From London to Bath May 16, 2011

We started off on Monday morning taking a long route out of London. London goes on and on, just different areas of it that go from one city to another, but I will just call them London. We were headed West, even though I could have sworn we were driving to the Northeast. We were headed for Hampton Court to see the palace that Henry VIII built. I was excited to see the gardens, which were being opened especially just for us. I was not disappointed.

Hampton Court is about a day’s carriage ride from London , for us about 45 – 60 minutes. We were driving parallel with the Thames river sometimes crossing over it and then crossing back. The palace is on the Thames river and so visitors to the court could come up the river in a barge and land and then were escorted up through the gardens to the palace. Very cool. The oldest part of Hampton Court is a Tudor style  (see above pictures). The next part was built on by Elizabeth, Henry’s daughter with Anne Boelyn, and then the last part is Georgian which was actually built during the time of William and Mary, not Tudors anymore, but Georges.

The gardens were huge and surrounded the palace on three sides. I loved all of them; the formal gardens, the promenade, the informal, the herb garden, the wilderness.

 The formal garden entrance.

 This is the orangerie.

This is the herb garden which they were reconstructing.

 I'm going to try and make one of these for my wilderness garden.

Sara posing by the rhododendrons in the wilderness park.
We then traveled west again to the town of Salisbury and the great cathedral there. The book ,”The Pillars of Heaven” by Ken Follett was written about this cathedral. Fiction of course. Ken Follet actually lives here in this town. The cathedral is huge and they finished it in just 38 years. If you could see this place you would be amazed. A copy of The Magna Carta is also here at this Cathedral. Also, Europe’s oldest clock is here. Outside the yards and houses were beautiful.

 The old old old clock

After Salisbury we traveled on to Stonehenge. What can I say about this place? We walked all around the outside snapping pictures and enjoying it so much.

Then on to Bath – I loved Bath before I ever saw it, mainly because of “Friday’s Child” and “Persuasion”, which both have parts that take place here, Bath was surprising because it turned out to be a very hilly town – not flat like I had assumed. We saw the church there,

and the Roman Baths after which Bath was named,

the Assembly rooms, where the dances and socials took place,

 the Circle which was a good place to live socially, and the Royal Crescent, which was even more exclusive. Bath is a really neat city, most the buildings are made of Limestone and so it’s all pretty yellow. Below is the royal crescent row of homes.  You know - where Anne runs down Captain Wentworth in the newest movie.

So there you have it, sweethhearts!  Our first day out on the highways of England.  Cheerio and What, what, and all that.

p.s.  Make sure you check out Sara's blog she has posted again our adventures from Bath to Chester.