It's true that we were just in London the previous August, but that was just for a day trip.
5:00 AM comes early for these littles no matter what time zone we're in.
Napping on IcelandAir
Our trusty Skoda Octavia. This one was tricky for me. First off, you drive on the left, secondly the driver sits on the right and thirdly, this one was a stick, so I was shifting with my left hand. I'm always up for a challenge.
We went straight to Windsor. Our plan was to visit the castle and the grounds, but it took longer than we had planned to get our luggage, get our rental car, grab a bite to eat and then get on our way. We made it to the top level of a parking garage before I decided to abandon plans, so aside from a drive by, this photo is the best that we got.
From Windsor we went straight to Stonehenge. Otherwise, we would not have made it in time to visit today. Stonehenge is about 75 minutes from Windsor and it is so cool when you come up over a small rise to see the ancient stone circle off to your right as you drive by on the motorway.
We picked up an audio tour at the new visitor's center. Then you take a shuttle for about a mile to the stone circle.
This is one of those dream places to visit. You've heard about it your whole life and then here you are. I just love having preconceptions about a place shattered when you actually visit. After that the memories and photos suffice to give a much clearer picture.
One thing I learned was how much more extensive the ancient ruins in this area (and really throughout Great Britain) are. All throughout this area there are mounds, roads, burial grounds and other stone formations.
And you would never guess, but we had to don our latex.
I love the sloth.
We had to at least get one decent family photo. I'm not saying that the animal heads don't provide a decent photo, but....
After Stonehenge we drove to our next airbnb, Kingsettle Stud in Cholderton (aren't those names so British?). Look at how beautiful this area was. The Kingsettle Stud was a small farm down a private lane with horses and peacocks wandering around.
The hosts were fantastic. She was a horse vet and they played polo together. We stayed in this lovely old farmhouse.
But, what I didn't realize when I booked the place was that they had two different lodgings for airbnb guests. One was a separate farmhouse apartment, but I booked some spare rooms within their own house. We used their entrance, we shared the kitchen, but we had two of our own bedrooms and our own bathroom. They had a couple dogs that were always sniffing around (I'm allergic), and with the farmhouse air it was a unique experience to say the least. The hosts couldn't have been kinder though.
We asked for recommendations for dinner and they suggested the local pub, Malet Arms. We went for it and we were living like locals. We were in a really rural area and the pub (like their farm) was just on a side road nearby. We had a tough time finding anything that the girls would actually eat. I went with the bangers and... I don't think that I really love British food...
Ms. Lyla is going through a whiny phase, but when Alison was able to score her some milk everything (for a moment) was ok in the world.
Tomorrow we visit Bath.
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