Tony picked us up a the hotel on the 20th to head through the Cotswolds to Lygon Arms in Broadway. I suppose I could recite the names of the towns and villages we passed through and stopped to visit. I am not sure I remember the name of the place we stopped for a pub lunch. It was a glorius day and we settled into Lygon Arms like finding our way home, even though we were only there for a night 60 years ago. Upon taking a look at the rooms we had then we were grateful they were not available. The bathroom was out the door down some steps and back up somemore steps. Our “suite” had a small livingroom a sizeable bathroom and a nice sized bedroom. It is in the sort of old part of the main building – only 200 years old. The adjacent section of the building is about 600 years old. 

We dined in the main dining room where we were to have breakfast for four mornings. The food was very good and we retired to get some rest with no immediate wakeup call since we had nothing planned until 1:30. Yechiel and Miriam Katz arrived just as we were preparing to sit down for High Tea to mark our 60th year. We had a lovely time with champaign and drinks and plenty to eat from the three tiered trays. 

Backtracking: As we walked the town in the morning we heard interesting noises and noted a crowd gathered just down the street from the hotel. A group of Morris Dancers had claimed some space on the green and were dancing.

They really weren’t sideways, but I haven’t yet figured out how to rotate the image – sorry.

We strolled and relaxed and eventually had dinner and prepared for another busy day. We started out going to Stratford-upon-Avon to tour Shakespeare’s Birthplace and Ann Hathaway’s home. After lunch we returned to the hotel for some R&R to return to Stratford-Upon-Avon for dinner and a play at the Royal Globe Theater. The play was Merry Wives of Windsor and a wild bunch they are. The setting was sort of modernized and the dress was mostly modern but the script was pure Shakespeare – well there some modern influences. If you know the play you know it for a very funny story and they played it for all it was worth. We were hysterical much of the time. Yechiel and Miriam Katz were with us in the morning and joined us for theater. 

The following day we set out for The Lakes District with Nicky driving and guiding. We toured and drove and toured and ate and drove until eventually we arrived at Gilpin, a fantastic small hotel in the Lakes District with two superb kitchens. Our room overlooked the front drive and the gardens to the side. Our planned schedule included dinner at “Scene” an Aisan Fusion retaurant with delightful options and wonderful seasoning. The next day included a brief boatride on Lake Windermere to recapture the experience and a driving tour of the Lake District. Nicky is both a wonderful guide and competent driver. We circled the District returning to Gilpin for dinner in “Source” which is their Michelin 1 Star restaurant. We got to the table about 6:30 and were finished at 9, and that was the 6 course meal and only two glasses of wine. I will not bore you with the course by course description (even if I could). Suffice it to say portions were small, spacing was relaxed and flavors and presentation were phenominal. 

I’ll stop here. We are now in Edinburgh having driven all day along Hadrian’s Wall.