Day Four June 29,1998 Cadbury, Stratford, Cotswolds to Bristol Monday We woke up late and repacked the van, we would spend the next 2 nights at the Marriott in Bristol. Today was our day to tour the Cotswolds and the Spencer castle in Northampton. We turned on the morning TV (UK’s “Today Show”) and learned that it was the first anniversary of Princess Di’s tragic car wreck and funeral. The Spencer castle was to be opened to visitors for the first and only time (10-pound ticket required, available only thru scalpers). The town was total mayhem, shut down to all car traffic with a fleet of shuttle busses running instead. The ‘on the spot’ reporter, interviewing pedestrians, was enthusiastically describing the traffic snarls all over town and all the way out into the pristine and scenic countryside. We packed the car, got ‘morning coffee’, and replanned our day on the spot. Jesse was not going to let go of ‘Cadbury World”. We were already there yesterday I explained (but it wasn’t open!), we can go to Hersheys (I don't wanna go to Hersheys) its just a chocolate factory (oh, good strategy on that one Dave). Lyn got on the phone, and we reserved visitor’s passes. We drove back the motorway to Birmingham and took the factory tour. It was actually quite fun and I’m glad that Jesse stood his ground with us. We got free candy bars for our 20 pound entrance fee and loaded up on souvenirs (the plush cocoa beans were too much to resist). The place was crawling with schoolkids who, I should mention, were still in school even though it was the end of June. After Cadbury, we got some lunch as the tour and goofing around in the souvenir shop took the entire morning. It was nearly 2pm when we hit the motorway for Warwick Castle. Warwick came highly recommended by many people that told us they visited and really enjoyed it (and all the tour guides gushed about it). It is an actual restored castle (not just ruins), from more recent times (the 1500’s). It is restored and polished and filled with antiques and, as I understand, Madam Tussaud's waxworks put figures in period dress in various rooms. We parked the car and walked around the grounds. But the entrance fee was quite high, the tour would take at least two hours, and we started to realize that our favorite part of English history is the Norman, not the Elizabethan or Victorian times. We really enjoyed the castle ‘ruins’ from 1100’s much more than anything from the 1600’s; frilly clothes, fancy mirrors and all. We enjoyed the Warwick castle grounds, took pictures of the exteriors, and bought some nice history books, postcards, and a poster. All in all, a very nice time for us. As 4pm approached, we took off for the Cotswolds. This is an area in central England, famous for wool production and trading in the 1500’s and 1600’s. It was a sight of fabulous wealth when British woolens warmed the world. The little towns are magnificent, if 300 years past their prime. I found a strange eeriness with so many buildings seemingly occupied by so few people. The tourist and collectible trade is small and seasonal and week-end oriented. The last 400 years has obviously seen a exodus of workers to greener pastures. We had seen a Rick Steve's PBS episode about the area, and we were excited to see the little towns full of picturesque homes and churches, Chipping Chester in particular. We drove thru Stratford-upon-Avon (again) then toured the Cotswolds from the van. Lovely hills, pockets of English cottage homes, entire cities built centuries ago with the golden yellow limestone from the local quarry, and all of it surrounded by the greenest trees and fields. You could stop at every corner and take a picture. Chipping Chester has been revived as a tourist and shopping destination, like those little antique towns in New England. It was completely delightful to stand at the very same direction sign (Stow-on-the-Wold, turn right), that we had seen in Rick Steves video just three weeks before we left. We did some window shopping (most stores were already closed), but not enough to interest us. It was here that Lyn found a ‘Bobby’ policeman and cajoled him into posing with Jesse for our favorite photo of the entire trip. We still repeat her idiom laden conversation, verbatim, with the Bobby: “Excuse me”, she said, “could I be a bother”. The bobby turning (with dry Brit wit) replied “Yes, ma’am, I imagine you could”. He was a good sport and we love the picture. He was the kind of good-will ambassador (if somewhat reserved) that we found throughout our enjoyable trip. We found a pub and had dinner (before the kitchen closed, we were starting to learn). It was in one of the zillions of stone buildings that peppered the area and made it resemble a storybook. When we finished, we drove the van south out into the countryside and headed toward Bristol. We enjoyed the scenic views, stopped to see random ancient structures (seemingly just plopped in farmer's fields) and, of course, took plenty of pictures. As darkness approached (10pm) we realized that we would have to surrender Glouster (for our next trip to England') and headed directly instead for Bristol. We arrived around midnight, getting lost only twice this time, dragged in all the suitcases again (a 2-day stay!) and went to sleep easily. This was the night that I got a frantic V-Mail from work when I picked up my messages from work. I was told that ‘very important news’ awaited me and that I ‘must call’ and 'speak directly' to learn about it. This couldn't be resolved with a simple voice-mail or two. We ended up playing phone tag for 2 days (with 12 hour offset) and, of course, in the end it could have all waited until I got home from the trip.
	Copyright, 1999, all rights reserved
	Originally Written November 1999 Original Upload January 2000 Last Update: July 22, 2001