Day 99 - Home for the holidays

Day 99 of our blog posts! Wow, we can hardly believe it. It's exciting and somewhat overwhelming to read back on all we've done over the almost 100 days we've been here. According to my FitBit we've walked over 750 km!

So, glad we kept the blog...thanks Ann Luu for pushing me for the past few years to do this, and for the notebook to keep track of what we're seeing.

Today, we tidied up the flat, packed a few Cotswold gifts and clothes into our luggage, and made our way to our hotel at Heathrow airport in preparation for our flight home tomorrow for the holidays. It was an interesting journey from Moreton to Reading and then the AirBus link to the airport. We managed to get nestled into our beds in time to watch our two must-see Wednesday shows: Peaky Blinders and Detectorists (the latter being the final episode of this show...so a few tears on my part).

As pretty as the Cotswolds are, I couldn't seem to convince the family to travel this way for Christmas. What is wrong with these people? Ha! But we are excited to see everyone and have a whirlwind of visits and activities planned. So, until we return in January, we're signing off the blog.

Wishing you and yours a Happy Christmas and a safe and healthy New Year. Oh, and perhaps a New Year's resolution for everyone: Just Keep Saying Hello!

Hugs,

Ange & Phil

Day 98 - "Late night, Double-feature picture show ...

... I wanna go."

Well, perhaps for accuracy, this post should be called the "Late afternoon, early evening double-feature picture show."

Off to our favourite cinema, the Regal in Evesham to catch two flicks. What better way to spend a cold winter day then snuggled up on a seat for two watching the pictures?

First up: Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool. 

Based on the true story of Academy Award-winning actress Gloria Grahame (played by Annette Bening) and her relationship with a young man named Peter Turner (who wrote the book of the same title; he is played by Jamie Bell). Gloria Grahame had a feature role in It's a Wonderful Life, playing the town's femme fatale. She won her Oscar for her role in The Bad and the Beautiful in 1952. She had an obsession with her appearance and maintaining her youth, and the film is about a period toward the end of her life when she had a relationship with a young Englishman. An Oscar-worthy turn by Bening, and you will definitely be seeing more of Jamie Bell (who debuted the title role of Billy Elliot in 2000. Also watch great turns from Vanessa Redgrave and Julie Walters (who is in everything we seem to be watching lately).

Our rating: 4 out of 5 on the Smith/Walsh movie meter.

A cup of tea in the cinema's cafe, then a light dinner served at our theatre seats between films (really, movie paradise).

Next up: The Death of Stalin

This black comedy chronicles the period of upheaval in Russia following the death of Stalin. It contains a plethora of great character actors, including Steve Buscemi as Nikita Khrushchev, depicting how those in the Central Committe bumble and kill their way through the transition. Every actor is fantastic!

Our rating: 4.5 out 5 on the Smith/Walsh movie meter.

Day 97 - Christmas in Morton in Marsh

Work day, so time to dig back into the archives and write about something we neglected to cover in a previous post...

The town of Morton in Marsh held a Christmas light switch-on evening earlier this month. Phil and I chose that day to take a long hike from Chipping Campden back to MIM...it was the day I got a minor electric shock from a farmers fence...I'm still a bit bitter about that particular moment in time.

We made it back to Moreton in time to take a look at the Christmas market that was underway up and down the High Street. This included having a lovely hot roast sandwich supplied by the local butcher. We milled about waiting in anticipation for the town to be lit up. The posters for the event had said this would happen at 4:30 ("half four" as they say here). It was a rather chilly afternoon, so we meandered in and out of shops to keep warm. A large lorry (semi-truck) had been set up as a makeshift stage, and various carol groups regaled the growing town as we wanted for the main event.

A rather young, thin Santa appeared with his two slightly taller elves and one reindeer, and we began to think this was it -- time for the lights. The crowd was now shoulder to shoulder. But, nothing.

The crowd begins to gather before the sun has even set to enjoy carols, a Christmas jumper contest and jokes from the emcee...and then the light switch-on when darkness appears.

Phil and I were touring the shops again to continue our attempt to stay warm, when we heard a voice over the loud speaker say the countdown was about to start. We found a spot against a wall that gave us a great view of the stage and the side of the High Street on which we live. "Ten! Nine! Eight!"... it was about to happen ..."Seven, Six, Five, Four"...the crowd was counting down in unison at the top of their lungs..."Three, Two, One!"

We could hear the crowd begin to "ooh" and "ahh" and then clap. But we saw nothing. What was everyone looking at? What had we missed?

We looked around and could see that on the side of the street we had our backs to, lights had suddenly appeared edging all the tops of the buildings. Very pretty. Unfortunately, the side of the street we had been looking at had a technical failure. It took the town about a week to get it sorted, but eventually both sides of the High Street were lit.

A bit of a disappointment at first. But now, when we take an evening stroll (which is about 3:30 now, since that's when it gets dark), the town looks very festive. Sort of makes you wish it could look like that for the entire winter!

Source: Cotswolds.com

Day 96 - Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow....

Snow
It won't be long before we'll all be there with snow
Snow
I want to wash my hands, my face and hair with snow

So let's start with a music challenge.  These lyrics are from a very famous Christmas holiday movie so give it a guess!

We knew the snow was coming, but when we woke up this morning we couldn't believe it. So before breakfast, Ange and I stepped out to walk through MiM to see the snow, untouched by others and before cars made there way (although the High Street was already well traveled) along the streets. The pictures in this post tell all the story but I will provide some words first about where the word "snow" comes from and then I will chat about how common it is or isn't to see snow in England.

When I look the word up, "snow" can be linked to the Old English word "snāw," although I couldn't find why it was used except that it was the word to describe what people saw coming down from the heavens.

According to the UK weather office, the number of days in the year when snow settles on the ground (as measured between 1981 and 2010) in this part of the country is 10 to 20 days, but that is because we have some elevation around us. If you go to the nearby lower elevations, that number becomes less than 5 days. The earliest in a year that there was a recorded report of snow in London was September 25th in the year 1885 and the latest report of snow was on June 2nd, 1975.  Now that sounds like Canada except in England there could be periods of no snow on the ground whereas at home we would have it on the ground somewhere the entire time!

The snowiest year on record was 1947 when snow was recorded to fall somewhere in the United Kingdom every day between the 22nd of January and the 17th of March.  Heck, I remember a number of years in London, Ontario when we had snow in October that didn't disappear until April. Statistically, the area of the UK that gets the longest period of snow on the ground is the Cairngorm Mountains in Scotland which has snow or sleet falling 76 days of the year.

So today we are enjoying this little bit of Canada in the Cotswolds and the festive atmosphere that it has brought to Moreton in Marsh this time of year.  When we passed by the Bell Inn, we ran into John the Landlord and he recognized us and asked if we felt at home with all of the snow falling. Of course we said "Yes!" and then followed up with a question to him about a Sunday roast later in the afternoon. Fortunately his 2nd Chef lives in the Inn and he was already getting things ready for lunch. When we arrived there later in the afternoon the fireplace was roaring and the place was packed with locals and their dogs enjoying hot cider and pints (not the dogs, just the owners). What an atmosphere and what a day!

Ale of the Day: Mad Goose, Purity Brewing Co., Great Alne, Warwickshire

Day 95 - Northleach to Bourton on the Water

After yesterday's first snow of the season in the Cotswolds, we were promised by BBC Weather a day of unending, bright sun. So, of course, as you will have now gathered if you have been reading our blog diligently (shout out to you, Amanda Cullen) that means a long hike is in order. Today we took the bus to Northleach, about a 45-minute journey south of Morton in Marsh, with the goal of walking over hill and wold to Bourton-on-the-Water.

Turns out, the sun had other ideas and kept itself firmly fixed behind a low layer of clouds just thick enough to cast a dull shadow on the world. The weather is so mild here generally that it is easy to forget that at this point we are sitting at about 52 degrees north. That's about in line with Saskatoon, so the sun really get up just high enough to look as though its following the horizon as closely as possible for a few hours. The result is a silvery glow to the sky, even on the sunniest day.

The lack of sun actually proved a bit of a bonus , as today we had to cross several fields. Without the sun beating on them, they stayed just icy enough for us to cross without getting too muddy.

Northleach sits just aside where two Roman roads cross, and is an interesting blend of Tudor  and Cotswold stone buildings. It doesn't look like much has changed here in centuries. We stopped at a shop called Fruit Cakes to pick up a couple of freshly made sandwiches for later on our walk.

At the edge of town sits The Old Prison. It was built in the 1790s, and was considered a model prison used to inspire better care and rehabilitation of prisoners throughout Britain and further afield. Looking at it, however, it seemed a foreboding place. We could only imagine how desolate it would have appeared to those arriving in a carriage on a cold, foggy night.

It was later used as a police station, and today serves as the home of the Cotswolds Discovery Centre, the visitor centre for the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). It also has a lovely cafe (as you find at most UK attractions) and although not at all busy, three young people were working behind the counter. We ordered two hot chocolates to go and as they made them we learned that they had all grown up in Northleach. One had moved five times in here life, but all to a different Northleach house, although "with a better view" each time. Like teens everywhere, they felt that life would be much more exciting elsewhere.

Beautiful door to a building in
 the village of Hampnett.

Do you think he appreciates
just what a great view he has?

We walked behind the Centre and climbed a gentle hill as we crossed several fields before entering the village of Hampnett. Like many of the villages in this area, you get a sense that time has stood still. The village was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, when it had 25 tenants. Not sure how many live here now, but it was pretty quiet when we walked through.

As we crested the top of the first of several hills we would climb on today's walk, we were greeted with the most glorious view. You could see for miles in almost every direction.

We were soon making our way down a rather steep and very long winding road covered in most places with a thin layer of snow and sometimes ice. We could see from the spinning tire tracks that someone had struggled up this hill in a vehicle earlier in the day.

At the bottom of the hill lay the village of Turkdean. It's first recording as a village comes from about 800 BC. It's claim to fame in recent years is that it was mentioned by Indiana Jones in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. Harrison Ford's character mentions the neolithic barrow at Turkdean, near Hazleton, during a lecture. We walked around the village, taking a pinhead turn in the road to head back up hill to where the town continued. Here you find the church and the manor house.

We continued up and down hills through narrow lanes and bridleways, until we stopped to have our sandwiches at the top of one hill as we leaned against an old stone wall. The view was breathtaking. We could hear the occasional sound of gun fire from hunters nearby and barking dogs.

The Plough Inn in Cold Aston.

The next village we came to was called Cold Aston. The name Aston comes from East - ton (farm), with some claiming the Cold was added because of the village's hillside exposure to the cold. Other claim it has to do with a Roman settlement that was there. We'll probably never know. It had a lovely pub, but we had to push on as the sun sets at 3:30 here at this time of year.

As we had entered the village, we suddenly heard a lot of yelping coming from the direction we had heard the gunshots. With his far superior eyesight, Phil spotted a large pack of hounds racing across fields with two hunters or scouts following. Not sure what they were hunting, but the dogs did seem awfully excited.

From Cold Aston we descended down hill into the Windrush Valley. Partway down the hill, an elderly man appeared next to his Land Rover. He greeted us by raising his cap, and then asked if we had seen a man on a white horse as we walked. We hadn't, but it seemed a wonderful question to be asked as we wandered the world seemingly alone.

The Windrush took us back to Bourton on the Water where we had an hour to kill before our bus back to Moreton. This gave us a chance to do a little window shopping and we watched as the beautiful lights came on.

Day 94 - Snow on the Wold - Little Rissington

Well, they said we might get some and we did!  The first snowfall of the season (not much today but more forecasted for the weekend).  Angela had found out that Stow in the Wold was having its Christmas lighting celebration this evening.  So we decided to take the bus all the way to Bourton on the Water (going through Stow) and go for a hike to the small village of Little Rissington.  We could then get back at dusk into Bourton to see what their lights looked light (they had their celebration earlier in the month) and then get the bus back to Moreton, with a stop to see the Stow lighting.

As you drive towards Stow you begin the rise up to the top of the Wold and it became clear that they had received a bit more snow than us so we were getting really pumped about returning later that day for what will be quite a festive event.  Our walk to Little Rissington was about a 4 mile round trip and it was along a sidewalk next to the main road so an easy trek.  The village has quite a history to it given its size.  Mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 A.D., there were at that time 22 households (and not many more than that today) and the settlement had been given its name based on two Anglo-Saxon words; Hrisen and Dune which when combined meant "little brushwood on a hill".  What really made this spot interesting was the location of the village church, St. Peter.  It stands distinct from the village on the northerly facing part of the hill with a small ravine separating the two.  St. Peter has its origins in the 12th century and was funded by Ralph Basset II, a clerk to Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury.  There was an adjacent manor house and other homes next to the church but they were destroyed in the 17th century which left the church in its somewhat isolated state.   The church as you see it today only has a few elements within it that remain from the beginning with most of the church having been constructed later.  

When we got back to Bourton (4 p.m.) it was beginning to get dark and the lights in this town, especially the large Christmas tree in the Windrush river, were enchanting.  We had time for some hot chocolate before catching the bus back to Stow.  We arrived just in time to do some window shopping (for today's event the stores were staying open longer - at least until 7!) and to witness the setting up of stalls for food and drink and amusement rides for the kids. 




At 5:30 a large gathering of locals awaited the countdown to the lighting of their Christmas tree - all 7 feet of it - which may not seem like much but actually the entire event with the free mince pies, mulled wine, families gathered together, snow on the ground and the lights around the village square provided quite the festive occasion.

Ale of the Day: One Fifty Celebratory Ale, Donnington Brewery, Stow on the Wold

 

Day 93 - Keeping Christmas Merry!

Work today took me to my client's Coventry office. It provided a chance to wish all a Happy Christmas. In the UK, unlike Canada, you often hear the term "Happy" used instead of "Merry," although either is quite acceptable to use. It is said that the Queen wishes everyone a Happy Christmas because "merry" may imply an encouragement of a tipple or two, and so the phrase has taken hold.

It's also interesting to note that in the UK neither Happy or Merry Christmas have been replaced by any more "politically correct" greeting such as "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings." In fact, people in the UK will use the greeting even if they are not Christian...it is used as a seasonal greeting in its own right. No one gets offended if you're having a Christmas party or a Christmas sale.

Source: Daily Mail

And while you travel around being greeting with wishes for a Happy Christmas, you also find that you can't go anywhere without being offered a mince pie...I had three last week, and I turned some down! We serve mincemeat in Canada, but not to the extend it's served here. I read somewhere that 10,000 mince pies are eaten here every 60 seconds. Originally they did contain meat, but today are dried fruit and spices...and brandy. In the Middle Ages it was said that if you ate a mince pie every day from Christmas to Twelfth Night (January 5), you would have a prosperous New Year...you'd certainly have a clean colon.

And how do you wash that down? Mulled wine (or cider)....think all the spices in mincemeat added to the alcoholic mix. Easy to see how you start to associate the scent of cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon ... and alcohol ... with Christmas and crave the resulting tastes.

Try as the Queen might, with traditions as strong as these (figuratively and alcoholically), she'll never take the "Merry" out of Christmas. 

Day 92 - London Olympic Park

We were to head back to MiM today, but before we did, Ange and I wanted to walk around the site of the 2012 Olympic Games. As I discussed on Monday, the area around Stratford was an ideal location for re-development spurred on by the investment behind the games. When it was granted to London in 2005, there had already been many years of planning put into the effort and most of it involved the abandoned industrial lands around the Lea Valley.

With only the morning to do this, we started early with breakfast at the hotel and then off for our walk. The Olympic site is now called Queen Elizabeth Park and you can access it from the Westfield Stratford Shopping Centre. This mall has streets running through the middle of it, with outside access to the shops, and the main street makes its way to the main entrance to the Park. The first thing you see is the aquatic center and its unique design. The centre hosts three pools and is now used for recreational and competitive activities.

Even though the Aquatic Centre was the first thing we encountered, you can't help but notice from the very beginning the former Olympic Stadium, now the home of West Ham United Football Club. It was originally built to hold 80,000 people, but was segmented to allow for a reduction to about 55,000 people for regular stadium use for football matches.  The sustainable goal for the games also meant that the stadium steel structure was designed to minimize the amount of steel used.

Phil was all prepared to challenge
Greg Rutherford's gold medal-winning
long jump...until he realized he was
jumping on asphalt.

We walked north through the park along the Lea Valley to the Velodrome, where we peaked inside to
see that a student cycling event was about to take place. They claim it is the fastest track of its kind in the world and still hosts major indoor cycling competitions. It is neat to see how banked the track is, which for an amateur cyclist must be quite daunting.

Finally we ended up at the field hockey facility where we found a plaque honoring the original site of a boys athletic facility called Eton Manor. It was funded by wealthy philanthropists who were graduates of Eton College and completed in 1913. It survived the two wars, but closed in 1967, and by 2001 the lands could no longer be used. The use of the lands as part of the Olympics is a tribute to it, but only the plaque remains.

It was time to return to the hotel,but one couldn't help but admire the effort that has been made and with the tremendous amount of housing construction underway it seems like this park will remain as a legacy asset for generations to come.

Ale of the Day: Truman's Swift Golden Ale, East London Brewing, Hackney Wick, London

Day 91 - High flying lunch and an evening of carols

Amazing day! If you've been following the blog closely, you will have come across the occasional guest blog by Lady Jane Tanqueray of Alton Towers. Lady Jane has forced us to up our social game while we're here, and Phil in particular was up to the challenge.

The RAF Club as seen from Green Park.
Source: www.rafclub.org.uk

Phil was invited to be the guest speaker at the December meeting of the Lunchtime Comment Club. Formed in 1919, the club is believed to be the oldest surviving luncheon club in London. Previous recent speakers have included the author Frederick Forsyth, the Late Lord Mayor Sir Robert Finch, Norman Lamont (Baron Lamont of Lerwick, former Chancellor of the Exchequer), Nigel Farage (UKIP), author and politician Jeffrey Archer (Baron Archer of Weston Super Mare)...well, you get the idea. So, quite an honour to be asked. Of course I got to go along as the arm candy (obviously).

Today's lunch was held at the Royal Air Force (RAF) Club in London, a beautiful building on Piccadilly across from Green Park. This private Club for serving and former serving officers of the RAF and Allied Air Forces formally opened in 1922. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is the Club's Patron.

Our host, Alan Green, who is a Director of the Lunchtime Comments Club (and also our landlord), greeted us at the entrance to the RAF Club before leading us down a long corridor lined with aviation paintings. We couldn't help but wish our son Alex were with us, although he would still be there admiring the art!

Left: Beautiful stained glass window on the stairwell. Right: a sampling of the many aviation paintings that line the walls of the RAF club. Source: www.rafclub.org.uk

The Churchill Bar. Source: www.rafclub.org.uk

We entered the Churchill Bar where members of the club were gathering to greet each other over a pre-lunch drink. The club members were wonderfully welcoming. We were asked to wait for the members to be seated for lunch before we left the bar, and this gave me the chance to admire the stunning portraits around the room. Pride of place belongs to Sir Winston Churchill, of course. After the First World War, Churchill was made Secretary of State for Air. He was made an Honorary Air Commodore and is said to have worn his RAF uniform with pride.

The RAF Ballroom. Source: www.rafclub.org.uk

Lunch was in the Club's lovely, bright ballroom, and consisted of Smoked Trout and Egg Terrine, Pheasant, and Fig and Date Pudding...a lovely Christmas themed menu complete with Christmas crackers on the table. Homemade mini stollen and mince meat pies accompanied coffee after. I had a lovely chat with the gentleman next to me, Robert, who with his wife runs a small estate in the Cotswolds which he opens for weddings and on which he raises National Hunt horses. We've come close to the estate on one of our walks in the area.

During coffee, Phil gave his speech. His topic was one Canadian's view of Brexit, with him taking a pro-Brexit stance. This turned out to be not as controversial as one might expect, with many audience members telling him afterward that they agreed with his take on things...and those who didn't agree being extremely polite in their thanks for his agreeing to speak. ;-) He took questions about Trump and North Korea, which he answered with great decorum. All bias aside, Phil did an amazing job (no notes) and I was so proud to be able to be there with him.

After lunch, we joined Alan, his wife Caroline and several other lunch attendees for a drink in The Running Horse Tavern, a very traditional "pub" located in the lower level of the RAF Club. It was a really lovely day, in great company.

But it wasn't over yet.

Phil and I took a walk around the area, discovering the Shepherd Market in the streets behind the RAF Club. The market area was developed in 1735-46 by Edward Shepherd, and is made up of a small square and piazza, with several small side street running off of it. It is lined with boutiques, restaurants, and pubs, and is part of the Mayfair area of London. In the 1680, James II established a 15-day fair that took place on the site that is now the Market...thus the name Mayfair. As the area gentrified, the fair was replaced by grand houses and the market developed. However, the area was also made infamous for several sad incidents. In 1974, at 9 Curzon Place, Cass Elliot (Mama Cass) of The Mamas and Papas died. And in 1983, Keith Moon, drummer with The Who, died of an overdose at 12 Curzon Place. In the 1980s, it was in this area that the aforementioned politician and author Jeffrey Archer met the prostitute Monica Coghlan, an encounter that eventually led to his imprisonment.

From here, we walked up past Oxford St. to St. Christopher's Place. Now an area of restaurants and shops, the area was a slum in the 18th Century and early 19th Century. It was redeveloped in the 1870s for social housing, and it's Lamb & Flag pub became meeting spot for anarchists.

We met Lord and Lady Tanqueray for dinner, along with some of Lady Jane's work colleagues. After dinner we all made our way to St. Marylebone Parish Church for a Christmas service. Many famous people are associated with this church. Robert Browning married Elizabeth Barrett here, and Lord Byron and Lord Nelson's daughter Horatia were baptised here. Charles Dickens lived right near by, so he may have sat in the same pew I did at some point.

The Christmas Service was being held in honour of the Blind Veterans UK charity. It was a magical event, and did a fine job of getting me in the mood for the season. It was an evening of community singing of Christmas carols, a reading of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas by actor Brian Blessed, who is known for his booming voice (you may recognize him or his voice from any one of a host of films, TV shows, children's show, theatre productions and other works). If you are a fan of the British soap EastEnders, you might have recognized the actress June Brown who gave a poetry reading. We were also entertained by The North London Military Wives Choir and two children's choirs from Wetherby Preparatory School, which is the school Prince William and Prince Harry attended (the children still wear the same uniforms).

As we left the church, the Cadets of Wilson School Combined Cadet Force (CCF) thanked us and offered trays of minced pies. A lovely ending to a fabulous evening.

We walked back down to Oxford St. with Lady Jane's charming colleague Claire, and then walked a bit more to enjoy the Christmas lights on Oxford and Regents Streets, before heading back by subway to our hotel in Stratford.

Truly, a day packed with memories.

Selfridges decorated for the holidays.
Photo by Angela Smith.

The Regent St. angels.
Photo by Angela Smith.

Day 90 - I can't find Shakespeare's home anywhere?

Tomorrow I will be giving a lunchtime talk in London and we are invited to an evening Christmas Carols Charity event with Lady Jane Tanqueray of Alton Towers. So Angela and I are going to head into the big City today and stay two nights returning on Wednesday. Now when we did a hotel check with Marriott (the preferred hotel of the 2017-2018 SmithWalsh UK adventure), there was a promotion for their Moxy Hotel brand, so we went out on a limb and and booked it. The location was in Stratford, on the east side of London. You may be wondering, is that the Stratford of Shakespeare fame? Well it isn't, but I am sure there must be those who arrive in London, see Stratford on the tube map and off they go searching for the home of Shakespeare. Two tube stops away is Abbey Road station. But, fooled you again; it is not the Abbey Road of Beatle's fame. They can really play with the minds of tourists here...but I digress.

So we ventured out of the Stratford Station into a buzz of people making their way into the local environs and to the Westfield Stratford Shopping Centre. The Moxy hotel was fortunately only a couple of hundred yards away. Upon arriving, we had some difficulty finding the front desk as the entry took you into a club setting, but we soon realized that this concept hotel required one to go to the bar to check in. All around the hotel and in the room are adverts that promote the hotel as a place to party, party, party yet looking around the place we saw people who were over fifty, fifty, fifty. In any case, we got our upgrade and settled into our room on the top floor.

Stratford has been an industrial part of London since the mid 1800s, but its origin was as the crossing point of the Lea river which runs into the Thames. This crossing existed during Roman times as troops moved from Colchester on the east coast through to the eastern gate (Aldgate) of Londinium, or London as we know it today. The name was derived from Old English "Straet" for street and "ford" for crossing. Around 1110 A.D.,King Henry I had a wife named Matilda and the story goes that she fell while trying to 'ford' the river and demanded that a proper bridge be built. It was called the Bow Bridge and it lasted until the 1835 when it was demolished. Other bridges had been built to replace it.

As with many other areas of England, the Cistercian monks had built an abbey in Stratford around
1135 and called it the West Ham Abbey. At the time King Henry VIII had abolished it, the Abbey controlled approximately 1,500 acres or 610 hectares. That equates to a land value today of approximately $2 billion. At dissolution, the locals stripped out all of the stone from the abbey to use for building their own houses in the area. All that remains of the abbey are a stone carving with skulls that sits within the All Saints Church in nearby West Ham.

The industrial revolution changed the make up of the area from being agricultural to industrial. The Lea River and its link to the Thames (Royal Docks) made the area ideal for industrial development, and during the Victorian age chemical companies, pharmaceutical companies and processed food plants popped up. The River Lea marked the outer edge of the metropolitan London area at that time and regulations restricted noxious industries from operating within the metro area, so they simply were built on the east side of the Lea.

The area was heavily bombed during the Second World War and post-war de-industrialization hurt the area economically. When the Royal Docks closed in 1960, the area continued its decline, and when the 2012 Olympic Games were awarded to London in 2005 it was with the knowledge that these lands could be significantly re-developed. The Games were a great success and the area continues to be developed with multi-residential complexes and office spaces (more on that on Wednesday!).



So what did we do the first night? Well what else does one do in Stratford, London. Shopping, dinner and a flick at the cinema in the mall. Tonight's movie: Thor Ragnarok with Cate Blanchett as you never have seen her - worth the price of admission.

Ale of the Day: Howling Hops Pale Ale, Howling Hops Brewery, Hackney Wick, London.

Day 89 - It's bloomin' December!

After a few days of drizzly weather, the ground was a bit muddy today. But that wasn't going to put us off a Sunday walk, particularly as the weather was to be warmer than it had been and partly sunny.

We took the train to Kingham to get a festive start to the day: a Christmas Market was on at the Village hall. Beautifully handmade goods including an absolutely gorgeous rocking horse. In one tent outside the hall, were samples of homemade fudge, handcrafted chocolate, sauces, and local game. We sampled some positively delicious cured meat made by an artisan chef from the Saltpig Curing Company.

Can't wait to try what we purchased on some buttered toast...although the chef's recommendation of using it in pasta has me intrigued. Love seeing such entrepreneurial spirit that promotes local product in such a high quality way.

Next up was the Cotswolds Distillery. We'd been reading a lot about this distillery since we arrived in the UK. They released their first year of single malt whisky this year, and Phil had been anxious to try it. He finally got his chance...I'll let him describe it in another day's blog, but suffice it to say he liked it well enough to buy two bottles which he then proceeded to carry for the next 12 kms of our walk. I remarked that it would have been good if it had been colder and the weather had stranded us somewhere as we would have been able to stay warm and happy for quite a while until we were rescued! And if we'd had bread and a toaster, the cured meat from Saltpig would have made life in our makeshift lean-to even more bearable.

With restraint not to reach into the backpack a wee sip of whisky, from here we walked down a rather muddy but straight road toward the tiny village of Dayleford. The road leads through farmland, and this case a large organic farm that provides meat, poultry, fruit, vegetables, bread, and milk products produced on site. Heartening to see so many free range chickens. The main farmshop is beautiful. Regrettably our boots were too muddy to stray inside, but we did glance around the property. It consists of a spa, accommodation, shop, cafe, cookery school...the list seems to go on and on.  The car park was packed, so the place must be the place to venture out to. We look forward to coming back to discover why and will share our report here when we do.

We continued into Daylesford. The manor and estate currently belong to Sir Anthony and Lady Bamford (who own the Dayleford Organic farm business). The highlight of the village for us was the breathtaking Norman church. It has the most romantic architectural style, small, but so exquisitely detailed. A hidden gem.

What was really remarkable about today was the number of flowers we saw in bloom. Hard for us Canadians to believe it is December.

Back through countryside to Bledington before catching the train back to Moreton in Marsh. A truly lovely day.