Coughton Court & Charlecote Park

We had planned to visit Blenheim Palace today, but discovered that it is 20% cheaper to purchase the tickets in advance, so purchased the tickets for tomorrow and headed off to some nearby manors.

Our first stop was Coughton (pronounced coat-on) Court, home to the Throckmorton family for hundreds of years.

“The Uglies,” two ladies of the Throckmorton family:

The Throckmorton family is a proud unreformed Catholic family that got involved in all the intrigues of the 16th and 17th centuries. Given their penchant for choosing the wrong side, it is surprising that they not only held onto Coughton through the turmoil, but even got themselves elevated to a baronetcy.

• The Throckmortons opposed the reformation in England, and allowed their family home to be used for secret Catholic masses at a time when doing so was a capital crime. Their house contained a “priest hole” to hide a priest when anti-Catholic mobs came a-calling, and they even secured Catholic treasures such as a cope embroidered by Katherine of Aragon and the chemise allegedly worn by Mary Queen of Scots when she was executed (probably a fake, since all of Mary’s possessions were burned to avoid precisely this).
• The Throckmortons, along with their friends and relatives, are associated with the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 to assassinate King James I. This was not a good plot to be involved in, but the Throckmortons avoided being hung, drawn, and quartered like the core conspirators.
• During the English Revolution of the mid–17th century, the Throckmorton’s joined the royalist cause against the Protestant parliamentarians. As you know, this was also the wrong side.
• And even after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, The Throckmortons continued to support the Jacobite pretenders.

The Throckmorton seat, Coughton Court, is interesting for its history, but not the thrill of a lifetime, so if you miss it, it is not the end of the world. The estate has some pretty gardens and lawns, and Paul and I went out to toss around a football, for which we were rebuked, since picnicking and games are not permitted on the lawns.

After lunch at Coughton Court, we went on to Charlecote Park, another manor house. Unfortunately, the house itself was closed (closed on Wednesdays), and the Royal Shakespeare Company was using the closure to do some filming of its own. However, although the house was off-limits, the grounds were not. I played some croquet with my children on a nice croquet lawn, and we saw a herd of deer up close.

One of the highlights of the afternoon was enjoying a few games that had been laid out on one of the lawns. We played a Jenga-like game on the lawn (bigger pieces), threw a frisbee they provided, played Connect–4 in a big wooden frame, and my wife and son bowled and played checkers. It was a restful hour or so, enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery.

Like Coughton, Charlecote was an enjoyable visit, but not mandatory.

Hailes Abbey

In addition to allowing the king to marry Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s conversion to Protestantism enabled him to close the monasteries and steal their riches. On Christmas Eve 1539, his commissioners arrived at Hailes Abbey near Winchcombe, turned out the Cistercian monks, and seized all the gold and wealth of the abbey. After they left, other vultures showed up to loot anything the commissioners had missed, and so, for 500 years, Hailes Abbey, which had once housed a vial of Jesus’s blood (burned by Henry’s agents), fell into disrepair and was forgotten.

We visited the ruins of Hailes Abbey after our visit to the Roman villa in Chedworth. The road from Chedworth to Hailes is almost entirely one-lane narrow country roads, up and down the hills of the Cotswolds. It was a challenge to find, and we had to stop at a farm to ask for directions, since it was really hidden away. In fact, if we had approached it from any direction other than Chedworth, it would have been much easier to find, as it wasn’t too far off the beaten path.

Very little of Hailes Abbey remains, but there is an outstanding audio tour available that teaches you all about the abbey and leads you around the foundations. Like other National Trust sites, parking and admission is free to members. The audio tour costs £1, which gives you an audio guide for each member of the family (as opposed to one to share), which means your kids can go at their own pace. This proves helpful, as our 8 year-old raced through and then enjoyed running around the ruins while we old fogeys stepped through the entire tour.

At the museum shop, the docent had samples of some local wine for sale, which we sampled and then bought a bottle.

While not a must-see on your English itinerary, it was good enough that I would recommend it if you’re in the area. You can do the whole abbey in about an hour.

Chedworth Roman villa

In 1864, a gamekeeper stumbled across some mosaic tiles in the forest. It turned out to be the remains of one of the largest roman villas in Britain.

Mosaic floor inside the villa:

I studied ancient and medieval history in college. For me, one of the most interesting periods in history is the Dark Ages, from about 400 to 1000 AD. What is so fascinating to me is how far society regressed, and how little is known about the period. How did civilization forget?

One of the most interesting discontinuities in this period is what happened in Britain. Rome had occupied Britain for some 400 years, converting much of what is modern-day England to Christianity in the process. Unlike mainland Europe — France, Spain, and Italy — which retained many Roman characteristics after their conquest by Germans, Britain un-Romanized almost completely with the German invasions from the east. So complete was the de-Romanization, that most people — not scholars of English history — when they think of English history, skip straight from the Celts and druids of old to the Normans of the high Middle Ages. If they’re aware of the Roman occupation at all, it is considered a brief, insignificant event.

But 400 years and the Christianization of the Britain is neither brief nor insignificant.

Chi-rho monogram found etched at the nymphaeum, indicating that the residents of the villa were Christian:

We visited the Chedworth Roman villa today, and I really liked it. Although not much of it remains, it has been excavated, and enough of the site is visible to give a very good idea of the size and shape of the villa. It must have been beautiful, and while we don’t know who lived in it for the 300 years it was occupied, its occupants must have been rich, and probably powerful. The villa had elaborate mosaics, underfloor heating, and two exquisite bath systems.

We had been planning to visit Bath this trip, to see the Roman ruins there, but Chedworth has scratched the Roman “itch” in us that we no longer feel like we have to. If we had unlimited time, certainly we would visit Bath, but when traveling with children, we can’t just go and look at ruins; children are not interested in that. Chedworth is not so large that children will get bored of it, and they are able to run around the entire complex (though they are discouraged from climbing on the ruins). The National Trust has activity bags to keep the children occupied as they walk around the site (example: find a Roman snail, a species of snail introduced to England by the Romans; make a daisy chain from the flowers growing in the villa).

Chedworth Roman villa is not easy to get to, since it involves driving on one-lane English country roads, but the drive is beautiful and well worth it.

As a member of the National Trust, admission is free, so I give it a strong recommendation for families traveling with children.

Model showing how the villa would have looked intact prior to its abandonment in 410 AD:

Salisbury Cathedral

Absolutely spectacular.

Pictures will not do the cathedral in Salisbury justice. The building is almost 800 years old and is definitely the biggest church I have ever been to. Yesterday, we went to the 840 year-old St. Mary’s Church in Melton Mowbray and thought it was amazing. Today, we visited the famous Salisbury Cathedral and discovered what amazing really is. Unless I see a better cathedral while in England, I’m going to have you put Salisbury Cathedral on your must-see list.

As a bonus, it houses one of the 4 copies of the Magna Carta, the best preserved of the 4.

As a double bonus, Salisbury Cathedral isn’t just a tourist sight, it is a working church. Stay there until 5:30 and partake in their evensong service. Every evening. The singing was magnificent.
We went to Avebury Stones and Stonehenge today, and Salisbury Cathedral was my favorite part.

Stonehenge vs. Avebury Stones

In ancient times, hundreds of years before the dawn of history
Lived a strange race of people: the Druids

No one knows who they were or what they were doing
But their legacy remains
Hewn into the living rock
Of Stonehenge
— “Stonehenge” by Spïnal Tap

Two henges, or stone circles, lie in Wiltshire, England. Stonehenge is by far the most famous, well-known throughout the world. When our kids found out we were taking them to England, the first place they mentioned they wanted to go was Stonehenge. Avebury Stones, however, are a much larger arrangement than Stonehenge (14 times the size, according to one of the guides). We visited both today.

(I know someone is going to complain that a henge is not a stone circle, and that I’ve misdefined the term in this blog. They are, technically, correct, but the correct definition does not materially change the substance of this post. Avebury Stones and Stonehenge are both stone circles and henges.)

(I know, someone somewhere is going to point out that, technically, Stonehenge is not a henge at all. They are right, too, but for the purposes of family-friendly travel, it is an unnecessary distinction.)

At Stonehenge, you park a mile or two from the monument at the visitors’ center, and take a trolley to the stones. You do get a preview of them driving in on the A303, but they really are worth visiting in person, rather than just doing the driveby. Melinda can fill in the details about how to organize tickets, since she arranged all that. I just drove and enjoyed.

At Stonehenge, they provide little audio things that you can hang around your neck and give you commentary and explanations as you walk around the monument. These are helpful, because without them, you may not notice the numerous barrows in the surrounding countryside, and you’ll miss interesting discoveries like that of the Stonehenge Archer. At the visitor center, they also have a mock-up of a neolithic village, where you can go in the huts and see how comfortably people of Stonehenge lived.

And finally, for the military buffs among you, there were frequent flybys of military helicopters from the nearby army base: I saw a Chinook, a Blackhawk, and an Apache buzz us while we were there.

However, the main drawback of Stonehenge is that visitors cannot walk among the stones and touch them. Not so at Avebury. Avebury is far less crowded, and you can park at the carpark and walk right up to the stones, which are spread out around the village of Avebury.

Because of the size of the Avebury stone circle, it is not possible to get a view of the whole circle at once. This is where Stonehenge’s compactness is good for the tourist. However, because it is less famous, the Avebury Stones have fewer visitors and fewer rules. You are absolutely free to touch the stones and climb on some of them. (Perhaps you are permitted to climb on all of them, but most of them are not practical to climb on.) You can tromp all through the fields, going from stone to stone — just watch out for the sheep dung; there are sheep grazing in those very same fields. Surely it must be remarkable for the residents of Avebury who have actual big, massive standing stones in their back yards. Some of the best views of the Avebury stones can be found by climbing to the top of the henge and looking down on them.

So which is better?

• Avebury is bigger, but bigger isn’t always better when you’re trying to fit everything into a photograph.
• Stonehenge was more lovingly crafted. The builders of Stonehenge shaped their stones and actually put a lot more work into balancing the lintels (the top stones) on the uprights.
• You can walk right up to and touch and climb on the Avebury Stones. Bring a picnic and enjoy the country. Can’t do that at Stonehenge, surrounded by thousands of people, as it is.
• More traffic approaching Stonehenge. Apparently, everyone who visits England visits Stonehenge. Most visitors have not heard of the stone circle at Avebury.

My recommendation is to visit both. They are not too far apart, and we had the fortunate happenstance of seeing one of the famous Wiltshire White Horses carved into the hillside on the drive from Avebury to Stonehenge. They are different experiences, and we left Avebury thinking Stonehenge could hardly be better (seeing as you couldn’t walk right up to the Stonehenge stones), but we were wrong, because Stonehenge was just as good.

If you have to visit just one, definitely visit Stonehenge. Stonehenge’s compactness makes it a much more spectacular sight, and when your friends back home ask if you visited Stonehenge, you’re going to want to say yes.

English food

England is widely ridiculed for its food. After 4 days here, I can agree with its critics: England’s food isn’t much. It’s not bad, but it’s really not good, either. You can get any type of food here, and it’s not like they ruin a spaghetti bolognese or anything, it’s just not great.

Their specialty appears to be meat pies: pork, beef, fish. I’ve tried ’em; they’re not bad (they’re just not all that good).

That’s why, when you’re traveling in England, you’re not missing much by renting a cottage with a kitchen so you can cook for yourself. You will also save money that way, too.

Navigating English roads

England does not have the system of interstate highways that we are used to in the US, that make traveling long distances so easy. Unfortunately, every few miles, the highway is broken up with roundabout circles. At a small scale, these are easy to navigate. Unfortunately, on the English highways, some of the circles are large, sometimes with 4 or 5 lanes entering from each side, and you must choose the correct lane or else you won’t be able to exit the roundabout where you want. One of my first experiences with this was up in Oxford, where I was in a lane too far to the left, and therefore had to exit the circle before my desired exit. We have also taken a lane too far to the right, though that turned out better, since we just took an extra turn around the roundabout, turning a full 360 and tried again.

As you approach a circle, you must plan carefully where you want to exit and figure out which lane you want to be in. A few general rules of thumb:

• If you will be exiting the circle at the first exit, choose the left lane.
• If you will be exiting the circle at the last exit, choose the right lane.

Unfortunately, not every circle has a corresponding entry lane for each exit, so then it is just a matter of being very alert and trying to figure it out as you approach. If you have another adult along as a navigator, she can help, but don’t get too upset if she cannot give you the directions you require, since she will be as confused as you. If you take a wrong turn, laugh about it and enjoy the view.

I know in another post I suggested you might want to save a little money on your car rental by renting a manual transmission. However, I strongly recommend that you pay the extra money to get GPS in your rental. England is not like the US, where you get on a freeway and follow it to your chosen exit. It would have taken us twice as long to get around without a GPS, since we would have taken lots of wrong turns and gotten lost. The GPS not only saved us from taking a lot of wrong turns, it helped a lot in figuring out which exit to take out of a roundabout, and when we did take a wrong turn, it directed us back on track to our destination. We had prepared for driving in England by printing out directions in Google Maps, but these only help so long as you follow them exactly. Once you go off-track, you are lost.

One surprise to me was that distances and speeds are measured in miles and miles per hour, instead of kilometers and km/h. I had been led to believe that America was the last hold-out against the metric system, but apparently, the customary system is alive and well in England. The top speed limit I encountered in England was 70 mph, so driving speeds are comparable to those in the US. However, I am under the impression that speed limits are more strictly enforced in England than they are in most of the US, since most cars stayed at the speed limit.

Also, if you’re driving the nice English country roads — and I recommend that you do, since they are beautiful — remember that many of them predate the invention of the automobile, and have since been paved, but not widened. Some one-lane roads require you to pull over when you meet oncoming traffic so you can pass each other. In general, drivers are quite polite in this matter, and you should be, too. This situation can also occur on some two-lane roads where cars are parked alongside.