Our last full day in the Cotswolds was spent mainly driving the gorgeous little country lanes enjoying views and stopping here and there. We visited Stow on the Wold which seems to get rave reviews from lots of people and yes it’s quaint and all the rest but we all found it too busy after our “back road” kind of experience generally in this area. The big highlight of the day was definitely Sudeley Castle. This was a “must visit” of Liane’s and I am so glad it was on the agenda as it is an incredibly beautiful site. My favourite part was really the gardens as they were just oh so stunning and actually it took us a good half hour to make it from the car park to the castle itself and even then we stayed in the grounds for an hour after that before approaching the actual building! The Castle has SO many ties to history particularly of the Henry VIII variety. It was the final home of his surviving wife Katherine Parr and her next husband Thomas Seymour who was the typical scheming piece of work that passed for a man at the time. I guess it’s hard for us to understand now the desperate need these men had to promote their family names and thrust their lines into the limelight, usually of course by marrying off their daughters and other young female relations. I hadn’t realised the connection the Castle had with Lady Jane Grey whose tragic beheading as a 16yr old pawn in a real life Game of Thrones captured my imagination as a young teenager. Her mother was the sister of Henry VIII and when she was 10yo Thomas Seymour literally bought her from her parents (for about a million dollars in today’s money) so he could marry her off to young Edward making her queen and therefore him the puppeteer behind the scenes…… One of the reasons I love history so much is stories like that; they horrify you on one hand but they make you realise that these people actually lived and breathed, cried and laughed….. And then amazingly they really and truly got their heads chopped off….. Literally! It’s just astounding! As I said I was always fascinated with Lady Jane Grey and the story of her life so it was a great surprise treat to walk the grounds and the building where she spent 5 years of her short life.
Liane and I enjoyed a stroll down to the pub for a drink before meeting Gwendols down there for dinner an hour or so later. I thought she was having a power nap but I think in reality she was having some quality face book time! Larn and I decided to go the “road less travelled” route so instead of walking straight down our road we took a back lane…… and what did we discover??? Well the “not so pretty” side of Broadway really….. I mean not that there is anything wrong with it or anything…. People do have to live in real houses and have clotheslines I guess though actually now I think of it that is probably the first outdoor clothesline I have EVER seen in England! But it was quite a surprise to see behind the curtain of the pretty Yellowstone houses to true suburbia! We have had a wonderful time here in the Cotswolds and on one hand I am sorry to leave here….. On the other hand though I am really excited to be going back to Greece again….. And oh I can’t wait for the food!!!!

(L)Not too big a day planned today, definitely want to get to Sudeley Castle just outside of Winchcombe, try for the Dragonfly maze again if it's open and then maybe Snowshill manor.... well that was the plan but as is our way we spent so many hours taking photos we didnt' quite end up doing all that. We decided we wanted to stay off the "main roads" ( which is kinda funny as what we consider main here is actually a back road at home!!) We went down so many tiny single lane roads and each and every one had the most gorgeous views and delights that once again it took us an hour to drive what should have taken us about 15 mins.Finally we arrived at Sudeley and WOW we were all stunned at how gorgeous it was, Warwick Castle had been pretty amazing but this was simply breathtaking. Unfortunately this was not included in our Passes but was only 11 pounds each so pretty reasonable. As usual it took us half and hour to get from the car park to the front door....yes photos... we have a ridiculous amount of photos!! Once at the entrance we decided to we'd rather look at the gardens and ended up spending hours there, wait til you see the photos... gor...geous!!!! It was the most magical, amazing, gorgeous place. We did make it inside but but didn't spend too much time.. whilst sitting having tea and lunch I rang Dragonfly maze but they didn't answer their phone so we crossed it off the list! Next stop was Stow on the Wold and as Deb said has had rave reviews on TripAdvisor but quite frankly we found it way too commercialised and touristy for us. Yes it's a pretty town with the lovely Cotswolds stone buildings but just no real atmosphere for us... the best part of this stop was meeting a couple with 2 black Labs, Gwendols and I were fussing over them cos we're both missing our babies. Gwendols is such a huge animal person, she wants to stop, pat, chat and snap every dog and cat she sees!! You know the saying.. the best laid plans of mice and men.... Snowshill Manor was supposed to be our next stop but by the time we took the scenic route there ( the story of our trip really, going the long way to drive down the skinniest, tiniest laneways we can find to see the "real" countryside ) we were all just "over it" and needed to be back in our cosy Mellowstone. Tomorrow we're off to Greece but first a full day sightseeing!