The Cotswolds

We journeyed on from Southampton to the Cotswolds eventlessly other than a mild misjudgement around Oxford which was easily overcome, to arrive in Broadway some time after darkness had fallen.

Our cottage we discovered was quite charmingly Olde Worlde including for added authenticity no parking for the cars and dreadful TV reception. But that aside James and Jane were there awaiting us with baited breath - obviously - and soon we got down to some eating activities before James and Nicole made some vague attempts at getting a fire lit.

Oh, the hilarity as James and Jane's new-fangled flushing and plumbing system on the penthouse floor shook the entire house each time it was used.

The next day then necessitated the purchase of logs and a visit to the pub before the next contingent of the re-united masses made an entrance, them being Suzanne and Ian and Alison and Neave and Lucy and Adrian and Stella and Catherine and Ivan, some of which are offspring.

So just a quiet day with a buffet lunch and a walk to a surprisingly under-construction playground and horse patting and so on.

The picture is indicative, it is just up the road from our little Halfpenny Cottage. But Broadway itself was a picture-postcard little place with buildings of dressed stone and lots of ostentatiously post-medieaval architecture. You know, big hotels with turrets on. That kind of thing.