Surely you must have been a little bit curious as to why the B&B Inn where we are staying is called the Mousetrap!
Well, as it turns out, the name is attributed to Agatha Christie, who is the author of the play, "The Mousetrap", which is the longest running play in London. Apparently Agatha Christie stayed at this inn at some point of time, and there is actually a room called the Agatha Room in the main part of the hotel.
Marty tells me that there was quite a bit of noise coming from that room when he left Amy's room last evening, so I'm not quite sure if Agatha would have approved of that. Who knows? Perhaps she, herself, was a wild adventurer. But in any event, it appears that the name stems from this famous author.
The staff here has been very friendly, and obviously, someone here has a sense of humor, as this sign hangs outside the front of the pub.
Happiness was pointing to the Mousetrap, the straight ahead arrow was pointing to the village.
Made me chuckle first thing this morning as we headed out for a walk around town prior to breakfast.
I'll let the photos express the charm of Bourton-on-the-Water:
And a perfect day, again, for getting some lovely photos!
After breakfast, we headed out to a village called Blockley, which had been written up in quite a few articles as being a beautiful village worth visiting.
We haven't had much success with such advice, and this attempt didn't offer much more, but we did stop to take a few photos.
From here we headed to Hidcote Gardens, which is part of the National Trust. There is a manor house on the grounds, but it is undergoing repairs, and only one room was open.
But the gardens and the view were certainly well worth the visit.
We spent some time walking the trails and enjoying the brilliant sunshine.
From here we headed to Snowshill Manor, another National Trust Site. As Marty was driving, Amy spotted this tower, and we decided to make a quick stop and check it out.
It was an easy walk to the tower where the view was just stunning.
Back in the car we continued our way to Snowshill Manor. Just for the record, I spent a LOT of time researching this trip, and nowhere do I recall the description of this manor giving me even the slightest hint of what we would end up seeing today.
The house had been purchased 100 years ago, by a man named Charles Wade, strictly for the purpose of using it to display the many items that he had collected over the years. He, himself, along with his wife, lived in the Priest's quarters, which stand only a few feet from the old manor house itself.
When we scanned our NT cards, the attendant was sure to mention that the contents of the house, by Wade, were quite eccentric and that we should keep in mind that the items were on display according to Wade's wishes when he bequeathed the National Trust the property. In retrospect, I realize that she was pretty much putting out a disclaimer that stated that anyone visiting the site shouldn't judge the National Trust in regards to the holdings.
Amy reminded me of a bazaar house that we once had visited in New Jersey, many years ago, where the owner was fascinated with tiles, and the house was filled with just any kind of porcelain tile imaginable. She jokingly asked me if I thought that this house would be more eccentric than this one. Well, there was no way that I'd be able to determine that until we saw what was inside.
And, you know what? This one took the prize.....hands down.
I can't tell you when I've seen a collection of such immense proportions. The man had purchased the estate 100 years ago for the sole purpose of using the house to hold various collections.
He lived in the priests' quarters, surrounded by quite a bit of "stuff" according to the National Trust set up. Honestly, I was haunted with the reminders of cleaning "stuff' out of a couple of relative's houses over the years while looking at this extreme quantity of items. We had been told that the National Trust had documented over 21,000 items that belonged to this man, but that only about half of them were on display in the house. Believe me....there was a LOT of stuff!
Musical instruments:
The redeeming quality of this house was the serene atmosphere and scenic beauty. That made it worth making the effort to view it.
We declined on visiting the basement because I had told Amy that I already knew I'd be having nightmares after seeing all of this "Stuff". Then Marty commented that we'd probably be missing the collection of Cool Whip containers, and that really set Amy whooping.
For those of you who might question that comment, Marty and I helped clean out the basement of my great aunt's house when she passed, and she had mountains of empty Cool Whip containers stashed in her basement. I have since learned that this was actually a common occurrence of her generation, so I really can't categorize that as eccentric. But the comparison certainly made us laugh.
Still guffawing at our experience, we headed to Lower Slaughter, where, once again, I had read on numerous sights that there was a lovely walk from Lower Slaughter to Upper Slaughter that was about a mile long. The suggestion was to park in Lower Slaughter, walk to Upper Slaughter, stop in the local pub for a pint, then make the return trip to Lower Slaughter. The views were supposed to be amazing.
I must be spoiled, because the views were certainly nothing to brag about, and there was no pub in Upper Slaughter. This really should not have come as too much of a surprise to me, but I felt bad for Amy having to make this hike with no reward.
But we did see some lovely cottages in the village of Lower Slaughter.
We decided to head back to the Mousetrap where I left Amy and Marty to enjoy a pint in the Mousetrap Pub. (I'm not a beer drinker.)
Unfortunately, the Mousetrap was booked for dinner, so we had to settle on something much inferior, and, actually, I can say that it was barely tolerable. But don't think that we are disheartened. We certainly did have quite a bit of fun and entertainment today, and let's face it.... a day out in the Cotswolds certainly beats a day at the office, no matter how bad the food might be!
Tomorrow we ditch the car and make our way to London. Now, that's sure to prove to be quite an adventure! Here's hoping it all goes smoothly! I'll be sure to keep you posted!
Well, as it turns out, the name is attributed to Agatha Christie, who is the author of the play, "The Mousetrap", which is the longest running play in London. Apparently Agatha Christie stayed at this inn at some point of time, and there is actually a room called the Agatha Room in the main part of the hotel.
Marty tells me that there was quite a bit of noise coming from that room when he left Amy's room last evening, so I'm not quite sure if Agatha would have approved of that. Who knows? Perhaps she, herself, was a wild adventurer. But in any event, it appears that the name stems from this famous author.
The staff here has been very friendly, and obviously, someone here has a sense of humor, as this sign hangs outside the front of the pub.
Made me chuckle first thing this morning as we headed out for a walk around town prior to breakfast.
I'll let the photos express the charm of Bourton-on-the-Water:
And a perfect day, again, for getting some lovely photos!
After breakfast, we headed out to a village called Blockley, which had been written up in quite a few articles as being a beautiful village worth visiting.
We haven't had much success with such advice, and this attempt didn't offer much more, but we did stop to take a few photos.
From here we headed to Hidcote Gardens, which is part of the National Trust. There is a manor house on the grounds, but it is undergoing repairs, and only one room was open.
But the gardens and the view were certainly well worth the visit.
We spent some time walking the trails and enjoying the brilliant sunshine.
From here we headed to Snowshill Manor, another National Trust Site. As Marty was driving, Amy spotted this tower, and we decided to make a quick stop and check it out.
It was an easy walk to the tower where the view was just stunning.
There were deer grazing nearby.
and I took a panorama from the foot of the tower.
Quite a spectacular site and well worth stopping to see.
Back in the car we continued our way to Snowshill Manor. Just for the record, I spent a LOT of time researching this trip, and nowhere do I recall the description of this manor giving me even the slightest hint of what we would end up seeing today.
The house had been purchased 100 years ago, by a man named Charles Wade, strictly for the purpose of using it to display the many items that he had collected over the years. He, himself, along with his wife, lived in the Priest's quarters, which stand only a few feet from the old manor house itself.
When we scanned our NT cards, the attendant was sure to mention that the contents of the house, by Wade, were quite eccentric and that we should keep in mind that the items were on display according to Wade's wishes when he bequeathed the National Trust the property. In retrospect, I realize that she was pretty much putting out a disclaimer that stated that anyone visiting the site shouldn't judge the National Trust in regards to the holdings.
Amy reminded me of a bazaar house that we once had visited in New Jersey, many years ago, where the owner was fascinated with tiles, and the house was filled with just any kind of porcelain tile imaginable. She jokingly asked me if I thought that this house would be more eccentric than this one. Well, there was no way that I'd be able to determine that until we saw what was inside.
And, you know what? This one took the prize.....hands down.
I can't tell you when I've seen a collection of such immense proportions. The man had purchased the estate 100 years ago for the sole purpose of using the house to hold various collections.
He lived in the priests' quarters, surrounded by quite a bit of "stuff" according to the National Trust set up. Honestly, I was haunted with the reminders of cleaning "stuff' out of a couple of relative's houses over the years while looking at this extreme quantity of items. We had been told that the National Trust had documented over 21,000 items that belonged to this man, but that only about half of them were on display in the house. Believe me....there was a LOT of stuff!
Musical instruments:
lots of dolls
very creepy masks
children items (Wade never had any children)
rows upon rows of bicycles
unique baby carriages
full size, very creepy dressed up warriors of some type
unusual instruments
and Noah's ark.
Let me just say that these photos don't put a tiny dent in the holdings of the house.
The redeeming quality of this house was the serene atmosphere and scenic beauty. That made it worth making the effort to view it.
And although Amy was teasing me about it mercilessly, she did admit that she hadn't laughed so hard on this trip as she did today.
We declined on visiting the basement because I had told Amy that I already knew I'd be having nightmares after seeing all of this "Stuff". Then Marty commented that we'd probably be missing the collection of Cool Whip containers, and that really set Amy whooping.
For those of you who might question that comment, Marty and I helped clean out the basement of my great aunt's house when she passed, and she had mountains of empty Cool Whip containers stashed in her basement. I have since learned that this was actually a common occurrence of her generation, so I really can't categorize that as eccentric. But the comparison certainly made us laugh.
Still guffawing at our experience, we headed to Lower Slaughter, where, once again, I had read on numerous sights that there was a lovely walk from Lower Slaughter to Upper Slaughter that was about a mile long. The suggestion was to park in Lower Slaughter, walk to Upper Slaughter, stop in the local pub for a pint, then make the return trip to Lower Slaughter. The views were supposed to be amazing.
I must be spoiled, because the views were certainly nothing to brag about, and there was no pub in Upper Slaughter. This really should not have come as too much of a surprise to me, but I felt bad for Amy having to make this hike with no reward.
But we did see some lovely cottages in the village of Lower Slaughter.
and, once again, we found ourselves in the path of a very active pheasant!
We decided to head back to the Mousetrap where I left Amy and Marty to enjoy a pint in the Mousetrap Pub. (I'm not a beer drinker.)
Unfortunately, the Mousetrap was booked for dinner, so we had to settle on something much inferior, and, actually, I can say that it was barely tolerable. But don't think that we are disheartened. We certainly did have quite a bit of fun and entertainment today, and let's face it.... a day out in the Cotswolds certainly beats a day at the office, no matter how bad the food might be!
Tomorrow we ditch the car and make our way to London. Now, that's sure to prove to be quite an adventure! Here's hoping it all goes smoothly! I'll be sure to keep you posted!
No comments:
Post a Comment