Bradford-on-Avon

Today I woke again to bright skies. Went in to Crys and Mel to read until Amelia woke – she had been under the weather last night. Sure enough, she woke with a dreadful throat so we rethought our day and discarded another trip into Bath. Instead, after a lazy breakfast and lovely long chats, we headed out to explore Bradford-on-Avon. We were so glad we did!

The river is in flood, the water barely fitted under the bridge and we saw sandbags in many places. There was a maze of public paths up to the top of the town. First we devoured an early Saxon church, tiny, just perfect. Then in our climb up the hill we passed so many old terraced rows of cottages that I nearly filled my memory card. Views were exquisite, we found overgrown wilderness gardens, it was fabulous.

Wending our way back down was a lot easier than going up! We reached the town and walked through the Shambles – a lot shorter than York but quite cute. I noticed a gold letterbox – apparently a resident won a gold medal in the last Olympics so the walking bridge was renamed after him, and a letterbox painted gold in his honour. How very cool!

We lunched at the Victorian Tea Rooms – high tea again, very spoilt. The waitress was dressed accordingly and the food was divine.

Coming out of the tearoom the weather had deteriorated so we quickly made our way around a few shops. We found a store called Piha! Couldn’t believe it, went in and found it was indeed a sea/beach shop, so called because the owner loved surfing in Piha Beach, NZ!

Home for a well deserved cuppa, and Mel and I popped up to the car to fetch the map so we could plan our route home tomorrow.

Amelia wallowed in a bath, Crys, Mel and I watched Clueless - what a hilarious blast from the past!

Snacks, Scattergories, bubbles courtesy of the landlady, and off to bed. Another sterling day!