Hidcote Gardens

The following day, on our way home, we stopped at Hidcote Manor gardens to stretch our legs, have a bite to eat, and tour a beautiful English garden.

Bath

After being blessed with 3 days of gorgeous weather, I suppose it was inevitable that we would eventually have some rain....and boy did we get it when we went to Bath...how appropriate! We spent most of the day at the Roman Baths, and then wandered around through the city a bit to get soaked. How amazing that the people living in Bath had know idea that they were living above a Roman city until a little over a hundred years ago.  They are still finding more rooms and buildings underground that will someday be open for people to see.

The Roman Bath museum, not only showcase the bath house, but also artifacts from the neighboring temple and the outdoor altar. It was so amazing to see such old artifacts from a time when Jesus' disciples were spreading the good news.  The pagan temple was build around 60-70AD, and the surrounding bath complex was built over the next 300 years or so. 

The mouth of the spring

 Pieces of the decoration on the front of the temple.

In front of the main bath



 

After the baths, we explored the city a bit and got drenched!

In front of the Royal Crescent

 



Stonehenge and Avebury Prehistoric Stone Circles

On our way back from the music festival, we spent a couple nights in the Bath area.  On our way to Bath, we stopped by Stonehenge and Avebury, 2 very mystical stone circles, just 4 or 5 thousand years old.  It was a gorgeous, sunny day.

I found Stonehenge to be quite mesmerizing, out in the middle of a wide open field. So old, so mysterious, so much that we don't know...

A short drive away, we found Avebury, which is a much larger stone circle with a small village in the center.  The stones are very large, and spaced very evenly apart.  We enjoyed a lovely afternoon and ice cream within the circle, and walked among the sheep in the stone laden fields.

Derbyshire Well Dressings

Over the last week we've had a chance to see some well dressings in our surrounding area. A well dressing is a decoration for a well, usually consisting of wood and clay adorned with flowers, seeds, rice, and other natural materials, in a mosaic fashion.  Many well dressings are biblically themed, but many are also themed after artists, stories, etc.  The first set of well dressings I went to were in Tissington, which I was told were not to be missed.  One theory of how the tradition began in Tissington was after the Black Death of 1348-9.  Although the population in the rest of England were ravaged by the plague, in Tissington all escaped, and the immunity was ascribed to the purity of the water supply.  It became the custom to decorate the wells in thanksgiving.  Another story about the Tissington wells comes from the severe drought of 1615.  Despite the severity of the drought, when thousands of cattle perished and crops were lost, the five wells of Tissington flowed freely and the surrounding district had cause to be grateful for the unending supply of water from the village. 

I found Tissington to be a lovely little village, and the well dressings were moving with their beauty and messages.

 

Last weekend, we took the kids to the well dressings in Etwall.  Most of these dressings didn't seem to be actually decorating wells (as far as I could see), and they were primarily secular in nature. The girls got to try their hand at pressing the flowers into the clay, which was a lot of fun.  Here are a few that we saw in Etwall.

 



Avery's Turns 10!

 Avery turned 10 years old on Sunday and we had a really fun weekend to celebrate.  He first had his 2 closest friends over for a sleepover on Friday night.  Avery got a new Wii game that he had been wanting, so he was excited to play it with his friends. 

Then on Saturday, afternoon we took the kids for a drive....and surprised them with a visit to the WB Harry Potter Studios in Leavesden, England.  This is where much of the filming took place for the movies, and where most of the existing sets and props are now stored.  Since I'm a big fan of the Harry Potter books and movies, this was a bit of a present for me too :-).  Here'as a few pictures from our tour...it was amazing!

While waiting to get in, we saw one of the places where it all began...in the cupboard under the stairs.

 One side of the Great Hall all set up for a Christmas feast

 Inside the Ministry of Magic

What does butter beer taste like? Extra creamy cream soda...with lots of froth on top!

Outside No. 4 Privet Drive

 Diagon Alley

At the end of the tour we got to see the enormous Hogwarts model...breathtaking. 
Overall we were so impressed by the tour, I already want to go back!  Definitely, one of the highlights of England. We finished off the night in the gift shop of course, and left with a "few" magic wands among other things.  Avery got a cute "Seeker" baseball cap.

 

Avery finished up his birthday weekend with a relaxing day at home to recover from the previous 2 days.