More Local Travel Adventures

I'm writing this post to sum up some of the other local places that Claudio and I visited during the three months that he was staying with us. It wasn't always possible to travel far due to the Covid situation, but we had a really nice time exploring different parts of Wiltshire and Gloucestershire. Here are some highlights!

The Thai Emerald, Cirencester

This Thai restaurant is a great place to visit, not just for its delicious food but also for its amazing decor - everything down to the teapots is so beautiful and ornate. Going there feels like visiting Thailand whilst still being in England!

Cirencester Park and Cirencester Castle

We had another experience of Asia in Cirencester when we went to Cirencester Park to see a special outdoor exhibition. Four life-size sculptures of Asian elephants had been placed in the park back in October as part of the CoExistence campaign, which raises awareness of human impact on wildlife.

In addition to seeing the sculptures, we also enjoyed walking around the park and seeing the castle again.

Jennie's Kitchen, Ashton Keynes

One local place where I especially wanted to take Claudio was Jennie's Kitchen café in the Cotswold Water Park. It's definitely the most "Chilean" place near where we live, because of its field of alpacas right by the car park! Although my favourite of the alpacas is now living in a different field, it was still really nice to see some of the others come right up close to the gate. One of them really took a liking to Claudio!

Neigh Bridge Lake

We had a lovely walk one day round this beautiful lake in the Cotswold Water Park. It was really interesting to see how different the place looked since I'd last gone there in August. Last time the River Thames, which runs next to the lake, was completely dry, but this time it was full and flowing rapidly.

Lydiard Park

Another place where we went for a walk was Lydiard Park, near Swindon. We'd just recently visited Dyrham Park so it seemed a little unspectacular in comparison, but it's still a very attractive place to explore, with its manor house, lake and woodland. We saw plenty of ducks, swans and dogs there, as well as a very low-flying military plane!

Cirencester Amphitheatre and Querns Wood

After having previously visited the Roman Baths in Bath and the Roman Wall in Cirencester, we discovered some more of Britain's Roman history at the Cirencester Amphitheatre, which was once a huge gladiatorial arena. It was a very rainy but fun day out! While we were there, we also visited the nearby Querns Wood, a very pretty and peaceful woodland area.

Cotswold Airport

One foggy day, we went on an outing to Cotswold Airport, a private airport which is known as an "aeroplane graveyard", as many old commercial planes are moved there once they're no longer being used by airlines. Unfortunately, at the moment the main entrance isn't open, so we could only drive past the airfield. However, last summer several Boeing 747 jets had arrived there, and we were able to see them right next to the road, which was amazing.

In normal circumstances, you can actually walk around the airfield and also visit a café on site, so it's a great place for a trip out.

Upper Waterhay Meadow

A somewhat disappointing place we visited was the Upper Waterhay Meadow nature reserve in the Cotswold Water Park. It's right next to Cleveland Lakes Nature Reserve so I was expecting it to be a similarly scenic place. However, it was just a series of wet, muddy fields with only one very small lake. Definitely not somewhere I'm in a hurry to go back to! But on a more positive note, there's a bridge with nice views over the River Thames right next to the car park.

Another walk in Malmesbury

My parents needed to go into Malmesbury one day, and Claudio and I came along to go for another walk around the town. We had already seen the main sights the first time we were there, so this time we explored some of the quieter little streets.

Ashton Keynes

Just before Christmas, my parents needed to go to the Ashton Keynes post office, so Claudio and I took the opportunity to have a walk around. It's a very pretty, old-fashioned village on the river, which has a statue called Old Father Thames. As you can see, he was dressed up for Christmas and had a reindeer friend with him!

Windsor Castle

Okay, so this isn't really a local travel adventure, but a place we saw from the road when we were driving to Heathrow Airport. It's such a big castle and looks so impressive, even from a distance, and it was very nice to unexpectedly see one more sight together before Claudio had to go home. It's now on the list of places to go to when he's next in England!

Overall, Claudio and I had an amazing three months together, and were lucky to have the chance to explore three different countries during that time: England, Wales and Sweden. By the next time we're in Europe together, hopefully travelling will be a lot easier, and we'll finally be able to go to France, Italy and maybe some more countries!

But the most important thing was that we got to be together again after seven months without seeing each other because of the pandemic. It's difficult to be apart now, but it shouldn't be for so long this time, as I'll be starting my job in Santiago in the coming months, if everything goes to plan. So that's something that's keeping me positive through this winter and this third lockdown. I'm really looking forward to being back in Chile and seeing Claudio again!

Bradford-on-Avon

Our final travel adventure of 2020 was to the town of Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire.

My parents wanted to take me and Claudio on one last outing before he went back to Chile at the start of January, so I made a list of nearby places we could visit. However, the day after I'd made the list, the government announced a change in the tier system of Covid restrictions. The places on my list were in Gloucestershire, which was moved into Tier 3, and Oxfordshire, which was moved into Tier 4, meaning it was no longer possible for us to visit them.

But as Wiltshire (where we live) was one of the few remaining places in Tier 2, we could still go on a trip out, provided that we stayed within the county. My first choice was the Stourhead National Trust property, a stately home that has a big garden with a lake and several Roman and Greek style temples. But my parents took a long time to make up their mind about when we should go, and by the time they decided, all the visitor slots had already been taken. (We'll have to go there next time Claudio's here!)

So in the end, we went with my second choice, Bradford-on-Avon. It's a town that's located in the far south of the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, close to the famous city of Bath, and it's best known for its old bridge that crosses the River Avon.

Something else Bradford-on-Avon is famous for is The Bridge Tea Rooms, which has been voted the best tea room in the entire country! It's located in a very charming old building, and the waitresses even wear Victorian outfits.

And fortunately, we got the chance to visit it and had an amazing time there. It has various vegan and allergy-friendly food and drink choices, so there's something for everyone - I had a vegan carrot cake and a rose-flavoured tea, which were delicious. The decor of the tea room is also so pretty and old-fashioned, and really transports you into the past. 

Afterwards, it was time to explore the town. The most obvious place to start was the bridge, which dates back to the 13th century. It's a very attractive architectural feature and also a great place to look across the rest of the town.

One of the buildings that can be seen from the bridge is St. Thomas More Roman Catholic church. It was actually originally the town hall and was designed by the architect Thomas Fuller, who went on to design many buildings in Canada, including part of the parliament in Ottawa.

I particularly liked this part of the building, whose style reminded me a little bit of churches I've seen in southern Europe and South America.

Bradford-on-Avon is a town with several churches, and one of the most famous is St. Laurence's Church. It's quite an important building, as it was built in the Saxon period but remains complete, which is very rare.

Just across the street, you can find the Holy Trinity church, which is of Norman origin.

Overall, we really enjoyed walking through Bradford-on-Avon and looking at the river and all of the pretty old buildings.

All of us had a great time there, and we especially loved The Bridge Tea Rooms. I'm sure we'll go back at some point in the future!

This trip out was the last one of Claudio's time in Europe, the last one of 2020, and also the last one I'll have for a while, as we're now back in a strict lockdown again in England. So I'm glad that it was such a nice day for us.

We had some more local travel adventures throughout the time when Claudio was here, which don't quite warrant a entire post each, and I'll be writing about them all next in one big post!