“This is one corner of one country in one continent on one planet that’s a corner of a galaxy that’s a corner of a universe that is forever growing and shrinking and creating and destroying and never remaining the same for a single millisecond. And there is so much, so much to see.” -Matt Smith as the Doctor
I’ve come back to my favorite country, and this time I’m returning with my sister, Marie, and also my friends Amy, Aaron, and Shawn. This is my fourth visit to the UK and my third visit to England, and I just adore this country so, so much. I never seem to tire of visiting it. It may be one tiny, tiny corner of a huge, huge universe, but for me it’s a special corner indeed. The castles! The stone circles! The tea! The food! The history! The people! The Underground! The tiny streets! The thatched roofs! The sheep! The fog! The Thames! And so much more!
Off we go!
Our travels in England began, naturally, at Heathrow. Marie and Shawn had arrived on a separate flight and at a different terminal from ours, so we had to coordinate meeting each other on our phones through spotty internet connections. Fortunately, Amy, Aaron, and I got on the very van (driven by a lovely man who humored us to buckle up on account of his “poor” driving skills) that would also pick up Marie and Shawn at their terminal before heading off to our car rental. How magical it was, to see Marie and Shawn waiting at their stop as Amy, Aaron, and I arrived! The five of us reunited for two weeks of adventures in England, all of us actually feeling fine in spite of little sleep in 24 hours.
After we secured our car (I get such a kick out of driving on the left side of the road, even while still jet-lagged) we started making our way to our first Air B&B in a tiny village called Bourton-on-the-Water located in the west of England in a picturesque region called the Cotswalds. We were all so hungry, though, from our long day of traveling, so Marie found a fantastic pub in Cumnor outside Oxford called the Bear and Ragged Staff. Their website describes the place as a “glorious Tudor beauty. Ancient fireplaces, flagstone floors and mullioned windows with carved lintels, make the bar one of the finest anywhere.” And, indeed, it’s true. Marie discovered this wonderful little spot while en route to the Cotswalds while simultaneously managing to set the bar so, so high for the rest of our dining experiences. Aaron, Shawn, and I took advantage of the pub’s Sunday roast specials (it was Sunday, after all), indulging in a dish called Aubrey’s 28 day dry-aged rump of beef, served with roasted vegetables & roots and jugs of gravy, while Marie and Amy enjoyed an equally delectable dish of poached & smoked salmon fishcake. Why England has a reputation for bland food is beyond me, because the roast I enjoyed was so flavorful and colorful, no country whose people have a bland palette could possibly have invented such gluttony. (Although, their horseradish was not as strong as they claimed.)
After our Sunday afternoon dinner, we backtracked ever so slightly to drive through Oxford to see Oxford University, and then continued onwards toward Bourton-on-the-Water via the Rollright Stones. No trip to England would be complete without a visit to a stone circle (there are over 300 in England alone and over 1300 when accounting for all of Britain and Ireland). Visiting a stone circle, admittedly, can be hit or miss. Sometimes they inspire and sometimes they disappoint. The Rollright Stones, however, were fascinating and did not disappoint. These stones are actually three separate sites: the King’s Men (dating to around 2500 BC), the Whispering Knights (dating to around 3800 BC), and the King Stone (dating to around 1500 BC). The King’s Men are over 70 stones (if you can go around the circle, count them, and get the same number three times, any wish may be granted, so they say) set in a circle 31 meters across. In addition to a desire I have to see as many stone circles as possible, I’ve long wanted to visit these particular stones, as they featured in a Doctor Who serial from 1978 called The Stones of Blood. And please bare with me, as this won’t be our first visit to a location used for my favorite television program.
Do make the short walk away from the King’s Men to see the Whispering Knights as well. They are a smaller site of five larger stones and were used as a burial chamber over several centuries, even as late as the Bronze Age. Across the busy road from the King’s Men stands the single King Stone, probably erected as a memorial stone to the burial ground. Also on site currently is a sculpture called The Three Fairies, created by artists David and Adam Gosling, an eerie yet calming artwork depicting, naturally enough, three fairies dancing in a circle, elegantly angled as if gently moving with a slow, crisp, autumnal wind.
And that’s our first day in the books, the beginning of many more to come. I am so looking forward to the rest of our stay here, making our way through the southern English countryside this week before returning to London on Friday to spend the rest of our time (apart from a single day trip to Paris) in what I really do believe is the greatest city in the world.