Cotswolder Travel Guide

We had a trip to the Cotswolds booked for last July/August, but we had to cancel a few days before because of the flooding. They had a wetter than usual summer and then had a very heavy rainfall on Friday July 20 which caused severe flooding in Tewkesbury, Gloucester and riverside places in the Cotswolds. The water purification plant in Gloucester was flooded and much of Gloucestershire was without water for two to three weeks. The cottage we had booked had its water turned off, so we stayed in Switzerland.

The Guardian, Monday July 23 2007, County by county: the areas worst hit by flooding - “Twelve centimetres fell in the county (Oxfordshire) on Friday (July 20) - the largest daily rainfall since records began for the area in 1968.” Twelve centimetres is about five inches, that is a lot of rain.

We decided to spend this winter in the Cotswolds, knowing we would hit bad weather. I figured it is better to go at a time when you know it will be bad so you can be pleasantly surprised if you get any good weather, than to go at a time when it should be good and then have it be bad. It made sense at the time.

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On Friday we did the one hour drive to Oxford to take the train into London for a SlowTrav GTG. We could have taken the train from Stroud, just ten minutes away, but we wanted to try Oxford because there are more trains and from the website it looked like we could take express trains back even during rush hour. (I will write more about trains later - the system of prices is vastly confusing.) Also the fare is half the price, taking it from the totally ridiculous, to just ridiculous.

Sometimes I think I am the worst traveler in the world. The morning drive went well, but it was raining most of the time. We found the station, found the long term parking, managed to pay, bought our tickets, then got on a slow local train instead of the express. It only took an hour longer, but we had planned to meet a friend on the express train. After spending about five hours online, I thought I had the schedules memorized, but nothing ever mentioned a local train to London leaving just a few minutes before the express. (Again, more about this later. This post was supposed to be about snow, not me moaning about trains.)

Our SlowTrav GTG in London was lovely. We all met at The George an historic pub just south of London Bridge. Nine of us had lunch and talked travel and Slow Travel for a couple of hours.

The George, pub in England. January 2008.

The George Inn Yard, 77 Borough High Street, Southwark, London SE1 1NH. This is the last galleried inn in London. Located just south of London Bridge and the River Thames (underground station London Bridge on the Jubilee line) near the Borough Market. It was built in the 17th century and was mentioned by Charles Dickens in “Little Dorrit”. It is now owned by the National Trust, but operates as a pub.

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On January 1 a new three part adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility” by Andrew Davies started on BBC (part two on Sunday January 6, part three on Sunday January 13). We arrived the day after episode one was broadcast, but caught it at the hotel because their TV system has an “On Demand” type feature where you can watch recently broadcast programs. (Big thanks to Clive who picked us up at the airport for telling us about the series!) The BBC website lets you view episodes for one week after they broadcast ( BBC iPlayer ) but only if your ISP is in the United Kingdom (there may be ways around this). The third and final episode broadcasts on Sunday. This is a very good adaptation of one of my favorite novels.

The Jane Austen Society site says the DVD of this series will be available on March 1, 2008 in North America, but I do not find it listed on Amazon.

See the BBC website ( BBC Sense and Sensibility ) for video clips and more information.

Rent the Dashwood’s Cottage!

The Devon cottage where most of the story action takes place is a holiday cottage (vacation rental) - Blackpool Mill, a 15th century cottage in north Devon, on the Hartland Abbey Estate.

Okay, this is not a cottage where Jane Austen stayed, but it is the next best thing. And the cottage was there during Jane Austen’s time.

The four bedroom cottage stands alone beside the sea and has been rented as a holiday cottage for over 50 years. It is rustic - a “bring your own sheets and towels” type of rental. From their brochure: “Mains electricity for the first time in 2007! … We have just installed central heating and a dishwasher so things are really looking up!!”

Hartland Abbey is in north Devon, on the Atlantic coast between Exmoor and Cornwall, just west of the town of Bideford.

Weekly rental prices are not listed on the brochure, but the Guardian article I read listed them. “Bookings have jumped since its debut on New Year’s Day, but this has always been a top spot for those with £1,100 to spend on a week in high season (not bad if you fill all eight beds, and it comes down to £450 from late October to mid-March).”

The Guardian, January 7 2008, “Austen drums up custom for a scenic holiday home“.

BBC News, January 3 2008, “Austen boost for holiday cottage” .

Telegraph, January 3 2008, “Sense and Sensibility cottage to be holiday hit“.

The main website for Hartland Abbey was not working this morning, maybe because of increased traffic since all the media mentions, but it is working now. From the BBC article: “The screening of the first episode of the drama on New Year’s Day led to a surge of interest. ‘The phone has been ringing since the first programme went out,’ said Sir Hugh Stucley, who owns Blackpool Mill.”

This cottage would be a perfect get-away. Can’t you just picture yourself standing in front of the cottage looking out over the sea, expecting that cad Willoughby to come down the road at any minute? (The menfolk can walk along the hillside looking for a Marianne to rescue.)

In the news today - battery farming of chickens to end in the UK in four years (by 2012). This means no more chickens in cages! They will still use the crowded barn system, which is not as good as free range where the chickens get to go outside and have more room, but it is better than stacks of cages full of chickens (battery farming).

From the BBC news: Currently 63% of UK egg industry is battery farming, 32% is free range, the remaining 5% must be the barn system. This will cost consumers. Today six eggs from battery farming costs 73p while free ranges costs £1.28.

Read more in The Times - Stores to ban ‘cruel’ eggs from battery hens.

Other news - the Glastonbury Festival

The Glastonbury Festival, an outdoors music event that has been held yearly since 1970, takes place from June 27 to 29 this year. Tickets go on sale April 6, but there is online pre-registration now. Read more about it in the Guardian: ‘Pre-registration’ returns for Glastonbury. “Current objects of speculation include Radiohead, Muse, Kylie Minogue and Led Zeppelin.” Glastonbury is in Somerset, a 50 minute drive south-west of Bath. More information on the Glastonbury Festival site.

Other news - Stroud Parkour

The cottage we rented is in Windsoredge, a village on the edge of the larger village of Nailsworth, five miles south of Stroud. Stroud is our nearest “big” town - the big smoke. See the rooftops of Stroud on this video by a local “parkour” guy -
Stroud Parkour (YouTube video of Hunter Hubbard). There was an article about him today in the local paper, Stroud News and Journal.

The Circus is a circle of Georgian row houses built in the 1700s when the upper section of Bath was built for people coming for the season to “take the waters” (go to the Pump Room daily to drink the healing waters from the natural hot springs). The Circus was designed and built by John Wood the Elder and finished by his son, John Wood the Younger in 1767.

Jane Austen lived a block away for some time in the early 1800s. I am reading her novel “Northanger Abbey” and the characters frequently walk between the Assembly Rooms, which are just off The Circus, and the Royal Crescent. They also go shopping on Milsom Street which is still the main shopping street.

At the center of the Circus is a grassy area with several huge trees. In the summer these trees dominate the Circus, but in the winter, with all their leaves gone, the houses dominate. They are more visible because you look through the trees instead of at the trees. In the winter the trees are black, not green and the winter light makes the stone on the houses more vivid, like looking at a very good black and white print instead of a washed out color print.

The Circus in Bath in the winter. January 2008.

The Circus is my favorite place in Bath. I like the walk from Queen’s Square, up Gay Street, past the Jane Austen museum to the Circus at the top of the hill. A few years ago we spent a week in an apartment two blocks from the Circus. From the Circus it is only two blocks to the Royal Crescent, another architectural gem. From there you can walk back to the town center following along the back yards of the houses, so you see the curve of the Circus from behind.

The actor Nicholas Cage has a house on the Circus. I also found out that the singer Van Morrison (one of my favorites) has a house in Bath and spends a lot of time there.

A short post to say that we arrived! The flight went well. We spent our first few days in Bath. We seemed to get over the jetlag quickly and had a good couple of days in Bath; we even went to the new Termae Spa and bathed in the natural hot springs.

Friday we picked up the car and drove up to the cottage in Nailsworth. The cottage is lovely and the location is perfect for us. We did our first visit to Waitrose for groceries. On Saturday the jetlag hit and we had a lazy weekend.

I wrenched my back on the travel day (probably the luggage!) so am trying not to sit too much until it is better. I got some great photos in Bath, including many of the famous “Ha Ha” at the Royal Crescent which I have seen several times before but never realized what it was. I also tried out my new Flip video camera in Bath.

The colors of the buildings and streets is very different in the winter. The details jump out more and the trees with no leaves and black trunks and branches are hauntingly beautiful.

The bad news: The Norovirus is sweeping through England, just like it does on a cruise ship (the vomiting illness). 100,000 people a week are getting it! Just reading about it makes me feel queezy.

Nearly everyone who I told about this trip said, as if to warn me about something I had not considered, “it will be cold and wet!”. Yes, I am aware of that. We spent a winter in England 19 years ago and we lived for many years in Vancouver, Canada. I figured that will prepare us for this winter. But, time will tell. In this post I will keep track of the winter weather.

Weather in Santa Fe before we left: Six inches of old snow in our yard, daytime temps in the 20s and 30s, nighttime in the teens. Very cold. It warmed up after we left to daytime temps in the 40s.

Wednesday January 2: Bath - very cold and dry
We arrived at Gatwick at 6:30am to pitch dark. It seems like the sun does not come up until 8pm or so. Since I have not been up early since then, I can’t confirm this. Wednesday in Bath was cold, highs in the 30s. We needed our winter coats, wool scarves, gloves, and hats. There was a bit of a wind in Bath also.

Thursday January 3: Bath - cold and dry
Warmer than yesterday - daytime temps in the 40s. No rain. At night it goes down towards freezing.

Friday January 4: Cotswolds - cold and foggy
Heavy fog as we were driving up to Nailsworth. Not that cold.

Saturday January 5: Cotswolds - cold and dry

Sunday January 6: Cotswolds - cold and crisp
It isn’t the bright sun we get in Santa Fe, but it was bright and cold. No rain.

Monday January 7: Cotswolds - rain and bright periods
Rain and wind in the night and in the morning, then it cleared in the afternoon to blue skies and sun. Daytime temps in the mid 40s.

Tuesday January 8: Cotswolds - cold and dry
We did a two hour hike mid-day. It was windy on top of the hills, and muddy in some spots, but really good walking weather. I wore wool long underwear but was a bit too warm. We needed hats and gloves, but wore fleece sweaters under raincoats.

Wednesday January 9: Cotswolds - cold and mostly dry
It rained in the night again and drizzled for about 10 minutes mid-day when we walked into Nailsworth for lunch and some shopping.

It gets dark early - pitch black by 5pm, evening starts at 4pm. There have always been clouds in the sky but the sun breaks through frequently.

Thursday January 10: Cotswolds - can’t remember!

Friday January 11: Cotswolds - mild, rain and drizzle, snow in the evening
Today we drove to Oxford in the rain, took the train to London. It was not raining there. By 5pm back in Oxford it was raining and it turned to snow! There was about 3 inches of snow in our part of the Cotswolds.

Saturday January 12: Cotswolds - colder, sunny, snow on the ground
Today was wonderful. Bright sunshine on fields of snow. It was melting in many places, but north facing slopes like ours still had a few inches. Also up on the Minchinhampton Commons. It clouded over by 4pm and there was some evening rain.

Sunday January 13: Cotswolds - mild, some rain, I think

Monday January 14: Cotswolds - mild, some rain
We went out for a two hour hike (to Woodchester Park). It was muddy from the snow and rain. It drizzled a little but not much. A bit more rain later in the day.

Tuesday January 15: Cotswolds - mild, rain in morning and evening
There was a clear patch during the afternoon when we could have gone for a hike but we were being lazy (I made new header buttons for my blog).

Wednesday January 16: Cotswolds - some overcast, some sun
We did a hike along the cycle path that goes from Nailsworth to Stroud. When we were in Nailsworth the sun came out and it was like a summer day. The winter coats, scarves and hats that we needed when we left the cottage were no long necessary.

Thursday January 17: Cotswolds - overcast, some rain, some sun

Friday January 18: Cotswolds - bad day - heavy rain, wind

Saturday January 19: Cotswolds - overcast and some drizzle, mild

Sunday January 20: Cotswolds - a bit of sun, but cold

Monday January 21: London - rain

Tuesday January 22: London - sunny! but cold

The rest of this week was good. No rain. Sunny and mild on most days.

Sunday January 27: Cotswolds - like a spring day. Sunny, warm, beautiful. I wore my winter coat on a hike but should have worn a lighter jacket.

Monday and Tuesday were good. No rain. Sunny and mild on most days.

Wednesday January 30: Cotswolds - Sunny and warm. Getting overcast by end of day. Weather is changing.

American Airlines Carryon Baggage - FAA security measures limit customers on all AA flights to one carry-on bag plus one personal item. The one carry-on bag must fit in an overhead compartment or under the seat. It should not exceed 45 linear inches (length + width + height) or weigh more than 40 lbs/18 kgs.

British Airways Hand Baggage - These allowances apply for all passengers entering the UK only: one standard-sized bag - maximum size of the bag, 56×45x25cm (22×18x10in), plus one laptop or briefcase.

We fly from Albuquerque to London tomorrow on two airlines and two tickets. (Never do this!) We like to fly British Airways because upgrading to Club World (Business Class with flat beds) is inexpensive and easy. Purchase a Premium Economy ticket and upgrade with 25,000 miles. We earn miles with flights and their credit card. You can do the whole booking online and their website shows you all dates where upgrades are available.

This will be our fourth flight with BA. We can fly from Denver, Phoenix or Dallas. For Denver we drive (in a rental car). For Phoenix we drive or fly Southwest (not so convenient because you cannot check bags all the way through). For Dallas we fly American Airlines and can check our bags all the way through.

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I have been shopping for our trip! And organizing our current warm/wet weather gear.

Keeping warm and dry when hiking

Most likely we will get many cold, wet and damp days, but we want to do as much walking/hiking as possible, so we got the following to keep us warm.

• Smartwool “Next to Skin” midweight wool long underwear (new for this trip) and very light wool shirts (bought earlier this year for the Switzerland hiking trip).
• Light weight silk long underwear (pants and top). I love the wool long underwear, but am going to do a warmth comparison of wool vs. silk. Our friend Joan recommends the silk long underwear.
• Gortex quality rain jackets with hoods. Steve got a new one from REI for the Switzerland trip and I got a new one for this trip from LL Bean.
• Gortex rain pants from LL Bean. Completely water proof. Wear them with long underwear for warmth.
• New water resistance back packs and waterproof covers for Steve.
• Waterproofing for our hiking boots. Last summer in Switzerland, we were in a downpour and the water leaked in through our books.
• Wool socks. We have been wearing these in our frigid Santa Fe winter and they work well.
• Fleece, fleece, fleece. Vests, sweaters, shirts, hats, gloves.
• Hand knitted wool caps. I am starting to knit again and made us hats. I am bringing wool and patterns for hats, mittens, socks.

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Trip planning almost done - still the car rental to book. After two nights in Bath, we will pick up a rental car and drive up to the Nailsworth cottage.

I started looking up rental and leasing prices and WOW! Expensive! I decided to book without insurance since it is about half the price. I have done this before. We charge the car rental to our AMEX card and AMEX provides the coverage. Then Chris started a thread about car rental insurance and someone pointed out that AMEX does not cover you for more than 30 days (or maybe 45). I knew that - but had forgotten.

I did a bunch of searching, looking at car rental agencies and leases and buy-backs. To make a long story short, I found a rate on Enterprise that was almost half the AutoEurope rate. Because I have read on the message board about people getting AutoEurope to meet a competitor’s rate, I decided to give it a try. And they did! So, I have booked our car with AutoEurope, with full coverage (and a $1300 deductible). Below I show all the different prices I found and compare renting to leasing.

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