Castle Combe

Our next outdoor outing was to another place in the Cotswolds, Castle Combe. This pretty village has been used as a filming location in movies such as War Horse, and attracts visitors from all over the world - even during lockdown, as we discovered!

It is only a small village, but every corner of it is picturesque, old-fashioned and charming.

There is one particular part of Castle Combe that is photographed more than any other: the bridge over the Bybrook River.

However, it was quite difficult for us to get pictures in that spot, as there was a group of Brazilian tourists literally camped out there the entire time we were in the village. One woman was wearing a summer dress (bear in mind that it was November and the temperature was about 5 degrees Celsius) and was posing for a full-blown photo shoot on the bridge, first on her own and then with her boyfriend. My parents thought she must have been a professional model posing for a magazine, but I'm in no doubt that the whole thing was purely for social media.

Now, like most people, I like to have my photo taken in the places I travel to, as a souvenir of the trip. But there's definitely a limit - for me, it's important to spend more time actually enjoying being at the destination and being present in the moment, rather than doing nothing but taking pictures. Besides, there are always other visitors who want to take photos too, and it's selfish to hog an entire photo spot all to yourself.

But eventually we did manage to take some photos of ourselves there, during a gap in the Instagram photo shoot. It only took us a few minutes to get the shots we wanted!

I have to admit I was annoyed by the tourists, but I eventually saw the funny side of the situation. (They're probably still there on that bridge now!) It didn't stop us from having a great time in Castle Combe, and our trip there was one of our favourite outings during the second lockdown.

An interesting fact about Castle Combe is that there's a famous race circuit just outside the village. (I remember going there when I was little, but I don't remember the village itself.) As Claudio loves cars, it would have been great to go and see a race there, but unfortunately Covid put a stop to that plan. At least it means we've got a good excuse to go back in the future!

Bibury With Claudio

One of our favourite outdoor outings during Lockdown 2 was when we went to the beautiful village of Bibury in the Cotswolds. It's really an amazing place for walking around, enjoying the scenery, and forgetting about everything else that's going on in the world.

The village wasn't quite as pretty as it was back in June, when there were lots of flowers everywhere, but on the upside, at least this time we could actually enter the most famous street, Arlington Row, and take photos there.

Claudio was really impressed by Bibury, and found it even more beautiful than Lacock, the previous village we'd visited. He described it as an enchanting place, and I would definitely agree with him!

When the time came for us to leave, neither of us wanted to go. Luckily, a few days later we had the chance to go to another charming Cotswolds village: Castle Combe. It was a place that was almost as new to me as it was to Claudio, and I'll be writing about it shortly after Christmas.

Dyrham Park With Claudio

Dyrham Park, a country estate in the Cotswolds, not far from Bristol and Bath, was an ideal place for us to go for a walk during the second lockdown, as it's such a big open space. And of course, it's also very picturesque.

I went there with my parents at the beginning of August, but I definitely enjoyed it more this time. (Despite the fact that the cat we saw before was nowhere to be seen!) The period of July and the beginning of August was actually one of the toughest parts of the pandemic for me, as it seemed like many of my peers were able to move on with their lives after the first lockdown ended, whereas I had no idea when I would be able to move out of my family home, start my job in Chile, and most importantly, see Claudio again. But then in mid-August, he booked his tickets to come and visit me, and life has been much better ever since!

It was really nice to visit Dyrham again - this time with Claudio, and in a more positive frame of mind. We both enjoyed the trip a lot, as the manor house and its gardens are so impressive to look at.

When you arrive, you have to walk down a hill from the car park to get to the house, and there's a point when you go round a corner and the house suddenly comes into view below. It's really amazing to see.

We had a great time looking around the outside of the house and its gardens, and we also explored the area around the church.

Dyrham Park is a perfect example of a grand English country house, and is quite different from the big houses in Chile, so it was a great place to go with Claudio.

The next place we visited was Bibury, a village in the Cotswolds that is considered by some to be the prettiest village in the entire country...