Janet and Phil Move On.

They have now left their teeny tiny little B&B bedroom and moved onto Berkshire.

Imagine their bedroom at Camp Canada; make it more narrow;  take out the closet and insert an ensuite.  Janet said they could barely turn around!

On the way to Berkshire, they stopped at Stourhead on Severn.  They were lucky enough to catch some narrow boats going through the canal.

They were pretty fascinated by how the lock system works and spoke to several people on boats.  This boat is in between two locks and waiting for the water level to equate.

Still waiting...
Phil gives a hand closing one side of the lock.

He was so enthusiastic lost his shoe!  Janet says she would like to do this, but is worried because she envisions  Phil as "Captain Ron", except  on a narrow boat.

After this excitement, they started to head to Kintbury, Berkshire.   Mr Easy Going was all of a sudden very quiet and looking abit concerned.  Look!  The gas..whoops, petrol warning button is on!  Never once said a word to Janet!  Now, price is of zero concern and what will work best is the closest possible petrol station!  They did make it to a petrol station, but Janet was pretty sure she had never seen Phil so worried about an empty tank!

After a very late lunch, they arrived at the last destination of their trip.  The Dundas Arms - pub with rooms.  Janet was super excited.  The room was beautiful and they have a boat canal on one side and a river on the other side; all in a super cute village and the pub is a "Pick of the Pubs" from the pub guide book.   After the last place, Janet was so excited she loaded us up on photos!

The washroom is likely larger than the last B&B room.

Cute little wooden basket with soaps and lotions.

They were so delighted with their new surroundings, they made the mistake of going for a "ramble" this morning.  They got lost twice and mostly spent the morning bush whacking giant ferns.  When will these two learn?  They "ramble" without water,  pay precious little attention to the instructions and are as shocked as hell when it doesn't work out.

Part of the "ramble" was across a common area, where livestock are allowed to roam freely and it's up to the cars to be on the outlook for them.  On the "ramble" cars were not permitted, but there were quite a few ponies.

These ponies were in the common area on todays walk.

This cow, among others was in a common area on the way to lunch yesterday.  Look out, Mr. Car!

Janet says this is why we need to move to Kamp U.K.

Cute guys that look like me, Pashy, get to go to pubs.  This cutie is 3 1/2 years old.  Don't you think she looks like me?

Special containers for doggie poops.

This really nice guy and his owner helped us out the first time they got lost.  The second time they got lost, they were on their own.

 

Janet and Phil Had A Busy Day

Last night Janet and Phil went to Cleobury Mortimore (pronounced Cliberry) to visit one of the "Pick of the Pubs" from their trusty Pub Guide.  The Crown Inn.  Distance wise, it was very small.  Driving wise it was pretty long; lots of single track roads.

Their dinner was delicious. The hostess tried to sit them in the restaurant section, but Phil insisted they needed to sit in the pub portion.  It was a crazy crowd as it was the first day of duck hunting season.  Some of the men had crazy, crazy socks on.

Janet had Pork Belly and Phil had Sea Bass.

Pork Belly.

After dinner, they made some new friends in the bar.  They stayed up way past their usual bedtime.

Janet says they were lots of fun and found Canadians to be very interesting.  There was also a Canadian waitress there, who with her boyfriend works in various pubs and is saving up to go to South Africa.

This morning, they headed off to Ironbridge Gorge; birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.  Janet says it's a World Heritage Sight and it was pretty interesting.  Most important feature of all is the first ever steel bridge, built in 1771.

There were several museums, but they didn't have time to see all of them.  Coalbrook Industries was founded in 1709, and over the years have made many important works.  This one was commissioned more than 100 years ago and is now back in the hands of the museum.

A dining table made of steel and the dogs are life size deer hounds.  It weighs 810kg.  Please, please Mr. Tightwad...can't we get one with Golden Retrievers and reinforce the floor boards in the dining room to support it?

Back in the hay day of the Industrial Revolution, there were also china and tile factories in this same place.   They visited the museum of both factories.

Fancy fireplace with pretty tiles.  Janet says this is not a good representative of the beautiful tiles they had.

At the China Museum, they sold saggars, which they make on sight.  Turns out, in the olden days, china that needed to be fired were set inside the saggars which were stacked up very, very high and then the kiln was turned on for a week.

These are now sold for garden containers.  Most expensive was 22 GBP.

They have very interesting chimneys in this part of the U.K.

It would also appear that Janet find the car antennae equally fascinating!

Pash is Back!

Sorry, guys.  Janet said I could help with the blog everyday they were on the trip because I never get to help.

We were all set to dig in (get it?).   I need Janet to download the photos and do the typing for me, just like she does for Noodles and Rockers.  Then disaster struck!  They lost their internet!  Bummer for me.  At any rate, here is what they have done since Monday.

Hailles Abbey is a National Trust property close to where they were.    The history of abbeys and the dissolution of them is quite interesting to Janet and she wishes she had studied history when she was smarter and younger.  Go, Janet, go.  You can still do it!

Janet and Phil have done several walks out of their 1001 Walks of Britain book.  Thus far these two morons have been on two walks where they didn't get lost.  This is one of the walks.

This is Sezincote Manor which Janet says is a very unusual style of  building in the U.K.....OK, make that anywhere outside of India.  A couple of years ago, they toured the manor.  It is privately owned and is on a huge piece of land.

Cute British Brown Cows came hustling over to the gate when they walked by.

This incredible cutie was on another walk they managed to execute.   They walked from Guiting Power through Naunton and back to Guiting Power for about two hours.  It was a lovely walk.

Janet says she pet his face and scratched behind his ear, which he enjoyed so much he kept leaning into Janet's hand.

Janet went back to the Cotswold Park Farm that she loves so much.  She bought two bags of food to feed some of the animals.

Super.  Super.  Cute.

These guys act like they are starving to death, which they are far from!

Iron Age Pigs.  Janet said some were playing together.

This walk, which is one where they were lost, was 2 1/2 hours long and went past a quarry where they get stone for the fabulous Cotswold Stone houses and fences.  There are many quarries.

They bid farewell to the cottage where they have stayed for the last 8 nights.  It was really nice, if a bit tiny, but Janet loved the cottage and the small, quiet village it was in and didn't want to leave.

Before they left the Cotswolds, they has lunch at Horse and Groom, one of their favourites in this neck of the woods in Bourton on the Hill.  Phil had Rack of Lamb with vegetables that could not have been cooked more perfectly with Chorizo crumbs. (Janet says she needs to look that one up).  She had fried polenta with goat cheese and tomatoes.  Noodles and Rockers and myself are all hoping we recognize these two ton Tonys when the arrive home!

They have moved onto their next destination - Bridgnorth in Shropshire.  They are staying in a B & B.  Janet was a bit sad about how tiny the room was.  However, she says there are dogs and chickens to make up for it.

Meet Wizard and Windsor.  They don't live here, but are residing on a temporary basis.  They are fox hounds.  The best Janet can understand is they are not allowed to be pets as once they reach a certain age, the urge to follow a scent is too strong.  They will join a pack of fox hounds when they are about a year old.  At this point in time, they are so friendly and really well behaved.  They love Janet!

Janet had one more interesting thing to tell me.  From their cottage, they went for a walk from Bourton on the Water (as opposed to on the Hill!) to Upper Slaughter and Lower Slaughter; two very beautiful villages.  In Upper Slaughter, they passed a huge manor house where a woman is walking a dog.  The dog is pulling to the edge of the fence to greet them and Janet wants to say hi to the puppy.  Turns out the woman has a cousin who lives in Canada; on Vancouver Island.  Nice coincidence.  Said cousin lives in Nanaimo, but has just moved back to Victoria.  Said cousin lives in 2500 block of Cadboro Bay Road, about six blocks from Camp Canada.    When the cousins name came up, they had been in Victoria for a very small time, but went to Nanaimo for work.  Phil had shown them houses.  Major.  Small.  World.  Department!

Janet Thinks This Might Be Boring.

I don't care if everyone thinks this is boring!  I haven't been able to throw in my 2 cents since last November, when Janet came to dogsit me and Rubs.  I'm running with it.

Thanks to our Aunt T, please note the mosaic floor photo from the previous post is now actually on the post.

Feeling the need for a higher level of education, off they went to Oxford this morning.  Yesterday, Phil mentioned they needed to buy gas, but they didn't get around to it.  About half way to Oxford, Janet mentions they didn't get gas...whoops...we mean petrol!  Phil says no worries as they have 1/8 of a tank left.  In her not so subtle manner she suggests they buy some ASAP and Phil says HE will decide when the time is correct.  As they get closer to Oxford they pass not one, but two petrol stations on the same side of the road.  Do they stop?  Are they in a vehicle they are familiar with?  Do they know the next possible station to purchase said petrol?  No no and no!   Janet is now having an internal mini meltdown, envisioning them (her) on the side of the road.  End of the day, it was all OK, but Janet says she doesn't get it.  It's gas. It's the same everywhere.  This is not the same as driving to your favourite pub because only they sell the ale you love.

Oxford was really busy and crowded and after awhile, Janet says it was time to get out of dodge.

The nave...get it?  Now she knows what the nave is!

This is the Great Hall of Christ Church Cathedral which is also a university.  They have about 500 students a year.  Janet knows nothing about Harry Potter except they replicated this dining hall in a studio for the movies.  They both thought is was pretty spectacular.

They went to have lunch at Turf Tavern, which is one of the oldest pubs in Oxford.  After they ordered, they waited for some time for the table to be wiped clean.  When the poor waiter brought their food,  Janet was very snippy because the table was still dirty.  She did have to good grace to apologize.  Turned out the young waiter was a fount of info and suggest they visit the Pitt Rivers Museum.  It was an absolutely amazing collection of three floors of stuff from around the world.

 Janet was dumfounded (what's new??) about this totem pole.  They had three in total.  The one in the photo was purchased from Haida Gwaii in 1901 for $36!!  Unbelievable.  It was nearly three stories tall and was ship by rail and boat to the U.K.

Bridge of Sighs

A most popular method of transportation in Oxford.  Janet says only those with the steeliest of nerves would go there!

Pashminder At The Controls Again!

Boy, is this ever fun!  Instead of letting Rockers make all the calls, I can do it myself.  Even if for a limited time.  I'm going to try to blog as much as I can because it's fun and Rockers is getting too old.  Don't tell him that!  Rockers says he is on vacation, so says "go ahead Pash, bust a gut and go for it".  He even said to "take the p**s" out of Janet and Phil; they will still let me go to Camp Canada.  Should I take the p**s out of Janet and Phil?  WTF!  Why not?  Game on, guys!

It looks like they are having lots of fun.  Well, perhaps some more than others.  Remember the photo of Mikey mopping the floor...this is right up there in the rare photographs department.  He has his bottle of cider at hand to ease the pain!

Today, they went to a National Trust property called Park Lodge.  When they pulled up, Janet thought it was going to be really boring.  Turned out to be pretty fascinating.

Back in the day of incredible wealth, a man named John Crump Dutton had this building constructed a mile or so from his gigantic estate for the sole purpose of watching racing.

They even had a really cute pet cemetary!

Poor little Jimmy!  Think Janet and Phil will buy an estate so we may lay at peace?

 By now, it's lunch time.  Out comes the BAA Best Pub Guide.  Seriously, who could travel without this book?  Inn of All Seasons, here they come.

 Their waitress took their order and asked what name she should put it under.

Roast Cotswold Lamb with veggies and Yorkshire pudding with gravy for Phil.

Char grilled yellow fin tuna with Nicoise Salad for Phil....just kidding!  It's for Janet.

After stuffing their faces, they trekked off to Chedworth Roman Villa.  WOW!  Look at the mosaic floor!  It is believed a very wealthy Roman family lived here and had a very fancy life style.  The oldest floor is believed to date back to the first century.  Janet and Phil were here about five or six years ago, but much more excavation and reconstruction has taken place since then.  Too bad for Janet and Phil as there were archaeologists there the week prior, uncovering more mosaic floor.

Phil is sitting on a beautiful iron bench that was built in the 1860's and discovered about a hundred years later when the National Trust took over the property.  Careful, Phil....the bench is old and might be fragile!

Janet says they have limited cooking abilities despite having "the Aga"  Yesterday at the farmers market she bought some carrots and a really old variety of British potato called Pink Fir Apple.  She said they look like our version of fingerling potatoes, which even in Victoria are really hard to find.  Both she and Phil agreed they were the most delicious potatoes they had ever had.

Guys....don't forget to give me some blogging material for tomorrow!