An English Holiday

Inspiration for a holiday comes in all shapes and sizes but this one was building up in my mind for years ever since my first trip to London. I always wanted to take the children there for the amazing experiences the city offers for kids. A couple of months ago, an article in the National Geographic Traveller magazine about "London for kids" triggered the desire again and there we were , making plans for a trip to England during the Dusshera vacation. After a lot of planning and last minute glitches and tension of whether we would get the visa in time , or whether I would be able to travel at all with my health issues that had suddenly shown up, we were finally on the British Airways flight from Bangalore to London on the 24th of September, off and away to our English holiday !

Salisbury (24th to 28th September)

We reached London on Sunday afternoon and took the National Express bus from the airport directly to Salisbury which would be our first stop. A two and a half hour bus ride later, we reached the stop in the charming little town of Salisbury at about 6 in the evening. We had booked ourselves at Leena's guest house which was about a fifteen minute walk from the bus stop.

Leena's Guest House

Even with GPS , we had some initial hiccups on how to get to the place - but that was where our first taste of English hospitality and warmth came to light. A young man who happened to notice that we were looking for our way, reached out to help us with the directions and we were there in no time ! We were greeted by Gary who runs Leena's Guest House now (Leena is his mother who has been running the business for over 40 years and such a lovely lady !). The welcome was so warm , we felt as if we were staying at the home of a friend. The house was a 100 year old English villa, beautiful and cozy surrounded by a wild garden with colourful flowers everywhere.

With Gary and Leena

The breakfast place was straight out of a story book with delicate china serving ware, lace doilies on the table,  stained glass windows framed with beautiful lace curtains looking out into a garden full of flowers. The breakfast was a big affair in itself with Gary personally taking care of us.  
The two options of King's and Queen's breakfast were a delight to the senses. The King's was a truly English breakfast complete with eggs, the best of sausages and bacon, toast , hash browns, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms on the side. The Queens was my favourite of poached salmon and a rocket salad on the side with mushrooms and tomatoes. There was a bowl of fresh berries to kick start your day along with juice, yoghurt, muesli, cereals , fruit and if you ate well enough, you were well settled for the whole day !

 On our first day in Salisbury, the weather wasn't exactly great, with cloudy skies and intermittent rain throughout, and on Gary's recommendation, we decided to do the Cathedral tour. The tour took you to the base of the cathedral spire and gave you an up close and personal look at not only the beauty of the cathedral in itself from the outside but the remarkable engineering behind it and what it looked like from the inside full of wooden frames and limestone walls. That was a complete eye opener for us , mixed with stories narrated by our guide on the history of the cathedral and the Salisbury city in general. The cathedral is the tallest in the whole of the United Kingdom and is one of the main reasons why the town of Salisbury was not bombed during the world wars as the cathedral was a beacon for the airplanes to mark territories all around. The tour was exciting and adventurous for all of us as we climbed the very narrow stairs holding onto the walls as our only support and also being surprised by the bells that tolled in our ears when we came close to the bell chambers. The views of the town from the top were gorgeous to say the least.

View of Salisbury from the top of the cathedral

My high point of course was getting to see one of the original copies of the Magna Carta in the Salisbury Cathedral (it is apparently one of the best kept pieces of the four or five that are there today) - it was absolutely fascinating ! The sightseeing for the day was still not done as we quickly made our way to the bus stop at the centre of town to take a bus to the Stone Henges. The short bus ride was made enjoyable by the stories we got to hear along the way with our headphones plugged in and the narrative running through as we made our way towards the Henges. We learnt about the Spitfire factory that once stood in Salisbury but was destroyed during the war, about Charles I escaping to Old Serum and how he spent his time at the Henges during his escape and many more. The Stone Henges of course was an item on our list that needed to be seen but till you get there in person, the mystery , the awesome engineering of bringing these stones from far away and building the hedges in the middle of nowhere really doesn't hit you.

The Stone Henges

The second day in Salisbury was spent on a long hike , the path drawn out by Gary which took us out of the town centre along the River Avon that runs through the county, crossing little bridges along the way with weeping willows along the rivers, through to Old Serum (the site of the original city and cathedral) , then circling back. The walk was beautiful to say the very least. This was chalk land and some parts were a little slippery with the rain, but the sights all around us , the rolling farm lands with cows grazing , the endless beautiful houses along the way with thatched roofs and roses or ivy growing on the walls made me want to stop everywhere and just click photographs that would stay with me forever. 

Ted Baker's pink cottage

We also passed Ted Baker's English country house - a picture perfect pink villa in the middle of the country - the only other pink villa that I was fascinated with before was the one in Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals and his strawberry pink villa - but that was to be imagined and this was to be seen... 

through the woods

The next day , Wednesday , we took the train and were on our way to Portsmouth. It was about a two hour journey and we reached Portsmouth Harbour in the afternoon. The boys were totally thrilled from the moment they landed at the station and the entire day was a satisfying whirlwind of visiting the different ships , the HMS Warrior,  Nelson's HMS Victory, the Mary Rose , the WW Submarine ! Both Dhruv and Rudra couldn't get enough of running around inside the ships, up and down the different decks. We got a taste of what it was like be a a sailor in those times. For me personally , seeing Nelson's ship, his cabin, his sleeping chamber was just exhilarating and I was transported back to being a school girl sitting in history class listening to the fascinating stories of the Battle of Waterloo and Nelson and my hero Napoleon  ! Given that the kids are in the "Pirates of the Carribean" phase, it was almost a dream come true for them ! After shopping for a couple of souvenirs and the boys so disappointed that the day had almost come to an end, we took the train back to Salisbury and went back to the guest house after dinner as we had to pack to leave the next day.

Portsmouth Harbour - HMS Warrior

WW2 submarine

Cotswold (28th Sep to 2nd Oct)

Farewell was a long one and it was hard to leave such a beautiful place and wonderful hosts. Both boys made Thank You cards and just went to show how much they had enjoyed themselves in Salisbury and Gary's hospitality. We were then on our way to our next destination Stow on The Wold in the Cotswold with a brief stopover at Bath.

the town square at Bath, live violin recital

The Royal Crescent

I had heard that Bath was a lovely little Roman town but wasn't very sure what to expect - but the short couple of hours that we spent at Bath were totally worth it. A quick visit to the Bath Cathedral where apparently Edward , the first king of England was crowned followed by the tour of the Roman baths was wonderful. This was like a little Roman town , different from the usual English towns and full of more Gothic architecture and plazas where there were live opera performances accompanied by the violin or other instruments. The colourful flowers bedecking the balconies of the many buildings were a typical European sight and so so pretty. We took the audio guide tour inside the Roman Baths and it was captivating to hear stories of how the Romans came here thousands of years ago and discovered the hot springs and built the Temple of Sulis Minerva and the baths around it. Apart from the place being so wonderful and mesmerising is the way these places have been maintained and how tourist , especially child friendly each place is. The audio guides had special versions for children to listen to and the whole experience just becomes so much more enjoyable for them.

The Roman baths at Bath

I didn't get to spend a day at the many modern hot spring spas that are available today , but we spent the next couple of hours walking around the town , passing the Jane Austen Centre since she did spend a couple of years at Bath where she wrote some of her master pieces and then towards the Crescent which is a beautiful architectural splendour. Dhruv and I also entered the Georgian museum which gave us a whiff of what aristocratic life really was in the Georgian age. I was thrilled to see the kitchen of those old days and we learnt so many interesting tid bits and perspectives of what life was like !

We still had four more trains to change, each a short journey , but we had to carry our suitcases in and out of each - we finally reached our destination station of Moreton on Marsh where we took a taxi to Stow on the Wold and reached the Limes Guest House. I was just trying to imagine the scenario of changing four trains back to back in India and how that would work out and just how smooth this experience was instead (similar to Switzerland).  The guest house that we stayed in was again a very old English country house , the only brick building in a lane full of otherwise stone buildings - the prettiest garden ever and the two most loving and playful dobermans that I had ever come across Harvey and Logan.

apple trees laden with fruit everywhere

So Stow on the Wold is one of the many counties in the Cotswold area which is supposed to be the prettiest of the English country side. Having grown up reading Enid Blyton, Jane Austen , Mill on the Floss and books such as those and so many stories set in the English country side, for me it was a dream come true to be able to spend a couple of days here. Given that we were there in September , it was fall and the weather was kind of chilly , around 12-15C , a light rain on and off , the leaves of the trees and vines on the walls of the old stone house changing to their best fall colours - the rolling meadows still green and patches of wild flowers here and there.

Gorgeous skies and churches

The many sheep we met along the way, stopping to say Hello

Surely these are Tolkien's forests of the shire

The trees on the roadside and everywhere were full with their bounty of apples .. the sky sometimes a gorgeous blue with sparkling sunshine and the typical clouds that you some how get to see only in Europe - just as a child would draw them almost with a pinkish outline. We were lucky to sight a rainbow one day from our window early morning and it was kind of surreal to see it in such a perfect setting. The many villages that we walked through including Upper Swell, Lower Slaughter, Bourton on the Water were picture postcard perfect. Not a single part seemed out of place - the shallow streams flowing through the villages, ducks and swans swimming by,  small yet beautiful old churches , stone houses with thatched roofs with vines or rose creepers hugging their walls , a 1000 year old mill standing even today , witness to the years gone by and the flour milled and the bread made .. i wanted to drink it all in and let my eyes and heart feast on the beauty completely so that like W ordsworth , these sights could flash upon my inward eye and give me the bliss of solitude.

The friendly horse who wanted to come along with us

At Lower Slaughter - picture perfect villages

The greedy swan feasting on shortbread
 

Dhruv  - do we really need to leave ?

We walked for miles and miles almost every day and over and above the beauty of the place, I totally enjoyed being at one with the boys - three of us chatting away merrily , sharing mindless jokes, laughter, stories , wondering how it would be to live here and just drinking in the moments. I am forever grateful that we could spend this time together - hoping it lives on in their memory as well ! Stow on the Wold is also famous for the church door which is apparently Tolkien's inspiration for the Hobbit Hole and it sure does match up to the description - the many path ways and forests that we walked through were also reminiscent of the shire where the hobbits lived and maybe Frodo went through his journey on. In addition to the beauty were the sheep, the cows and horses - some of which of course I made friends with. One of the horses literally didn't want us to go - kept nuzzling up to us and licking my hands and Rudra fed him grass - many many fun times ! Apart from enjoying the hikes through the country side, we also did a one day trip to Oxford. Just to walk through the same cobbled streets where Lewis Carol, Tolkien and so many others walked, ideated, had a pitcher of ale in the many pubs, studied in the Bodelian Library was mesmerising to say the least. The elaborate gothic architecture, the grandeur of the Radcliffe Camera , the many gargoyles looking down at you , everything was just spectacular. I hope some of this does its bit in providing some inspiration to the boys for possible future education opportunities !

The Bodelian Library in Oxford

The other thing about both Salisbury and the Cotswold area was really the warmth of the people all around. There were innumerable instances when folks would go out of their way to help us either with directions, bus timings , information on places. Every single place we went to, we felt welcome. Everyone had time to have a small friendly chat with you , about whether we liked the country side better or the city , about the children , about the dogs ..  it just made our journey more wholesome, more fun in a way ! Also I loved how everyone was so nice to the boys , how they were treated with a salutation of "Hello, young man" or " What would the little gentleman like today " ..  the boys also felt very much at home and comfortable.

Tolkien's Hobbit Hole at the Edwards Church in Stow

One of the memorable days was a lazy afternoon the boys and I spent at a coffee shop cum book shop where I had possibly the best lemon drizzle cake ever along with tea and the boys had brownies and the three of us just lazed around the whole afternoon, reading books and having tea and cake while Mr Sahu was busy with his photography and further exploring through walks. I picked up a book of English poems and realised how much I miss reading poetry and what a blessing it was to be able to sit on a Sunday afternoon and do nothing but enjoy reading poems that I had forgotten , and new ones to be discovered .. peace and joy in life is thus defined !

London (2nd to 6th Oct)

Finally we were on the last leg of our journey and away from the country side, we landed at Paddington Station .  Even though we were away from city life for a week, it was almost a shock to get back to the city again - even though it was London , one of my favourite cities ever ... I just realised how much I love it all over again. Every street corner has a story to tell, every area is a mix of the old and new ,  with each old building having a special history to it. The red double decker buses, the wide open public gardens , the walkways by the Thames , the thriving city life makes the city so real and so alive ! This is what Calcutta could have been if the buildings were maintained and we didn't have a crazy population to manage. Every afternoon or early evening we would see so many men and women running or cycling back from work and they were given priority on the streets over the cars. Dhruv wondered why we couldn't do this back in Bangalore and how unfortunate that there weren't these lovely huge green parks to walk around in.

Natural History Museum in London

We probably didn't do as much as we would have liked to cover in London, I had kept the itinerary more flexible so that we did whatever the boys really wanted. We of course took the hop on hop off bus tour and that was an excellent way to see sights of the city and especially with the running commentary, it was wonderful to hear the stories about all the buildings and areas that I did not even know of earlier. We saw the Westminster Abbey, the Tower Bridge, Big Ben, the Tower of London but we didn't do the inside tour for each, Instead we opted for a Harry Potter walking tour of London which essentially took us took us to all the places which inspired J K Rowling's settings for Harry's world such as Diagon Alley , Knockturn Alley , the Millennium bridge that the death eaters blew up and so many others. 

Going through Knockturn Alley as part of the Harry Potter walk

Through this we were able to explore lanes and by-lanes that we wouldn't have known otherwise and it was enchanting to say the least. I discovered stores that were selling century old drawings of ships and botanical flower details , old books signed by Lewis Carol himself, the first theatre where Peter Pan was staged and so many others. For a person like me who has spent her childhood in the world of English literature , in the world of Dickens and Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie and Oscar Wilde and the list could go on and on , this was heaven for me. One evening, we watched the Lion King Musical at the Lyceum Theatre. I had read reviews of how great the show was but really didn't expect the spectacle we finally witnessed ! The imagination of the costumes, the vibrancy of the music , the richness of voice of the performers, the absolute perfection of every moment was brilliant ! In a world full of digital media that captures the attention of children, my boys were totally enjoying every moment  - clapping, laughing , enjoying the beauty of the costumes, the sets. I was so happy that I decided to splurge on this , every pence was worth it !

Ready to watch Lion King at Lyceum Theatre, London

This would also be my first time in the Museum of Natural History which I found captivating beyond words. That such and institution could actually be made available for free to the public was even more awe inspiring. I could just spend days and days looking and reading through each of the exhibits and learning more about the natural world around us. I realised once again how this was really my calling but alas its too late to day dream on what could have been.

We spent the last day at Madame Tussauds where the boys enjoyed taking pictures with their real or fictional life idols and it was just all fun ! We did some shopping at the Covent Garden Market , one of my favourites. We were there on the Thursday evening before we would leave and the atmosphere was so electric. Streets overflowing with folks coming out from work, enjoying themselves over a drink, lining up in front of the theatres to catch West End musicals or shows , it was so nice to see people enjoy , just "live" life to its fullest.

Star Wars moment at Madame Tussauds

We would leave the next day , and so we took one last long walk from Covent Garden back to our hotel in Waterloo on a crisp , chilly but clear evening in London, the clear black sky glorious with the full moon and the red lights of the London Eye shining and reflecting onto the Thames - an absolutely perfect end to our delightful English holiday !

Full moon on our last night in London