London 2014 - Churches

One year ago after our walk in the Cotswolds we parked ourselves in London for three nights to see the sights.  Our apartment rental overlooked The Tower.  It also overlooked All Souls Church.

  

Here's the spire at sunset.

Here's the church in The Tower.  Anne Boleyn lost her head on that green.  The clipped trees make them look almost like palm trees.

This photo was taken from The Eye of Westminster Abbey.  

Not sure if this was a church or not.

Westminster Abbey where we attended a moving Evensong at 5 pm and sat next to the altos in the boys choir. No photos allowed inside the Abbey.

Inspired Sunday

London - One Year Ago

One year ago this was our final full day in London, England.  It definitely was quite a culture shock after being in the quiet hills and vales of the Cotswolds for the week before.  I know I didn't take as many photos as I had when we were walking.  Here are some I did take that are not the usual composition.

St. Pauls Cathedral

 Museum of London

Notice the gaping mouth!

Below a small garden that must have been a graveyard at one time.  I hope Marie of After 60 and the Next 10 can identify this one for me.

 More statures around St. Paul's.

 Leaden Hall

The restaurant at the British Museum.

Early Morning on a Hot Day

Tuesday was forecast to be a scorcher with strong thunderstorms later in the day.  I knew I needed to mow the backyard so before 8 am I was out there.  First though I took a walk around with camera in hand.  So many new flowers are in bloom.  The Perennial Garden is filled with the fragrance of the white Easter lilies.  Never have I had so many blooms.

Can you smell them?

Here's another lily in bloom.

And the astilbe.

This gorgeous phlox came from an internet friend.  Don't you love the striping on the petals?

The trellis is filling up with a moon flower vine.  There are buds on there so I will watch for it to bloom.

This day lily outside Dan's study has massive blooms.

Another daylily making an appearance.

The Deer Protection Plan * is keeping the deer out with one exception this morning.  Dan called to me early this morning that a deer and fawn were outside the gate. Unfortunately the fishing line from the right of that gate to the stone wall was high and the fawn was going under it.  I told Dan to shoo them away but when he went out his study door the doe went to the right away from the backyard and the fawn ran to the left into the yard.

*More background on the D. P. Plan here.

You can't see the fishing line that's below the fence line. 

The fawn ran to almost the swing and then ducked through the fence and I guess missed the fishing line.  I did look to see if it broke the fishing line but the underbrush has grown up beyond the fence and obscures the line.

You can see that the hosta are fully grown and lovely with no deer damaged leaves.  I want to keep it that way especially as the hosta put up flower buds which the deer savor.

I will go out this morning and put up more line at the point the fawn entered, lower this time, and also to the left of this end of the Glen Garden which is another possible easy entry point.  I'll also be heavily spraying with liquid fence at those points.

The predicted storms came through with lots of heavy rain, thunder and lightning.  Luckily we missed the hail and strong winds.  The humidity is lower so I've turned off the AC for now and opened the house to the birdsongs and breezes.

Butterfly & Bee Ballet

Fritillaries and bumble bees. No monarchs or honey bees to be seen.

B and Bs from Our Cotswold Vacation

Last year at this time we were on our walking tour of the Cotswolds.  What a marvelous vacation adventure that was. Our accommodations were arranged for us and our luggage transported from town to town so there were no hassles with that.

Here are some photos of where we stayed.

Moreton-on-Marsh was our first and last nights.  The hotel was the Redesdale Arms an easy walk from the train station.

In Stow-on-the-Wold stayed at Cross Keys

Comfortable but ceilings low and room very small.

Garden was off limits.

In Bourton-on-the-Water the owner of the B and B we were booked into had overbooked.  She discovered her error in time to book us into her brother in law's, Manor Close which was closer to the center of town.  

Guiting Power we stayed at Guiting Guest House.

In Winchcombe, Jenny Cheshire was our hostess.  She did our laundry for free!

In Broadway we stayed at Hadley House in a very uncomfortable bed.

That open window was our room.

In Chipping Camden we stayed in the oldest building yet, the Old Bakehouse. It overlooked the main street.  

Our room was at the windows above Dan's head.

One comment about B and Bs in the Cotswolds: they are not like B and Bs in the States.  They are more like guest houses since there is very little public space in the house or the gardens.  Only in Guiting Power and in Winchcombe were we welcome in the garden.  Primarily your space is limited to your room and the breakfast room which is only open in the morning.

More on our Cotswold vacation in 2014 starts here. Select newer posts at the bottom of that page to see more of the trip.