Bits and Bobs

 SONG -  Heart of the Country by Paul McCartney

Day 11 - May 10

I have been enjoying a proper English breakfast each morning but without the blood sausage, beans and black pudding. Well, and no tea. So that l end up with bacon (nothing like US bacon), eggs, & grilled mushroom & tomato. Yum. 

Today we drove to Cirencester (a much larger town than Lower Slaughter) to get Mr. B’s brand new shoes fixed at the Cobblers as the sole broke away from the uppers. We also bought him a new pair of tennis shoes as the only other shoes he had brought were flip-flops. 

He’s a proper Bobby-dazzler now

While waiting for the cobbler to finish his shoes, we popped into The Corn Hall for a “boot sale”. I found a few silver pieces to purchase but mostly it was fun to rummage through all of the vintage/antique bits & bobs.

On the way back to Lower Slaughter we stopped by Bibury to see Arlington Row. It was crowed with tour busses but we lucked out and found parking in the center of the village. 

“Arlington Row at Arlington in the parish of Bibury, Gloucestershire, England was built in the late 14th century as a wool store and converted into weavers' houses in the late 17th century. It is a Grade I listed building, owned by the National Trust. “ Wikipedia

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the Manor House across the street from the Slaughter Inn.  

It was a beautiful warm evening and we sat outside for drinks & light appetizers. 

Care for a game of croquet anyone?

Sophie from St. Ninians near Stirling was our waitress and it was fascinating as she told us that she knew a lot of “Baird’s” growing up. We happen to be going to St. Ninians to do some research on Mr. B’s family tree!

Mr. B ordered a great bottle of Priorat from Spain and then our pre-appetizers arrived. 

It was a delicious Basil & Parmesan tart and a Fried Mushroom Quenelle

Followed by our starters - mine was White French asparagus with a Blood Orange butter & Sauce Maltese and Mr. B’s was Bang Bang Cornish Crab with crab bread & butter. 

For our main courses I had ordered Lake District Lamb with Morels, wild garlic, with a mint & caper condiment while Mr. B went with the Creedy Carver Duck with garden celeriac & parsley and a side of leg ragout.

And if that wasn’t enough they brought out pre-dessert which was a chocolate nugget with raspberry ice cream and for our ordered desserts we both had the Baked Apple with puff pastry & Carmel ice cream. 

We walked back to our Inn with a lighter pocketbook but happy hearts. 

Did I mention that our hotel is three-quarters surrounded by water, the river Eye? And that while we were getting ready for dinner about 20 Morgan cars pulled into our parking lot for the evening? The group was from Spain. 

Night……