Working Backward through the Best Trip Ever: Wales and the Cotswolds

I didn't blog at all during our last vacation, but I'm going to try to get the memories down while they're still fresh...and going backward day by day since that's the easiest order on my phone. It's harder now to write that Elowen is older and doesn't go to bed until we do (at least on vacation), and also there's just a lot of personal trauma going on in my life and I wanted two weeks of pure nothingness. So! The last two days of our vacation....

 I don't remember if I wrote about it in a previous post, but in the Malta Marriott, Taylor was taking a work call in the lobby when he met another American who invited him to have a drink. They hit it off, the man had a three-year old daughter, and suddenly Elowen had a new friend named Amelia who gave her a cherished unicorn ring. (Elowen has since declared her "the most beautiful girl in the world.") As the antisocial part of this couple, I admittedly don't love when Taylor makes friends on vacation, as I want to either 1) be with just him and Elowen or 2) be alone. However, the couple were so nice and interesting, and the girls got along so well, and Taylor kept in touch with the guy...so we ended up in Yarwell, the tiniest little village north of England where they live, to visit them.

I won't post pics since it's another person's kid, but Elowen had an absolute blast playing with Amelia, driving a mini Ferrari around the yard, and bouncing on the mini trampoline. They also spent some time cuddling in bed watching a movie, and it was too cute. We even walked to a nearby neighbor's house and bought fresh eggs, leaving money in the "honesty box," and then visited the little free library housed in a red phone booth.

 

She was born to feel the wind in her hair.  

 

Is this not the most delightfully British little thing? Picture included as there's no face! 

We also went to Burghley House, a nearby manor that started construction in 1555 by William Cecil (the royal treasurer); his descendants still live there today. It was meant to be a tribute to Queen Elizabeth I and to serve as a place where she and her large retinue could stay in style (it's called a "prodigy house," if you're interested). Of extra interest to me is that it served as Lady Catherine de Bourgh's house in the 2005 "Pride and Prejudice" movie, both interior and exterior. 

Made me want some most excellent boiled potatoes.

I didn't go in when we went with Amelia, as the house is closed on Friday's and the main purpose of the visit was so the girls could play in the awesome adventure playground and explore the gardens. 

 

The playground is mole themed, and I loved that about it.  

I suspect Elowen would not enjoy a sibling, as she kicked Amelia out of the picture because she wanted one "just us." 

Elowen was very brave on the playground, though she got stuck in the rope tunnel and Taylor had to go rescue her. 

The grounds have their own fallow deer park, which is delightful,  and two sets of gardens--one with some pretty startling sculptures and another called the "Garden of Surprises." The Garden of Surprises is inspired by the Elizabethan fascination with astrology, astronomy, and classical civilizations, and it truly is packed with unexpected little delights everywhere you turn. There are water features, grottoes, a little stream, and plays on earth, wind, air, and fire that make the stroll startling in the best way. 

  

This little stream had a sign that said "Don't paddle in the rillet," so I got to show off my fancy vocabulary by explaining that means a small brook; the bubbles coming out of the triangular sculpture are the "air" feature.

Elowen was a little short to trigger the waterwall on the way out to stop, so she got soaked, but she didn't seem to mind. 

I'll give the house itself a whole post of its own, and wrap up with our last night--we were supposed to stay at the Marriott Windsor, which inexplicably didn't have water. They ended up moving us to the Marriott Heathrow, right at the airpot, and that turned out to be perfect--five minutes from the terminal, but tranquil and with nice rooms and a good Italian restaurant. We ate at a little pub called The Three Magpies for lunch (I can't and will never get enough of mushroom or steak pies) and then spent the rest of the afternoon cozy in the hotel, enjoying a nap and drinking a cider to make our suitcases a little lighter.

 I'll leave you with two of the alarming sculptures I mentioned from the manor...

 

It was my favorite trip we've ever taken, and I can't wait to relive it through some posts!