Cheese, Chickens and Poodles

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!