JerrysJourneys

We are approaching the culmination of our trip.  Planning commenced for our journey over a year ago.  We are all fans of the British TV series, Downton Abbey.  We felt it only fitting to end this trip with a visit to locations where the series was filmed. Today we walked in the footsteps of Downton Abbey.  The location  is a small Cotswold village named Bampton.  A good part of the series was filmed here.  It was like a step back in time.  We visited the church where Lady Edith was jilted at the altar, where Lady Edith was married, where Lady Mary married Matthew, where Lady Mary married the race car driver at the end of the show.  Also, the graveyard where Lady Sybil was buried and Matthew was buried.  We saw the Downton Hospital, the school,  the Grantham Arms Hotel, Mrs. Crawley's house, and the local pub.  After leaving Bampton we drove 3 miles to Cogges farm.  This location served as the home of Mr. Drewe, the tenant farmer of Lord Grantham.  We also saw the pig sty where Lady...

Can you say "quaint"?  You should come to the Cotswolds.  If you live here and your house is not at least 300 years old, then you are living in new construction.  We have traveled from one medieval village to another.  The Cotswolds are in the Cotswold Mountains.  Their sheep are called Cotswolds.  I don't know if the name comes from the sheep or the mountains. The Cotswolds had their heyday back in the 16th and 17th century.  The wool from their sheep was considered the finest wool available.  Unfortunately, the industrial age changed all of this.  Cotton was king, and the bottom dropped out of the wool market.  The Cotswolds went into a time warp.  The economy was depressed and never fully recovered.  The villages were trapped in time.  They never changed and many of these villages have not changed very much since the 18th century.  They do have electricity, cable TV, and indoor plumbing.  The restaurant we are eating in was built in the 1600's.  Our B&B is from...

A new day, a new adventure.  We left Bristol and drove to Bath.  We joined the Mayors' volunteer tour leaders and had a very enjoyable 2 hour walking tour of Bath.  Linda and Amanda  saw this tour was available through "Rick Steves".  This is a service offered through the Mayor's office...no reservations...no tour charge...no tipping...a 5 star rating...everywhere look for in a tour.  Our guide's name was Brenda.  Brenda was a "Bathonian", a native of Bath.  She swam in the Roman Baths as a young girl.  She was very knowledgeable and we came away from her tour with a lot more information than we started. Avon river in Bath The tour not only included the Roman Baths, but also she provided us a look into the 17th and 18th century lifestyles of the gentry that visited and lived in Bath.  There were people who came here from all over the world to seek treatment in the baths.  There were many apartments built to provide lodging for the patients, their family,...

We left Shannon with regret that this portion of the trip ended, but are looking forward with anticipation as we board Aer Lingus for our nonstop flight from Shannon to London.  Upon arrival we picked up our rental car and headed to Newbury.  Some of you may have heard of this village.  It was a backdrop for the British T.V. series Downton Abbey.  After lunch we headed to Bristol, checked in our hotel, off loaded our luggage, and headed for Stonehenge.  This is a prehistoric monument that is located in Wiltshire, England. The estimated time of construction was around 3,000 to 2,000 BC. Yesterday we spent our time at the most popular tourist attraction in Ireland (the Cliffs of Moher) and today we are at the most famous site in England.  Tomorrow we will go back in history and tour the Roman baths in Bath, England and head into the Cotswold Mountains for the rest of our trip.  Join us then. Stonehenge Harry & Amanda in Newbury Did I mention it was snowing in Newbury? 4 travelers rep...

No trip to Ireland would be complete without a visit to the Cliffs of Moher. The Cliffs are one of the most popular tourist destinations in Ireland.  Today is our last day in Ireland and we felt it was appropriate to end our trip with a visit here.  They take their name Don't get too close to the edge  from an ancient fort named Moher that was located on the Cliffs.  The old fort was demolished in 1808 to provide material that was used to build a lookout tower in the Napoleonic wars.  It still stands today. We left Kenmare this morning and drove up the west coast of Ireland.  We stopped in Adare for lunch at the Wild Geese.  Very Irish.  We checked into a B&B in Shannon and drove to the Cliffs.  Cold, windy, and beautiful.  This ends chapter one of the this blog...chapter two starts tomorrow. There are fences around the park viewing area now.  This was before fences. Windy & cold cold and windy we had lunch here in Adare thatched roof house in Adare Carrygerry B&B in Sh...