From Drippin’ to Chippin’

It’s time for another trip to England!

This time, it’s for the wedding of Mark and Jess Edwards. Originally, Kathy and I were both coming on this trip, but personal events earlier in the year used all of her available vacation time. However, given the importance of the event, she insisted that I go and represent us there! Fortunately for me, I had substantial amounts of vacation time that I had to use in 2022, so I extended my stay for a little over 2 weeks!

Planning for this trip was always going to be a little different, though.  Mostly because of Kathy’s absence (which was felt throughout the time there), but also because we (John, Marianne, and I) were going to be looking after Mark/Jess’s son, Henry, while they were on their honeymoon after the wedding. NO PROBLEM in the end, as we saw so many fun and wonderful things, and I took (quite literally) over 2500 photos. Fortunately for you, I narrowed them down substantially, and you can see the entire trip’s photos in the full set of England 2022 photo albums.

Once everything was sorted with Kathy, pet-sitting, work planning and delegation, packing, and getting to the airport, it was time to board my British Airways 777. Always a treat to fly BA, it ended up being an even MORE special treat when the lead Flight Attendant came to my seat and asked me to gather my belongings.

Wondering “what did I do to get thrown off the plane?” (ha), I was thrilled to be escorted to a personal cabin in Business Class! Mark, a BA pilot, had personally texted the pilot on my flight to ask if they could accommodate me in posh section.

A glass of champagne, a giddy inspection of the self-contained luxury pod, and with a big smile … I’m off to England again!

Landing at London-Heathrow airport and a pleasantly-fast pass through customs, I meet my old friend Mick, whom John has arranged to drive me up to the Cotswolds and Charingworth Manor for a few days prior to the wedding – to give me a chance to acclimate (time-zone wise) and to give them time to sort all of the wedding planning.

No argument from me – I love Charingworth Manor, and this will be my third time to stay there!

After a nice ride and chance to catch up with Mick again, we pull into the familiar long entrance drive that leads up to the 14th Century manor house that has been repurposed into a luxury hotel. Stepping out of the car, the cool, fresh Cotswolds air is a welcoming experience.

Since I arrived a little earlier than my room was ready for me, I was offered a lovely pot of tea in the garden. Sitting in the breeze with a nice cuppa… what a perfect way to get started!

With perfect timing, my room is ready.  It’s one of their nicer rooms, too – with a massive post bed and a really interesting stairway down to the en suite bathroom facilities.  The windows can be seen on the left side of the manor photo above – the larger one is my bedroom and the lower, three-panel window is the bathroom.  The first thing I do, of course, is OPEN THEM and let that wonderfully cool breeze sweep through the room.  Ahhhh.

With some personal time available, I take a little walk and re-acquaint myself with the grounds.

… and what grounds they are.

The views of the Cotswolds never fail to make me happy. This time is absolutely no different, and the flowers in the Charingworth garden and the overlook seating area are really breathtaking.

I brought my “photosphere” with me on this trip and took a really interesting photo of the flowers and distant Cotswolds hills. You’ll see a couple more of these shots later on. Buckle up, buttercup. It’s going to be a lot of stuff to go through!

Walking across the field, there are some very colorful vegetable fields nearby. While they were what brought me over to see them – it was this seriously creepy scarecrow guy that made me laugh! He was still festively decorated for the Queen’s recent Platinum Jubilee celebration, too.

A quick walk down to visit my sheep pals at the fields below Charingworth makes it kinda obvious that the time-zone change has started to catch up with me. Nap time before dinner!

And … as always, what a great dinner it was. From the potato and leek soup to the lamb croquette main, I was really missing my blonde dinner companion. Kathy would’ve loved the lemongrass brulee for desert … and would’ve wanted half of mine, too!

Time to retire for the evening – I have a fun day of walking and exploring tomorrow.