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Wow, where does the time go?? I feel like I just blogged and it's been three days already! So here's a recap of our time in Cheltenham so far.
For our first outing, we decided to visit a Roman Villa in Chedworth. This involved numerous back roads but they are a smidge better here than Cornwall. We found the place, in the middle of nowhere I might add, and it turned out to be ruins that were accidentally discovered while some farmers were planting crops. They are still in the process of restoring it and this has been ongoing since the mid 1800's!! The coolest thing were the mosaics that were found--very intricate pieces that indicate someone extremely wealthy lived there. There's all kinds of speculation as to what the purpose of the place was--elaborate spa? Someone's home with guest quarters and a special bath house? They really don't know.
In any case, we wandered around for several hours and then went home. We were going to eat Indian food, but got there one minute after they closed for lunch! Arghh. We ended up eating at home and going out for a British dinner--or so we thought. We'd looked it up online and it sounded awesome, with roasted beef and all the trimmings, served only on Sundays. Since this was a Sunday, we were in luck. NOT. :( When we got there, we found out they only serve the special Sunday dinner until 5:00, it was 6:00. Oh well, whatcha gonna do, other than laugh it off and order fried chicken or a burger?? :) Which was the alternative.
The next day, Rich wanted to go discover his ancestry, so we struck out to the town of Avebury. It's famous for its ring of stones, much larger than Stonehenge but not as well known for some reason. They date back about 3,000 years ago!! We took a tour, then wandered into the home owned by The National Trust. It was ok--done up by the Trust and the BBC to represent all the different owners. Originally built in the 1500's as a country manor, it was owned by a LOT of different people and has become a major attraction now with lots of hands on activities to do. The stones are amazing...pictures won't do them justice. We also visited the local church to see if we could find any trace of the Copes, but didn't have any luck.
This brings us to today...we left bright and early to a gorgeous day and headed for Warwick Castle. It was built in the late 900's and the history of the castle was just fascinating to hear. The last family to own the property (for over 150 years) ran in to financial troubles, was deeply in debt and sold their castle, land and debts to the Madam Tussaud organization. They went in and saved the castle and turned it into a fun place to spend a day. All kinds of things for kids to do...we watched a trebuchet launch, climbed to the top of the towers and took several tours of the place. Hard to imagine it's been around for so many centuries.
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