Windsor - Bradford on Avon

Today we embarked on our girls’ road trip!

We planned to leave by 10am, and were on the road at 10 to 11, not bad! The weather had been atrocious and we saw numerous flooded fields. I had checked the roads on the internet and found that although there were flood warnings everywhere, the route we intended to take was clear. Or so it said.

Crys sat beside me, and with her expert navigation and the support from the back seat, we hit the M4 with no problems and I settled in for a 2 hour straight drive. Sounded easy, but the clouds came over and the rain was torrential. I was pretty nervous passing trucks – the combination of the spray from them and the rain from above meant that I often couldn’t see more than about a car’s length in front. At some times I slowed right down to about 40kmph. This, on a 110kmph motorway!

We planned to stop at Lacock for lunch – this is a Heritage Village that was used to film Lark Rise to Candleford, Downtown Abbey and Harry Potter. As we turned off the man road there was flooding right across and along the road we needed to take. We pulled in to the side and considered – I got out and had a look and really didn’t know what to do. Another car came past us and went slowly through the flood and emerged safely on the other side – good enough for us! A bit of an adventure!

Lacock has an old abbey, plus a tiny village of ancient houses, all owned by the National Trust and tenanted with folk who dress in olden outfits. We went in to a bakery, tithe barn, some shops, and lunched in the pub. A really gorgeous place.

After lunch and a wander we headed down a closed road to see the abbey from a different view – the river was flooded over the adjacent farmland, and came up over the bridge onto the road. It was good to stretch our legs, but we could see the rain was going to set in again. Sure enough, no sooner had we arrived back at the car than the heavens opened and down it came.

Back across the flooded road, onto the main road, and on through some little villages until we came to Bradford-on-Avon, our home for the next 4 days. We watched the street signs carefully, Crys said “pull over while we decide where to go”, so I did, we looked up and we were outside our cottage! Another place that Amelia and I had found on the internet after hours and hours of searching. This is always a bit of a chancey thing, and we breathed a sigh of relief to have struck gold yet again.

Bridge cottage has to be seen to be believed. The floors are all over the place, but we’re used to that by now. The front door opens onto the footpath, there is a tiny internal porch, then a gorgeous renovated kitchen with a table and 4 chairs. The owner must love a designer called Cath Kidston – we lost count of the items throughout the house in this range. It’s basically little flowers – they are printed on the blinds, tablecloth, crockery, rubbish bins, lightshades, wallpaper, teatowels, ovenmits, wallprints…. You get the picture. It’s very girlie, very quaint, and so homey we were charmed. On the kitchen table was a cake plate with 4 beautifully iced cupcakes. In the fridge was a bottle of champagne and some milk. We felt very spoilt! The lounge was warm and cosy, with TV and Wii. Upstairs are 2 bedrooms and a bathroom, the floor waves around as if we’re on a ship.

After unloading the car Crys and I headed off to park it safely – there is no legal parking directly outside. On return we had a cuppa, then all walked to the supermarket on the edge of town for some supplies for the next few days.

Arriving back home we cracked open a drink and played Scattergories, such fun as we became inventive with words we were sure existed.

Tea was a range of healthy snacks – celery, carrots, cheeses, grapes, fruit and crackers. Then it was seriously into the Wii – first up 10 pin bowling which I’m proud to say I creamed, then bob-sledding, skiing and snowboarding. A hilarious evening.

Bed at midnight – an eventful day, lots of laughs and some new memories to add to the many we have made this trip.