Hi Ho Bauer Take Six: Bath and the South Cotswolds

We started our next morning heading down to Malmesbury to drop Erin off at work, it was good to force ourselves up early to get towards the south Cotswolds and Bath. Our first stop for the day was Avebury, the step sister of Stonehenge that sees few pictures and fewer postcards. However, there is more more to Avebury than the side-road stop that is Stonehenge. Avebury is a little village that has been built around a series of stones as you see below, resting in their current place for over 4,000 years (I hope you are thinking, how the H-E double hockey sticks did they get rocks to that position 4,000 years ago!! - I was thinking the same thing when walking amongst the 50+ massive stones). Dr. Bauer is a big fella, and this rock dwarfs him. 

From Avebury, we made our way to Lacock, which is a National Trust village. That's correct, the national trust owns the entire, amazingly preserved village. It is very untouristy (at least in Sept) and walking the streets sends one back in time. Following a stroll into the 600 year old church in the village, we went to The George Inn for lunch. The pub, which donned the cover of the good pub guide in 2008, provided everything a good pub stands for, good hosts, comfortable old world furnishings, a massive fire and quality ale. 

The next town, one of my favorites of the weekend, is Castlecombe. What a great little town. It was recently named the quaintest village in England, which the town didn't even know they were in the running for the title! It is literally one street with more character than perhaps any other street in England!

We also stepped into the church, dating back to the 1300s. There is a really cool old tomb there that is from the founder of the town, who was part of the 4th crusade under Richard III!!!

After tearing ourselves away from Castlecombe, we made it to Bath. Getting in might be one of the most difficult tasks! There is only one straight shot into town and it always appears backed up. My faithful navigator Dr. Bow Wow took us the scenic route along the top ridge of the town (Bath is situated in a river valley), around hairpin turns dodging several oncoming cars on the way. It ended up being a shortcut that plopped us right in front of the town center and into a parking lot just a couple blocks away!

After we arrived, we spent the afternoon in the Church, checked out the Royal Crescent (which isn't unlike the royal crescent Erin and I live on) and strolling around town. We made it to three pubs that night and had a magnificent pizza dinner, of course stuffing ourselves too much! I recommend The Star as a must see pub! The next morning we went to the Roman Baths. This was honestly one of the most impressive sights I have ever seen, so well preserved!

One unique thing about Bath that I didn't know before is that the main bridge that crosses the river Avon in the city center has buildings on it and is quite reminiscent of the Ponto Vecchio in Florence, just not quite as colorful!

Inside Bath Abbey

After taking a historical tour of the city, we thereafter left Bath. I highly recommend it for an overnight trip if visiting London for a week. We then took the long way home, heading to the North Cotswolds again, stopping in the towns of Bibury, which is extremely eatable! The second photo is said to be the most photographed row of houses in England, Arlington row. 

Following a further visit to Northleach, which is also worth a quick stop, we stopped in Oxford to find not only the money tower from which you have seen photos on the blog before closed, but also Christ Church. Fear not, for the oldest buildings in town were still open....the pubs! 

We made it to the Bear and the Turf Tavern before Jason got a cramp in his neck and we had to head back to London! Again, you can truly see how people have grown since the middle ages and renaissance times!!

It was an amazing long weekend full of churches, pubs, village walks, laughs and all around great times! Thanks Bauer's!!!

Hi-Ho Bauer Take SIX: The North Cotswolds

Finding a perfect phrase to describe the Bauer's is easy....Gettin-'er Done!! There aren't many people who have visited us in each capital city we have lived in over the last....dare I say (dare, dare) 7 years. No sir, the only other qualifier would be Lissa. If I were the government they'd get the medal of honour. If I were Bud Selig, they'd win the pennant. No no, we aren't keeping score, the hi-ho Bauer take six doesn't mean anything....

We started off the evening with a pint at our local, the POW or Prince of Wales, in the fabulous patio, and that was the start of the countless samples of English Ale we would consume over the next 8 days. The Price of Wales is nice as there is no pubco that owns the pub, so no dictating what beers are served on the taps (if there is, they have all guests on the taps:). Following this was dinner at a local tapas restaurant, Pinata, which was average when you compare to the heavyweights of London, but would be a top tapas place in most cities. From there it went downhill, or shall I say downstairs, at the Trailer of Happiness, where they served lots of Hooray Beer (Red Stripe), not to be overlooked by their speciality, the volcano, a drink literally in the mold of a volcano that feeds 2-3 and it flaming. This is why the photos are not suitable for small children.

The following morning we did some stretching to get rid of the toxins, grabbed the usual morning remedy (Paul's) and headed to Kensington Olympia where we rented the car for the next four days. We got the usual mini-Mercedes that gets a gillion miles per gallon (or litre shall I say to be in proper English-speak).

From there we meandered to the Cotswolds, through a couple cute villages to Hook Horton, where (what is becoming a common theme) we took a brewery tour of Hook Norton Brewery, which has been brewing in the same family since the mid-1800s. The building, while very old-school, resembles a lego building a novice lego builder would put together. But it does the trick and they brew using traditional methods, using a steam engine to power the brewery.

There is actually a stout recipe from pre WWI that the grandson of the descendant who first brewed it had to discontinue due to supply shortages during the Great War. All the beers were great, as was our tour guide, whose wife works at the Hook Horton history society.

From here we briefly wandered around the village, complete with several thatched roofs and an 800 year-old church. Take note, as our visits to these villages are unsurprisingly similar. A stroll, a church, a pub. You might think we should be ending the trip at Betty Ford, but in actuality, the best way to experience a village's history is to venture into its local. The constant in these English villages over the hundreds of years are two things, the church and the pub.

From here we went to Great Tew, which arguably had the best pub of the trip, an "eatable" mishmash of thatched roof, ivy covered walls, and beams, really friggin old beams. You can almost predict within 50 years of a pubs origination by how low you have to duck to get through the door, especially Dr. Bauer. This pub, the Falkland Arms, is a keeper.

Great pub 'eh? From there we took the extreme back Cotswold roads to Chipping Norton, where we went to yet another historic pub, The Chequers, that was recently featured in great NYtimes article that inspired our trip. Chipping Norton is a pretty cute huggily town, but not eatable.

After this, we had dinner at an unbelievable country restaurant called the Kingham Plough, which we read once had a Michelin Star (although I didn't confirm with the source). Star or not, this place was great. It is a MUST visit if in the north Cotswolds. Save room for dessert!

Following dinner we made it to our hotel, The Noel Arms, in Chipping Campden, which is a great spot to spend a couple nights on your Cotswold's holiday. We made it just in time to have a pint of Ale and walk around the quiet streets, checking out the 700 year old market where one can easily picture the wool traders of the past exchanging goods on market day.

The next morning we did a bit of hiking, starting by checking out a section of the Cotswolds Way outside Chipping Campden.

Afterward we walked around town, below is the aforementioned market. You really can picture the 1500's bustling market which is now replaced with tour buses of q-tips and flashing cameras (mine included)!

We then jumped in the car and headed to some Tricky Dick mentioned Cotswolds towns. I made some silly comments like eatable and huggily earlier, which are actual adjectives used by Rick Steves (i.e. Tricky Dick) in his book of England. The next town, called Snowshill, was both. Just a little square, a phone booth and a pub that served Doddington's, a one-of-a-kind brewery that is not powered by steam, but instead by the waterfall flowing in to the lake adjacent to the brewery. They don't bottle the beer, but instead sell their kegs to less than 20 nearby pubs. Pretty unique. Also a family run brewery (that doesn't offer tours).

After grabbing lunch at a great spot called the Plough (unintentional to visit two Ploughs), we parked at Lower Slaughter to do the hike from Upper to Lower Slaughter, a Fodors recommended walk. It was great having to close all the gates behind us to keep the sheep in while we followed the wandering river between the two towns.

We actually saw a Sasquatch in one of the fields chasing sheep around, I think its the first ever captured in a blue polo and a Rick Steves backpack.

After evading a near death at the hands of the Sasquatch (who by the way needs to shave 3-4 times every 8 hours to avoid getting his neanderthal beard caught in fencing while chasing farm animals), we made a quick stop at Burton-on-the-Water before returning toward our hotel in Chipping Campden. Naturally, I had to take a photo of the water in "the Water". Its a cool town, but I would recommend checking our the Slaughters, which are only 5 minutes away.

On the way back we stopped in Stow-on-the-Wold, which has arguably the oldest continuously running hotel in.....the WORLD; dating back to the 900s. Below is the pub where Edward III had a pint of ale before a battle in the 1330's - crazy.

We had sunset in a little hamlet overlooking a church (over another pint) at a spot called the Churchill Arms. The pub is a proper gastro-pub that I would recommend having dinner at if in the area.

An amazing first two days in the Cotswolds; everything is so close so you can do so much! Next up, Cotswolds part II...