On the road again - Cotswolds 1

On the road again - Cotswolds 1

Same car... just back to the right side!

Life is never simple ....

So, I packed up all my belongings, and left the building... thinking I had booked a cab to take me to pick up my hire car.  I thought I had allowed plenty of time, but in 5 mins the lady from the taxi company rings back to say there are no cabs in my area and would I like to ring someone else...??? Well, no, because I'm standing here on the street with my suitcases etc... Anyway she gave me some more numbers, so I rang another company and they said "Yes, we can do it and the cab should be there in 5 mins".But 15 mins later I'm still standing there, and the lady manager of my apartment building comes out and says do I want a cab because she has contacts and she can arrange one...  So, what am I to do... apparently there's one on the way, and I wasn't too sure whether this lady's "contacts" were a legit company... anyway, she starts ringing them while I'm thinking about it and says they're on the way... so next things this guy comes along on foot and says "I'm your taxi driver"..

It was all a bit suss, but what could I do...?? He quotes me 12 pounds which I thought was very reasonable, but the only thng was he really didnt know where the place was, and he had to keep referring back to his "base" to give him the "job"!!  When they discovered where it actually was, my quote went up to 26 pounds...!!! But I was in the taxi by now and half way there... so i just said "Go for it" and eventually we got there...  What a taradiddle as my mother would say!

One advantage of this car rental place being so far away from Earls Court was that it was actually on the edge of town and close to the A40 which was the route I was to follow. One other little good thing that happened was I was trying to get my GPS set up on the dash board, so I went in and asked the guys behind the desk for some help and one of the customers said "I'll do it for you", and he got all the bits to go together and he stuck it on my windscreen and its perfect. I'm afraid to touch it now. I usually take it off each night in case it gets  nicked, but I think I'll risk it for tonight anyway.

Sorry - long introduction here..... But it's all part of the story!

Anyway, with  my new setup I only managed to stuff up a few times, and being on the right side of the road made such a difference! I felt like I was so much more in control, and didn't do things like hit the curb or forget to change gears as I did in France!

So after just a couple of wrong turns, I ended up onthe A40 heading for Turville...

Where, you may ask??? Why is she going to Turville...???

Here's the first clue.. see if you recognnize it...???

Or maybe this  one helps more..???

Turville is the setting for The Vicar of Dibley!!! And it was such a pretty place.

The drive in was just spectacular. I felt like I was in an Enid Blyton novel, with twisting lanes surrounded by bushes on all sides...

The road into Turville

And look at that spectacular blue sky. As one of my very good friends would say ... I'm an arsey bitch when it comes to the weather!!! I think it may be changing soon, but today was just superb.

I had lunch at the pub in Turville

Turville Pub

Lovely Shepherds Pie - and look at those veggies!!!

I sat outside because it was so nice and I even considered moving into the shade.

Then I had a walk around the village and took some pics...

Turville cottage

Another Turville cottage. Is this the presbytery?

View across the Church yard

Then I went into the Church called St Mary the Virgin - not St Barnabas as in the series - and found a place to light a big fat thanksgiving candle.

That's mine in the middle!

Side door of the Church

Inside looking towards the front

Towards the back... there's the organ Letitia used to play!

Then I just went for a walk around the village and soaked in the atmosphere... it was just lovely. It was so English!

Cottages

Walking path

Countryside around Turville

Iconic England

More country around Turville

So that was the story of Turville and the Vicar of Dibley!

Anyway, it was time to think about accommodation for the night. For the first time on my journey I didn't actually have any accommodation booked in.... a bit of a scary thought!


I had changed my original plans of going to Cornwall, after listening to the advice of the locals and decided to go straight to the Cotswolds and just wander for a few days.

Audrey had given me some place to go in the Cotswolds and after visiting Turville I needed to firm up  where I was going to stay. One of the places on the list was Woodstock - had a nice 70s feel to it - so I set up Gaby Garmin to take me there, which she did very happily. Trouble was the B&Bs weren't very obvious... Found a park in the main Street of Woodstock and found a pub that looked ok so I went in and it started at 154 pounds for the night.... Hmmmm... bit on the expensive side! The guy behind the desk at that  hotel was lovely and told me of a few other options that might be cheaper, in particular he suggested Chipping Norton (don't you love the names??), and he drew me a bit of map. So it was only 20 mins or so to Chipping Norton so off I went, and once again I couldn't actually find anything. There were a couple of pubs in the main street, but they didn't look like my kind of place.

One of his other suggestions was that there was  Crowne Plaza at Heythrop Park, so I headed back towards Woodstock, thinking I should just cough up the money and be done with it, then I saw the turnoff to this  Heythrop Park. It is a Golf club and Country Club, and you had to drive right in off the road. Anyway, as I drive into this place there are cars driving out in their hundreds.... I was not sure what was happening...???? Then when I got closer there were all these men in suits with head pieces in their ears, and I thought maybe it was a bomb scare or something... But the guy who was directing traffic told me to go up to the other hotel and have a drink because they had just finished a conference and nobody was allowed in... I think it must've been pretty high level, because there were cops everywhere and police horses etc.... What had I walked into unwittingly...???

SoI go up to this other place on the same estate  called Heythrop Park

Heythrop Park

My intention was to go to the toilet and have a cup of coffee and then go back to that Crowne Plaza place. But while I was there I thought there was no harm in asking prices...??? But I was pretty sure this would be out of my league!

Anyway, it turns out its much cheaper than Woodstock with breakfast included....

So I'm booked in here for at least 2 nights and probably three.... And it's lovely. After I unloaded my bags, helped by a couple of lovely girls, I went down to the bar for a well deserved beer....

Lovely lounge

And it has really good wifi!

And I had a lovely Roast Pork meal for dinner!

What more could a person want....

So I'll happily stay here for a few days and explore the Cotswolds from here...

Funny how things work out sometimes...