Ancient Britain - Stonehenge, Cheddar and Bath

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18 July

So with Devon sorted, we headed for the Youth Hostel in Cheddar, which was a more modern one complete with party animals who kept us awake till 1am. Not to worry, the next day was sunny and warm and we did a walk along the tops of the Cheddar Gorge, which was impressive. Didn't bother with the caves or the cute cheese shops, as they were all pretty expensive in NZ dollars. Had a sudden inspiration to visit Wells, just down the road from Cheddar, what a nice town it is! The centrepiece is a magnificent cathedral set on a large green, we were blown away by it really. Actually we initially thought the large church we parked near was the cathedral, turned out to be a fraction of the size. one of the most interesting features of the cathedral is the scissor arches (see photos). But Wells was much more than just the cathedral, there are lots of other things about the town we liked including the Bishops Palace and moat, where the famous incident occurred (me dropping my memory card, which created headlines at home when the search went out for us by Nikki and John who found it a couple of days later! - we became celebrities for a few days LOL). I guess the weather also added to the day, it was glorious.

Next stop was Bath, which is a lovely Roman town - packed full of Georgian buildings. The Youth Hostel was on a hill above the town in an old Italianate mansion, impressive in itself. Took a free walking tour in the morning, our guide Adrian was fantastic, an off duty cop who loves his town and shows it off well. How many beautiful buildings can one town have? And incidentally, this was a real 'free' tour and gratuities not accepted! Very rare!

Well, next stop was Oxford then Cambridge, and so the architecture competition was heating up! Meantime, decided we really should visit Stonehenge, our third time in the UK and I guess its a 'must see' that we never quite got to see.... so headed off en route to Oxford. Was not disappointed but it does seem a bit OTT to build a massive new visitors centre a mile down the road - then bus people up to the site. Glad we had our National Trust passes so we could avoid the cost of paying for it all! Anyway we did the walk around the stones and then drove up to Oxford, calling in past Downton Abbey on the way (no one at home but nice to see the old house, which is really called Highclere Castle).

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