On The Road Again.

For our latest adventure, we embarked on a road trip through Wiltshire, and Worcestershire (mmm, saucy....) including the cities of Bristol and Bath. 

To avoid the "torture vacation" status (remembered from North American car excursions of our youth), we have entered a new and modern era of road travel... Gone are the days of playing Eye Spy and License Plate Trivia.  Today we have portable DVD players... and Car Cricket - a captivating and authentically British road trip game. Eating spaghetti at real restaurants has replaced soggy sandwiches and instead of rolling around the back of the family station wagon, we are now strapped down with 5-point harnesses and LATCH systems.

We are prepared for everything.  A note left at home directs the Easter Bunny to our hotel room:

Even the Tooth Fairy pays us a visit. 

Look at that hole!

Our trusty Sat-Nav gets us to where we want to go....

Though its route is sometimes questionable.

This is a B road?

Is that guy going to make it?...

Yep...Okay, lets GO!!!

Being off the beaten path means we can enjoy the iconic scenery of the English countryside:

cute little stone churches,

thatched-roof cottages (in process of re-thatching),

daffodils galore,

not-so-thatched cottages...

Villages that boast of historical pride:

Keep driving, Honey.  Don't look them in the eye...

And some that are just happy to be there...

One thing you can always count on in England are some 'fab' historical sites.  Ancient 'wonders of the world' even.  And rain.  Sometimes you get both simultaneously.

Stonehenge(The kids love audio-guides)

In the city of Bath, we found a variety of fun and interesting things to see and do.

Part of the city's Medieval Wall. (The sun is shining, yay!)

Beautiful Bath on the Avon River - also this gorgeous old bridge with shops along the top.

Bath Abbey:

Everywhere we went there were kid's tours available or activity pages for the girls to do.  Inside the abbey, the girls worked on a quiz sheet to learn more about the history and significance of this beautiful building. They each earned a glittery ruler with a picture of the abbey on it for their efforts.  It's great to have everyone entertained.

And as a reward for good behaviour in the abbey, we enjoyed a little 'diversion' at Mr. Simm's Olde Sweet Shoppe.

And did some shopping at the local market:

The girls loved this little shop full of bracelets and hair clips for 50p each. 

"Finally, something we can afford with our pocket money!"

Of course the main attraction in Bath is... the bath.  The Roman Baths, which date back to 74 A.D. (Wow!)

Steamy! (natural hotspring)...

The girls work on another activity page to keep themselves amused.

Roman characters offered samples of various perfumes and scents including myrrh.   

We found a really awesome Chinese buffet for lunch, then onto...

Only one of us truly appreciated this venue... and as consequence for my personal indulgence, I didn't get a vote in the rest of the day's activities.

Dad and the kids chose a 3-D showing of How to Train Your Dragon. It was really cute.

Next day: Cheddar Gorge and motivational sign-posting:                                 

We met the witch of Wookie Hole.

and toured the caves:

Inside the caves they age large blocks of cheddar cheese.  The smell was...

cheesy?

Speaking of cheesy...

We watched a pirate-themed circus performance.  Done by children who go to "Circus School."  Apparently Victorian-era child labour laws do not apply if you call it a "school"???

Our last stop: Witley Court, near Worcester (West Midlands).

Now a spectacular ruin, 100 years ago Witley Court was one of the great Victorian country houses of England.

 

In celebration of the Easter holiday, we got to participate in a special activity.  We earned chocolate eggs for following the 'bunny trail' clues around the grounds.

Peek-a-boo!

PS - someday I want a statue alcove in my mansion.