Category Archives: Cotswolds 2020

One of the main things I’m going to miss about Blockley is the cafe. And not just for the cafe itself. The staff have been so friendly. They have made us feel most welcome, even to the extend of remembering … Continue reading →

For our final day in Blockley, we mostly stayed in Blockley. It seemed the right thing to do. After all was said and done, it was ridiculously hot and we’d seen everything we could see without mask and fuss. So, … Continue reading →

On one of our many trips to the Isle of Wight we visited the Model Village at Godshill. One thing that thrilled me beyond the reasonable was the fact that within the Godshill Model Village was a model of the … Continue reading →

It has never occurred to me, during my many hours of research into the Great War, that magazines would be available in the trenches. I’m not talking about the hand made ones like the Ypres Times. I mean actual printed … Continue reading →

If someone was to ask for some excellent advice at the moment, I would suggest not having high tea at Buckland Manor and “Don’t dive off the little bridges of Bourton on the Water because the ‘water’ is about six … Continue reading →

Things weren’t going very well for Charles I in 1646. A lot of his forces were changing sides and he was rapidly running out of cannon fodder. He had at least one stalwart buddy. Sir Jacob Astley managed to cobble … Continue reading →

Quite by accident, over the years, we have stumbled across Cistercian abbeys. It’s possibly not surprising as there were a lot of them set up way back when. They spread out from Citeaux in Burgundy where the Cistercians started in … Continue reading →

Shortly after the end of World War II, Britain was a lot less racist than it appears to be today. The country realised the debt of gratitude it owed to many different nationals and was prepared to pay that debt … Continue reading →

In around 1850, Lucy Russell gave the village of Blockley an outlet to a local spring for the use of the locals. RB Belcher (who I mentioned the other day in reference to the riot of 1878) decided it needed … Continue reading →

A few years ago, while in France with the Weasels, I bought a Joan of Arc t-shirt. I’ve worn it many, many times and, up until today, no-one has ever said anything about it. That all changed today with two … Continue reading →