing rooftop Italian restaurant for pizza, pasta and delicious desserts before we heading off to the world's longest playing play, The Mousetrap, an Agatha Christie classic.
    The play was excellent, however both of us were so tired we did struggle through it. Jo actually fell asleep right before the killer was revealed and missed the most critical moment in the whole play. A brief overview was of course given on the train home.
    The lead actor swore us to secrecy in the tradition of Mousetrap and we made our way back home. Exhausted from a big day of celebrating we snuck back into the house trying not to wake the little Lynch family and crashed out.
    A pretty unique birthday well spent! 🎉

    Asher ☺️    Read more

  • TravelerExploring Europe
    Day 5

    Guards, Bridges, & Markets. Mamma Mia!

    December 18, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    It was once again a beautiful sunny day and the changing of the guard was a pretty lavish spectacle! We got there 15 minutes early but it was absolutely packed. You would have thought Queen Lizzy was addressing the nation! Jo managed to push her way somewhat to the front, playing the short person card, however, the view was still pretty rubbish. We found it best just to watch one of the thousands of phone screens being held up in the air trying to get the shot.
    It was pretty amazing though! To think that they close roads and put on this lavish show every few days is crazy! The marching band had to be the highlight. Being able to play so well while staying in formation was incredible.

    From there we beelined for London Bridge and more importantly, Borough Markets. Borough markets are a food lovers dream! Hundreds of food stalls selling delicious cheeses, meats, chocolates, fresh produce, hot food and of course mulled wine, sangria and warmed spiced cider.

    We wandered the many stores struggling to decide on something to eat for lunch before settling on pulled pork rolls, fried chicken burgers, falafel wraps, sangria & hot spiced cider. Oh and of course jam & chocolate filled donuts to cap it off! We’re going to be twice the size when we come back!
    We sat in the shadow of a very old and grand church to feast on our purchases before going our seperate ways. James & Jess were heading to St Paul’s cathedral, we were aiming for The Tower of London. We didn’t quite make it though as our walk there took us through awesome Christmas markets and across London Tower. With our daylight running out we decided to leave The Tower of London to tomorrow. Instead we opted for the Tower Bridge walk.

    A lift took us more than 40 meters up one of the towers where we could walk across the the glass bottomed walkways to the other side. It was somewhat dizzying stepping out onto the glass and looking down, but extremely cool. The views over London and the Thames were fantastic, and the history of the Tower Bridge was really fascinating. It was really an artistic and engineering wonder for London. We toured the engine room which house the huge old steam engines which drove the bascules, splitting the bridge in two to allow for ships to pass through. Back when it was built in 1894 it was raised 10,000 times a year and required a team of 12 guys to operate it. Today its all run by electricity and only opened maybe 1000 times a year at the push of a button. How times have changed. We spent some time soaking in the history before heading back to the apartment in the dark.

    From there the plans were to go and see the musical School of Rock. James jumped on board with Jo & I and we left Jess and Hudsy to hopefully a quiet night. Even after talking to the booking people, it wasn’t long before we discovered I had mad a big mistake. Turns out the musical wasn’t even playing tonight! Spewing!
    Lucky we hadn’t travelled too far and London has about 400,000 theatres scattered across the city. No, I exaggerate, but we were lucky in that Mamma Mia was playing jsut a street away and we had time to make it! So we went from School of Rock to Mamma Mia… not a bad compromise… in fact I think Mamamia probably turned out to be the better option anyway. By the end of it they had us on our feet singing along to Dancing Queen and all those ABBA classics. We felt horrible for poor Jess when we broke the news to her we were heading to Mamma Mia instead! We resolved to telling her it was terrible if she asked.

    All in all it was yet another great day in this incredible city!

    Asher ☺️    Read more

  • TravelerExploring Europe
    2
    Day 6

    Museums & Castles

    December 19, 2019 in England ⋅ 🌧 11 °C

    Today was wet! Very wet. The perfect day for some inside exploring. We were off to the British Museum and Tower of London.

    British Museum was up first. This huge museum was a wonder. We could have spent he whole day there and still not seen everything. We only had a few hours though so we prioritised Ancient Egypt, Assyria and Greece. These were all things both of us had learnt about during our year 12 schooling so it was pretty amazing to see things in the flesh. The colossal statues of this powerful Pharaohs and lavish palaces of the Assyrian Kings. It was just so amazing to actual visualise these actual things that existed so many years ago. Even stories from the bible we learn’t as kids, seeing the actual palaces from those times really brings what it would have been like to life. I never really pictured much of the city of Nineveh but seeing the actual palace walls in real life depicting carvings of what life was like there really brought it to life.
    We dove into history for a few hours before time got away from us and we had to get across to the grand Tower of London. Not before a quick pit stop at the local bookshop though.

    We made it to the Tower of London, grabbed our audio guides and set off in the rain to explore this incredible castle and fortress. This was a real step back in time. All the way back to William the Conquerer. Originally it started out as a prison, then part of it became a royal palace, a store house for military weapons and now it’s a museum of war weapons and of course the home of The Crown Jewels.

    After exploring the history for a while we wandered in to see the Crown Jewels. Jo was very excited! We took the constantly moving travellator past quite a few times before we could move on. These jewels were very bedazzling, under all the lights they sparkled like crazy. Some of the jewels were incredible! We found out that this was home to the largest cut diamond in the world, the Cullinan diamond. Originally 3,106 carats and the size of a baseball it was cut down and forms different parts of the crown jewels. Unfortunately Queen Lizzy’s crown was in use so we couldn’t see the state crown. With the latest British election Boris Johnson had stolen it for the day.
    Must admit though, this huge display of wealth was all a bit much I think. Traditions or not you could see why the poorer class would have despised the royal family sometimes.
    We hung around the castle until sunset which was such stunning lighting with the tower bridge in the background.

    From there we were heading home. We were on babysitting duty tonight so James and Jess could enjoy dinner and a show. It was nice to have a night relaxing at home actually. We waved them off, got Hudsy to bed and put ourselves to bed not long after.

    A very historically informative day!

    Asher ☺️    Read more

  • TravelerExploring Europe
    Day 7

    Au naturel up in the clouds

    December 20, 2019 in England ⋅ 🌧 8 °C

    Wet… again…but we were still pumped for our second last day in London. It was a day for exploring some things involving a bit of nature, bit first, it was down to the local barista Over Under cafe for a delicious flat white. Oh and yeah, we did swing by good ol’ Paul’s patisserie too…

    We hit the pretty wet underground and zoomed through the tunnels toward Land Sky Garden. This was a like a huge modern sky scraper with a basically a fancy greenhouse on top. We hadn’t booked tickets and were planning on just showing up to see what we could do. Turns out if you don’t book tickets and you go at a certain time you actually get priority entry! We felt like kings and queens as we wished past the ticket checks and people waiting in-line with their tickets ready for security checks.
    We made it through security and up the 360m tower to London’s highest public garden. Up here we enjoyed the 360 degree views of London city, wandered through the greenery, and sipped coffee while we relaxed high above the city.
    We did however have to get moving cause we were slowly but surely running out of time in London. We had yet to hit up St Paul’s Cathedral, Kensington Palace, The Natural History Museum, & Harrod’s!

    We zoomed down the tower, jumped back not he underground and went our seperate ways from J,J, & H. St Paul’s Cathedral was absolutely enormous! Yet again another super impressive old building with so much history. We decided not to pay the $40 dollar each entry fee and just admired the spectacle from outside. We just can’t get over the incredible architecture involved in these old buildings. The cathedral just sort of popped up out of nowhere as we walked around the corner from the underground station. It’s huge domed center soars above the surrounding city and its massive entry-way is something else.

    We got our happy snaps, but we had other places to be. We zoomed back towards out apartment, heading for Kensington Palace. This palace was pretty nice. The home of Queen Victoria before she became queen, one of Jo’s favourites, and of course Princess Diana at one stage. This Palace was nice because it was on a much smaller scale to what we’d seen so far, particularly Queen Victoria’s residence. We found we could appreciate her childhood and life a lot more as we wandered through the rooms of the palace. It was also fascinating to see how Princess Diana impacted the world through her actions and even through her fashion!

    From Kensington we wandered through the edge of Hyde Park, the sun even came out for awhile which was delightful. From there our destination was the natural history museum. We waited for a bus which seemed to take forever in the freezing cold. We rolled up tot he natural history museum and our mouths hit the floor.
    This building was an architectural masterpiece! It was absolutely massive and so grand in design we were sure it must have been used as a cathedral or a palace. We asked on fo the guides and turns out this whole marvellous building was designed and built for the sole purpose of the natural history museum. Whaaaaat?
    The Natural History museum used to be a part of the British museum, but there was just tooo much stuff, so… they simply built an enormous new building for it. Why not?

    As we wandered through this incredible museum checking out the incredible wonders of the natural world it really made us appreciate the enormity and complexity of God’s creation. There was so much to see here we just couldn’t do it all. We spent about 1.5 hrs here before our feet just couldn’t go any further. We had great plans to go ice skating int he shadow of this incredible building, under the night sky, but as we excited the rain was coming down and we breathed a slight sigh of relief as our feet definitely wouldn’t have held up!

    So we set of in the rain for home where we relaxed with the rest of the team before Jo and headed out to our 3rd show for the week, Wicked. Yet again, another brilliant show, however we quietly reckon Australia did it better. I guess these guys do it every single night over here so they need to pace themselves. When shows come to Australia for a few months at a time they seem to go above an beyond a lot more.

    After the show we hung out on the London streets and face-timed the fam back home, before tip toeing back inside our apartment and falling into bed.

    One more day in London to go! We’re sad our time at this location is coming to an end but, we’re looking forward to our coming adventures!    Read more

  • TravelerExploring Europe
    Day 8

    Last Day, Market Day

    December 21, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Portobello Road Markets, Notting Hill… what a crazy place! Hustling and bustling with so many people, store holders yelling out there best selection of produce or latest styled hats. We wandered through, bumping shoulders left and right, soon discovering that we needed cash at most vendors. So we found an ATM, which ended up being out of order. All good, we’ll just go inside and get money out. Oh wait, it’s a 10.5% extra bank fee to withdraw cash… No worries we’ll go to that supermarket… oh they don’t do cash out? That’s all good, we’ll try another supermarket… whats that? They don’t do cash out either? ok….oh look, there’s another atm, lets try that… oh that’s out of order as well? Never mind that security guy said that that other supermarket will do cash out… Ok let’s try that. We can get cash out, yes! Oh… it won’t let us use our Australian cards?!! Ok this is getting a bit annoying, let’s keep walking. Oh let me pop my head into this supermarket and check… don’t even bother, it’s tiny! Wait what’s that in the distance?! It’s glowing light on a wall that reads ‘CASH’. Will it work? Will it not? There’s only one way to find out… Yass! It does, finally we have some pounds to purchase our big delicious market pastries with! Woooo!

    Soon the rain set in and we had to bail. We set off for Harrod’s, the super department store of London. Harrod’s was all a it much, packed tot eh rafters with hectic Christmas shoppers. Jo managed to by a few books and we got out of there. We set off on a bus aiming to do a bit of shopping before we left London for the country side tomorrow. We got a few stops away and just weren’t feeling it. Our feet were killing and we were so exhausted. So we hopped right off and got right on the Underground train heading back home. We arrived home to J,J, & H where we all just chilled out for bit before Jo & I headed to grab a drink with the local Carroll. We met Ben and his girlfriend Kate at an amazing underground wine bar for a drink and serious catch-up.We hadn’t seen Ben for several years and had never met Kate so it was so great to catch them. We chatted for a couple of hours and down a delicious bottle of red before we said our goodbyes and headed back to the apartment. It was pack up time and off to bed for an early night before we hit the road tomorrow.

    Asher ☺️    Read more

  • TravelerExploring Europe
    Day 9

    Windsor... Woah

    December 22, 2019 in England ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    It was an early start to the day. James and I hit the Underground early to go and grab our rental cars while the girls and Hudsy finished packing up the apartment. Jo and I scored a little bright blue Vauxhall Corsa. We cruised back tot he apartment, grabbed the girls and H, and hit the road. Our first destination was Windsor Castle, just a 30 minute drive from Earl’s Court.

    Windsor Castle had to be one of my personal favourites of the the trip so far. Because it’s still used today, everything was so immaculately kept and the whole castle was just incredible. We wandered the outside parts briefly before heading into St Georges Chapel for a Sunday service. It’s closed to the public on Sunday unless you attend a service, and we were very keen to check out the inside of this spectacular building. So we attend the service. It was so interesting to witness how such an old and respected chapel conducts it’s service. Everything is very scripted and you can follow along in a little booklet they give you. We listened to the choir sing, the lesson of the the day and also sang hymns from a remarkably similar green hymn book accompanied by a very epic pipe organ.

    We sat through the hour long service, managed to snap some sneaky photos of the incredible interior, and left feeling little weird after just experiencing something remarkably different to our own memorial services but also kind of similar in a way.

    We explored the rest of the outside of the castle and then headed into the State Apartments section. This is the part of the castle where Queen Lizzy often entertains guests and hosts dinner parties. It is also a museum of the rooms of King George IV… or V…. Or III? I can’t remember! There were so many King Georges.

    The interior of this Castle was something to behold. Everything was so extravagant and so lavish it was kind of hard to comprehend. So much was covered in gold, from floor to ceiling, the walls were lined with priceless artworks, and I can only imagine the price of the ornaments and gifts which sat in the corridors and immense rooms.

    This place was so interesting and so large we ended up spending most of the day here. We didn’t left eh actual castle until about 2:30pm. We hadn’t even explored Windsor at all. J & J ended up getting quite ahead of us and left for there BnB in the country side well before us.

    From the castle Jo & I wanders the beautiful streets of Windsor, shadowed but he huge castle overlooking it. I grabbed a delicious Cornish pasty while Jo scored some incredible Italian pizza from an authentic Italian street food vendor. We sat and ate our late lunch before hitting the road, destination, Dyrham Park, our country side cottage for the evening.

    We arrived well after dark at 5:30pm and felt instantly relaxed as we entered our cosy little farm cottage. It was an old barn, converted into a rustic B&B. The original stone flooring was chilly underfoot but the whole place had such a cosy feel to it. We spent the evening watching TV and just simply relaxing before crashing out in the huge king bed quite early, ready for another day of exploring tomorrow.

    Asher ☺️    Read more

  • TravelerExploring Europe
    Day 10

    Rolling through those hills

    December 23, 2019 in England ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C

    This morning was a very slow morning, We slept in and checked out what was around us on our phones. Turns out we were staying on the grounds of Dyrham Estate. Dyrham Estate was a beautiful country home/castle belonging to someone important. But more important to us, it was used in one of the opening scenes of the movie ‘Australia’. Just a simple fly over shot but still...This led to us watching the first half of ‘Australia’ as we spent the morning hours relaxing. We checked out of our little cottage and wandered down to check to the Dyrham Estate. It was extremely picturesque. Quite cool to be able to stay right next to it. Jo felt like she was in a scene straight out of a Jane Austen film/novel.

    From there we jumped back in the car and headed to Bath. Bath was extremely busy with so much traffic. We drove to the top of the hill for a spectacular view, and then back down to ‘The Circus’, a famous circle of buildings situated in Bath. Soon the chaoticness and business just became to much. We decided to give those Roman baths Bath is famous for a miss because it was just too busy and we had to hit the road.

    We drove north, our route, through the Cotswolds. We cruised though the rolling hills of west England, amazed after every corner we took. We travelled through many beautiful old stone walled farms and stone housed towns. It was just so refreshing being in the country. We stopped for a late lunch in Tetbury, a spectacular old stone town full of amazing old pubs, cafes and gift shops. We found an awesome cafe, ate, and played some cards before hitting the road again. We were trying to get to our AirBnB before dark and we had to make tracks to get there in time. We were heading to a little town called Chipping Campden at the northern end of the Cotswolds.
    We managed to make it, just, after getting a little bit lost before finding our little farmstead studio. The owners met us as we drove in and were so lovely. They showed us the ropes and left us be. This beautiful farm was situated onto of Dovers Hill which overlooks the township of Chipping Campden. We relaxed for a bit. Then headed doesn’t he hill into the cute little town covered in fairy lights for some dinner. We found an amazing Italian restaurant… the amount of Italian we eat you would have thought we were in Italy! We’re both obsessed with it! We dined on spinach and ricotta ravioli and wild boar tagliatelle before heading back up the hill to finish our movie ‘Australia’ and had to bed. Very excited to explore this little place in the morning with a bit more light and also meet up with J,J, & H again for brunch at Stow-on-the-Wold, another beautiful Cotswold town.

    Asher ☺️    Read more

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