BATH AND THE COTSWOLDS 2009

For more than twenty years I've been a devoted follower of Masterpiece Theater and Mystery on PBS. I love all the Merchant and Ivory movies and any British costume drama on the big or small screen. So naturally I thought when I finally made it to England I would be prepared for the experience. I was wrong. England is greener, more civilized, more enchanted, more of everything than I expected. I think Bath and the villages of the Cotswolds are the prettiest places I've ever seen. 

We wandered the narrow alleyways of Bath at night and in the morning took a slow, meandering boat trip on the Avon River  (learned that there are many different Avon Rivers in England). A swan floated by with six signets tucked under her wings. Spring green hillsides rolled down to the riverside, rushes swayed gently in our wake. A brief cloudburst cooled us. Later we went into a shop on the Bath bridge selling stamps, coins and old medals. The elderly, wizened proprietress was right out of Dickens. Called me Dear.

We toured Stonehenge, the village of Avebury with the great stone circle and had lunch in a sixteenth century pub in Castle Comb.

For me, the five days we spent in southern England were the highlight of our 2009 trip.