Day 3 - Broughton Castle

We picked up our rental car from Europcar last night - a small, manual transmission, Renault Clio. Although this wasn't the first time I have driven in a country that uses the opposite side of the road from the U.S., it was still difficult to get used to. My introduction to driving in London was leaving the rental garage near Victoria Station and navigating to our hotel and trying to find a parking space somewhere close. I have always driven manual transmission vehicles, but shifting with my left hand took some getting used to! I found a parking space just a couple blocks from the hotel, so this morning I went and retrieved the car and we got and early start.

We said good-bye to London as we made our way into the English country-side towards Windsor Castle. We had already decided that we were not going to tour the castle itself, but we wanted to see it, at least, from the outside. We strolled around town and down part of the great walk. It was a little odd to see the incursion of American fast food franchises into this quaint old town on the hill. The juxtaposition of Starbuck's and Burger King across the street from the ancient stone walls of Windsor Castle was strange and a little sad. As the tour busses and hoards of (other) tourists began to arrive, we moseyed down hill into Windsor and then across the river window shopping. We picked up an early lunch and had a picnic on a park bench right on the Thames River with the ducks and white swans.

We left Windsor and drove west towards Oxford and Banbury. Not too far outside of Banbury is the Broughton Castle, home of the Lord and Lady Saye and Sele. Broughton is a family name of my wife's, so this visit had special significance for her. The castle sits in a beautiful and quiet setting, partially surrounded by a true moat. It is only open for visitors a couple days a week, so  we had made specific plans to be here on a Wednesday afternoon. Walking from the parking area to the castle Gatehouse, we passed by the Parish Church of St. Mary where Sir John de Broughton, original owner and builder of the castle, is entombed. After paying a nominal entrance fee, you enter the castle grounds through the Gatehouse. You cross the courtyard to the castle and your self-guided tour begins in the Great Hall. There are few ropes and absolutely no iron bars, gates or fences. It was a great experience that had me feeling like I had the "run of the castle." The tour gently leads you through the open rooms of the castle and then out onto the ramparts where you have a wonderful view of the grounds and surrounding country. Visitors are welcome to meander through the gardens and grounds. Which we did, enjoying another beautiful, blue sky day in the fresh air of the English country-side. This was a great location for photography - evidenced by the number of photos I took! Others have obviously recognized this, as parts of the movie Shakespeare In Love were filmed here.

We reluctantly left the idyllic setting, continuing our drive west and south towards Salisbury. We had planned to visit the Stonehenge World Heritage this evening to take advantage of the good light as the sun was going down. Unfortunately for us, today is September 1st and the hours for the site change today - closing one hour earlier. We arrived just as the gates were closing! We got to see the incredible monument from the road, but we'll have to come back tomorrow or the next day to actually enter the site and get to see the stones up close. Luckily Bath, our destination for the next couple of evenings is a short 45 minute drive away.

Driving into the city of Bath was quite the experience! It has more than its share of one-way streets and is not really laid out in a grid pattern as most U.S. cities are (probably due to the fact that the city sight is a couple thousand years old). We drove around quite a bit finding our hotel and then a suitable parking space. We found the Parade Park Hotel, checked in and stowed our luggage before heading out to walk the streets of Bath and find a place to eat dinner. Bath seems to be one of those towns, like Windsor, where few people stay the night, but rather come by tour bus during the day. This was fine by us! The evening streets were quiet and peaceful with a "normal" number of people out and about. We got  ourselves oriented and decided on dinner and the famous Sally Lunn's. We really enjoyed the good food and pleasant service. After dining, we made our way back the hotel, only a couple blocks away and then retired for the evening.