Chuck and I had such a wonderful time with the poodles, Maggie, Rose, and Molly; the Chinese Crested; Poppy, and the cats, Lulu and Kitty but the time came for us to travel to Mill Hill in northwest London to spend a few days with Yoffi and Toffi.
The beauties live in a lovely townhouse. While in Mill Hill, we were able to see THREE musicals: Wicked, Five Guys Named Moe, and The Book of Mormon. I especially enjoyed Wicked. For those very few of you who don't know the storyline, it's the story of the characters in The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum before Dorothy and Toto entered the picture. Wicked is now at the top of my To Be Read list. We next saw Five Guys Named Moe. It was a show full of toe-tapping fun. The setting was New Orleans in the late 40s and early 50s with lots of music from that era as well as songs written specifically for Five Guys. One cast member came out at the beginning of intermission and got the audience up and moving with a conga line. During intermission, more cast members performed in the lobby.
The last musical we saw was The Book of Mormon. We really didn't know what to expect, but since it was written by those wild and crazy guys that wrote Southpark, it was guaranteed to be a bit bawdy, and it was. It did, however, have a good message; it was just lurking behind the bawdiness. It was fun, though. Upon leaving London, we traveled to the Cambridge area. While there, we spent a lovely evening catching up with Janet and Michael (our very first Trusted Housesitters assignment) over dinner at The Golden Ball. We didn't get to see Gracie and Tillie, but they assured us that they were fine. 😊 We are now spending time with two great German Shepherds named Willis and Willow. The very first pet Chuck and I had when were first married was a German Shepherd named Jack. These two remind us of him.
This area of the UK is very green and beautiful. Yarwell Mill Country Park is a great place for long walks with the dogs. We have also seen skydivers almost every time we have been out. The park has an old mill that is undergoing renovation and has a working lock that allow the narrow boats passage on the River Nene. We have even made friends with the horses at the end of the lane. Two of them walk up to the gate and wait until we walk up to speak to them and give them a carrot. The dogs don't seem to bother them and the dogs aren't concerned at all with the dogs. (Just a little aside: While I'm composing this blog, Willis is sleeping on my foot and Willow is sleeping only a foot away from him. They're just big cuddly babies!) We spent this afternoon at a car boot sale. We like car boot sales are almost as much as charity shops. This car boot sale was very large. The trick for buying items is to be open minded. If you go in with a specific item in mind, chances are you won't find it but if just go to find treasure, you just might. We found some more prints to add our souvenirs. We found some pretty watercolors of Stamford. We visited Stamford yesterday, but neglected to take the camera. So, we'll head back to explore some more. However, we did take in some of the Georgian Festival that was happening.
This is a great stay for us, especially with Willis and Willow. We have lots to explore. Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle, a little village abut a mile from where we are. She was first buried at Peterborough Cathredral but later her remains were moved to Westminster Abbey. There's so much to see and do. We need to get busy!
When we left Axmouth, we decided to visit Cheddar. It was definitely a tourist town, but we had a great time. We had tea and cake at a quaint little shop then walked around Cheddar. We stopped in the Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company. It was heavenly, so many wonderful cheeses to choose from. We were able to watch part of the cheddar cheese making process. We bought ourselves a wedge of oak smoked cheese to take with us. Delicious!
After Cheddar, we were on our way to Littledean. It became a chilly, rainy day. We stayed the night at The Belfry Hotel. We had a great meal at the restaurant in the hotel, the slept well in our room. The next morning, after breakfast, we explored Littledean on foot. It's really more of a village than a town. We walked down to the Littledean Jail, but wasn't open. Oh, well, we'll try another day for a visit. Walking back into the village, we stopped at a little tea shop and had hot chocolate, visited the local shop for some milk, then camped out in the hotel reading until time for us to meet Barbara and Gilbert. Barbara and Gilbert live up a narrow, winding road in Quince cottage. They have 4 dogs: a Chinese Crested named Poppy, and three standard poodles, Maggie, Rose, and Molly. They also have two cats. One is Kitty. She a gorgeous white cat who happens to be deaf and she has no fear of the dogs. The other is Lulu. Lulu is a Birman who rarely ventures from upstairs and has beautiful blue eyes. There are also 14 chickens. Chuck is enjoying 3-egg omelettes for breakfast every morning.
We toured the Littledean Jail over the weekend. It was bizarre and somewhat gruesome. It was amazing and overwhelming the amount of information there. It's described as an 18th century prison housing quirky, disparate exhibits on crime, and Victorian taxidermy. I had to look up disparate. One of the meanings is "things that are so unlike there is no basis for comparison". There really is no basis for comparison. The number of exhibits was massive. The walls as well as the ceiling were covered with posters, letters and memorabilia. There is a sign warning people "if easily offended, disturbed, or of a sensitive nature, we strongly urge that you avoid visiting the Littledean Jail Crime Museum". It is not recommended for children.
We also visited the Clearwell Caves. These natural caves were used for mining iron, then later ochre. It was really interesting. The British know how to make museums fun and interactive.
Of course, we have found the charity shops near us and have bought our souvenirs, lots of prints and watercolors. We have planned a trip to Gloucester (pronounced Gloster) to see the famous cathedral. We might find some charity shops on the way!
Yesterday we visited Gloucester to see the cathedral. We bought an etching of the Gloucester Cathedral at the charity shop. Since we had the souvenir, we needed to visit the cathedral. It was absolutely amazing. The Gloucester Cathedral was the former Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter founded in the 11th century. The cathedral was the location of 2 Harry Potter movies: The Sorcerer's Stone and the Chamber of Secrets. I am a Harry Potter fan; I've read all the books several times and seen all the movies. I was intrigued and delighted to see where those two movies had been filmed. Our tour guide was Mr. Potter. He had been present when the movies had been filmed. Our tour was awesome! I loved every minute of it. Of course, having Mr. Potter as our guide was a bonus. He could explain how the cathedral was transformed into Hogwarts. Filming could only be done in the cloisters, not in the actual cathedral.
This is the great hall where the students traveled from classes to the common rooms.
This hallway was flooded for the scene with the troll.
You can see how The Cloisters were used for filming.
This is the doorway that Harry and Hermione used to leave Hogwarts. The gargoyle-like face was not supposed to appear in the movie!
It was a magical tour with Mr. Potter as our personal tour guide. After our tour with Mr. Potter, we spent time walking around the cathedral marveling at the architecture. The perfect ending to our tour was lunch in the Monk's Kitchen.
As it happened, we stumbled upon Gloucester History Festival and Heritage Open Days. Several of the public buildings open their doors to the public, the majority free. It's a way for Gloucester to share the heritage of the city to visitors as well as locals. It was suggested that we visit the Blackfriars Priory. Again, we had an excellent tour guide as we toured the Priory. The Priory is a 13th century church where much of the original structure still remains.
After our Priory tour, we stopped for afternoon tea during our fist thunderstorm in the UK. The food was delicious and we were dry and happy.
