Worcester

This morning we decided we would take a look around Worcester before getting some china for Lou’s mum, Gill. Lou had previously taken some photos of the china that she likes and emailed them to her to which she had responded with five text messages full of excited sentences. We took a walk around the old streets of Worcester and did a little bit of shopping before stopping at a Café Rouge for a coffee and to feed the boys a bit. We took a quick walk up around Worcester Cathedral but had to leave early to get back to the china shop. It was a pity we couldn’t get up into the tower which would have been fun.




Back at the china shop we sorted out some lovely china for Gill and made our way back home for an afternoon sleep for Will and Ben. The sun came out and there was the barest whisper of a breeze which was perfect for a run around outside. Mark and I stayed at home with Will and Ben while Lou and Sally raced out to Upton to get a few sundries at the supermarket. The boys had lots of fun splashing in the pool and eating sand in the sandpit.



While I took a walk across the village to hook up to the Internet, Lou looked after Will. Eventually she decided they would come and take a walk to meet me. On the way, Will spotted the big digger and dragged me over to it. Finding the biggest puddle he could, he raced straight for it and was up to his ankles in mud before I could stop him! Nice wet shoes for packing up into our suitcases tonight!



We had fondue for tea. Not just one but two – cheese fondue with veges and chocolate fondue with fruit. How healthy! Well it could have been accompanied by bread and marshmallows, but we took the ‘healthier’ option. That and a bottle of wine set us up pleasantly for the night, where we watched Love Actually. Will couldn’t settle – he was getting a cold again – so he sat up with us until the MediSed kicked in and he got drowsy. He tried to say goodnight to Mark and Sally but he ended up saying “Goodnight light of firey fire” in the direction of the fondue flame with a slurred voice and half closed eyes.

I managed to get hold of Rachel and discovered that she had been affected by the floods but not as bad as some. She had lost her water but fortunately her house hadn’t been flooded and she still had power. We arranged for Mark and Sally to drop us off at her house in Gloucester as they were heading down to a wedding in Eastbourne and it was pretty much on the way. We packed our bags and tried not to think about leaving Naunton as we went to sleep.

Bath

Sally had to go to work today so we had decided to go to Bath. Mark and Ben weren’t too keen to come as they had been several times before so they dropped us off at the station. The odd thing about the tickets is that the details of the trip were vague and it wasn’t easy to figure out which train to catch. Fortunately the information stations are really helpful and we jumped on the right train.


After just over an hour, we arrived in Bath. We weather was overcast with patches of rain and that looked like it would continue for the whole day. We left the train station, bought a map and made our way up the road towards the very visible Bath Abbey. We walked around the outside and marvelled at the architecture before finding the entrance to the Roman Baths.


I had been before and remembered it well but it was great to take Lou around and show her the sights. The Roman Baths provided a backpack for Will which was invaluable as he would have probably pulled them down had he been let free. We spent a good hour walking around the tour and feeling really quite young considering the age of the things we were looking at and touching.




We emerged from the Baths to a shower as the rain intensified. We bought an umbrella from the local Scottish wool shop and made our way to the Jane Austen centre thinking about Annabel pretty much all the way up the hill. Outside the centre a lovely chap guided us indoors and was very friendly to Will. I took Will upstairs to the café and had a chocolate brownie while I fed him his lunch.

Lou went around the exhibition albeit hurriedly since the boys were upstairs and probably cranky! There was a feature exhibition of the dresses used in a recent mini-series of an Austen novel. There were samples of her writing, a fan display, newspaper excerpts from events in her lifetime, and during the presentation before viewing the displays, a short rundown of her life - especially her short stays in Bath.


The rain was still pouring as we walked up to the top of the hill to the Circus and the Royal Crescent. We took some photos and had a quick look before deciding to head back down the hill to a café for a nice cup of tea to warm us up.




We went inside the shopping mall and found a café on the top floor. After having tea and scones, we walked down to the river Avon flowing beside Pulteney Bridge. We walked down and along the riverside. The rain had eased off so it was nice to spend some time in the small window of sun and blue sky that we had. There was a grass maze which we spent a short amount of time running around before the carried on down the river.



We had a good walk down to the next bridge and looped back around to the Abbey. The skies were turning black again so we decided to go inside and take a look. The Abbey was fantastic inside and the sun’s rays shining through the stain glass windows looked fantastic. We had a good look around and let Will stretch his legs running between the choir pews. The hours of the day had disappeared quickly and fortunately the sun fought through the clouds to give us a nice send off. Lou initially felt very down about Bath but thankfully we were treated to a nice ending.



We met up with Mark at the station in Cheltenham right where we left him and we headed back to Naunton. Mark’s parents had offered to look after the children for a night so we headed out to the now open Upton to Puccini’s – a nice little Italian restaurant – where we had pizza, pasta and some nice Italian wine. Upton was still quite flooded in streets close to the river, but they had receded enough that life had returned to (almost) normal for most of the people in the village. We had a lovely evening and returned home to find the boys still sleeping soundly.

Malvern

Upton upon Severn was our destination for the day. We wanted to see how devastating the floods had been and the roads to Upton had been shut until today. The road had barriers set up at the start but Sally deftly swerved past them and we made our way further down the road. There was another set of barriers that we couldn’t get past so we pulled up at the side of the road and climbed out. Not far around the corner we discovered that the road was still quite badly flooded – the caravan park next to the road flooded so badly that the caravans were bobbing like apples.


We headed back home for lunch and to put the boys to bed. The previous day I had jokingly suggested we go to Tewkesbury for a swim (bad taste as Tewkesbury was so badly affected by the floods that it was still cut off) but the joke had missed the mark a little and so before I knew it, we were off for a swim albeit to Malvern Splash in Great Malvern instead. Sally and I took Will and Ben swimming while Lou and Mark went for a quick look around the shops.



After having dinner and putting the boys to bed, we spent a nice quiet night at home which was tainted a little by the disturbing documentary about the devastating floods.