London to Bath and Beyond

Saturday 24 May

After breakfast we walked to the Avis depot to pick up our car and found we had been upgraded to a VW Passat with only 2 miles on the “clock”. Leaving the depot we drove up to West Cromwell Road and headed for the M4 along the A4 which wasn’t as congested as the roads into London on Tuesday.

When we merged onto the M4 the traffic speeded up for several kilometres then we saw a sign saying “traffic queued from junction 4B to 6”, which meant we were in first gear for several kilometres. After that the traffic flowed at about 100 km/hr until we left the M4 and rejoined the A4. We could have stayed on the M4 to Bath but we prefer to drive on smaller roads that pass through villages. After four and a half hours from leaving the depot we arrived at our friend’s house in Midford.

Sunday 25 May

As predicted, we awoke to heavy rain which was annoying as we had planned to go to the Westonbirt Arboretum for the day, however after breakfast the rain had eased so we decided we would go.

The arboretum was started as a private project in 1830 and carried on by subsequent generations of the family over the next 130 years before being given to the Forestry Commission who now manage it. The wooded areas cover over 600 acres with trees dating back to the original plantings but there are also trees that would have been mature specimens when the project started. The trees planted are from Europe, North America, Japan and China and many of the mature trees are over 35 m. high. One area has been planted with maples from several continents and there must have been over 100 varieties of Japanese maples planted to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of Rotary.

Another area is designated as a season’s walk with hundreds of azaleas and rhododendrons in full flower, these were nestled amongst beeches, oaks, limes or lindens as they a known in Europe and elms. As well as all the European trees in the wooded area there are many varieties of pines, spruces, cedars and redwoods together with many Asian trees, these are not single plantings but there are often three up to ten of the one variety. The forest areas contains hundreds of different varieties of trees, most of which would be over a hundred years old and is the largest collection of mature trees I have seen anywhere in the world, the copper beeches in particular are magnificent.

The weather all day threatened to rain and we had a few shower while walking through the forest but this didn’t spoil our enjoyment of the trees, though if the sun had been shining through the trees the scenery would have been glorious.

After dinner we were invited by the owners of our old house for drinks and to see the improvements they have made, we were very impressed with the changes to the kitchen and bathroom and while modern they haven’t detracted from the old style of the house. When we sold the house we gave them the plans we had drawn up to convert the old chapel into a garage with a mezzanine floor garden house which would be on the same level as the garden, they have now completed the alterations exactly to our plans.

Monday 26 May

Today is a Bank Holiday in England and unlike the last time we were in Bath we already have a car so we don’t have a car hire company wanting 50 pounds to open the office.

After lunch we drove into Bath to visit Ann’s nephew and his wife and to have a look at the improvements to their garden and house since our last visit.

They have about half an acre of sloping land with an old farm house on the outskirts of Bath, when they purchased it both the house and the gardens was in need of a lot of work. The gardens have now been completed with sweeping lawns and subdued colours of garden plants and behind a hedge is a cottage garden with stone paths and strong vibrant colours. Lower down there is a series of vegetable gardens beds each enclosed with a box hedge. Scattered through the garden are several fruit trees and an enclosure for six bantam hens, this is surrounded by a four wire electric fence to deter the foxes and badgers.

The old stone farm house has stone flag floors in the kitchen and dining rooms and hand sawn floor board in the rest of the house, they are slowly replacing the lath and plaster walls and ceilings and have just started some extensions which will blend in with the existing house. Being on the edge of Bath the view from most of their windows are open fields or their gardens, a wonderful location and no more than two km. from the centre of Bath.

Tuesday 27 May

A quick visit to our Bank and a walk around the centre of Bath and we were heading north on the A46. Our first stop was at Dyrnham Park a stately home now owned by the National Trust. There has been a house on this site since at least 1086 and the fish pond is mentioned in the Domesday Book.

The last family to own it, the Blathwayt, inherited it in 1686 through marriage and William Blathwayt transformed the estate between the end of the 1600s and early 1700s and his Dutch Garden was famous throughout England. Over the years styles have changed and the gardens are now mainly lawns surrounded by garden beds and the balance of the 106 hectare park, a tranquil English landscape. A herd of deer have roamed here since 1620 when the owners received a Royal Charter granting them permission to enclose the park.

The house is the typical “country seat” multi story with walls lined with paintings and old weapons and rooms full of beautiful furniture. Downstairs the large kitchen fitted with old “appliances” and pots and huge workbenches, a feature was the old open fireplace with stand for kettles and pots and a large spit in front big enough for a whole sheep. The spit was operated by the hot air going up the chimney turning a “windmill” which was connected to a series of gears and chains to rotate it. Other rooms included a dairy room, meat storage and a bakery.

We finished our visit with tea, scones, jam and cream, the worst scones we have ever eaten, when we tried to cut them they were reduced to a plate full of crumbs which we attempted to stick together with the jam and cream. We reconciled ourselves with the fact that the profit was helping the National Trust, but someone needs a cooking lesson.

Leaving the park we drove towards Cirencester but skirted the town as our final destination for the day was Stow on the Wold. Some time after leaving Cirencester we noticed a small National Trust sign pointing towards a Roman Villa and having some time we decided to investigate it.

We had to drive about four miles along very narrow country lanes with little passing bays every now and then and arrived at the site two minutes before last entry. We didn’t know what to expect but thought it may be a few stones marking out old foundations and were very surprised to find many rooms, some with the original mosaic floors and the underfloor heating ducts. The ruins were discovered in 1864 and uncovered and roofs placed over the ruins to protect them it is thought the house was started in 120AD and was added to over three centuries so there must have been a very large farm to require such a grand mansion. Some of the rooms included a steam bath, a dry sauna, dining room and kitchen and living quarters, in the museum is a scale model of what is thought to be a good reproduction of the complex. It was well worth the detour.

After what was probably our shortest visit to a National Trust property we continued on to Stow on the Wold an old historic village and checked in to the Youth Hostel which is in a Grade II listed 17^th Century town house in the historic Cotswolds.