24. Of Breastplates and Vacuums

 Yesterday was Saturday and we drove from Stratford upon Avon to Oxford. Here’s a few pictures of the landscaping outside our hotel in Stratford. It was a beautiful old building but needs a lot of work on the inside with the rooms. Great potential to be a fabulous spot. 

Stratford Upon Avon Gardens

Along the way we stopped at Evesham. This was a really nice town. Being a Saturday morning, they of course had a market happening near the town centre and there were lots of tourists milling about because the sun was shining. We walked down to the River Avon and on our way back, we happened across the Almonry  (which is not spelled incorrectly). For those not in the know, which included me, an almonry is a building or place where alms were formerly distributed. It is housed in what is left of the old Abbey—the Abbey having previously burned down in a fire. This was an interesting old building full of lots of quirky cubby holes. They currently house their tourist information centre in the building but also have a giftshop as well as a museum. 

The restful garden at the old abbey. 

Did the “fake” monk make you look twice? 

The Bell Tower in Evesham

The Almonry

The museum was so interesting. They had remarkable old artefacts of tools and things, but also many of the old household appliances. The sewing machine certainly pre-dates the old one that I have from Grandma King. I was also quite enthralled by the old vacuums. Amongst the military regalia, there was even an old armour breastplate from ancient battles when cavalry were trying to protect themselves. There was a funny story that went along with it. Please take a minute to read about the breastplate. 

We were anxious about our time to return the car so we didn’t get to stop in the Cotswold towns that were on our path but they looked lovely for possible future visits including Moreton-on-the-Marsh, Chipping Norton, and Woodstock (where the Blenheim Palace is located—and it was very jammed with traffic leading into the palace). It was an uneventful drive except for the road construction on the main thoroughfare leading into Oxford on a big roundabout which we went round and round about for a few tries before we got it right. We lucked out as our car rental agent agreed to drive us to the Oxford Train Station. Our train had been cancelled due to trespassers (not sure what that meant). There is a rail workers labour disruption planned for Saturday through next week (which was why we made sure we were travelling Saturday rather than later in the week). We managed to catch an earlier train but of course it was jammed with people—David still managed to throw the luggage on and we got a seat—we were grateful. 

Next time remind me we are only travelling with one suitcase. 

We caught a black cab to the hotel and are delighted to be staying in a nice small hotel located in South Kensington. After a much-needed rest we headed outdoors in search of dinner. It was so busy outside our hotel. We were rather taken aback by all of the crowds. We assumed it was because it is a holiday weekend but today David found out that a couple of big soccer matches had just finished so we think that accounted for at least some of the pedestrian traffic.