Cotswolds

The Cotswolds area of the English countryside is quite possibly the cutest place on earth.  The thatched roofs, stone cottages, and winding rivers simply epitomize the definition of "quaint."  And, being only about an hour and a half drive outside of London, it is a great area for a short weekend escape from the city.  So, this past weekend, Dan and I rented a car, loaded up Henry, and headed out.  Our first stop was Oxford.  Oxford University is made up of 38 independent colleges (similar to Cambridge's set up.)  It is a beautiful college town with lots of cute streets to explore.  We ran into a free walking tour and thought we might follow them around for a bit but when it turned out to be more standing than walking Henry started to get a little antsy so we headed off on our own.  A few highlights:

The Radcliffe Camera (camera is Italian for "room" and it is used as a reading room):

croquet game at Christ Church college:

We wandered around for about 2 hours, grabbed some Cornish pasties for lunch, and then continued our journey into the heart of the North Cotswolds.  Our first stop was Upper Slaughter, where we began our Frommer's recommended hike from Upper Slaughter to Bourton-on-the-Water.  Known as "The Great Cotswold Ramble," the path follows Warden's Way about 2.5 miles.  It was a great walk through sheep pastures (closing the sheep gates behind you along the way) and some of the cutest villages ever.  The Slaughters were our personal favorite but Bourton-on-the-Water has a lot more going on if you're looking for shops and restaurants.

Upper Slaughter:

Henry checking out the sheep:

Lower Slaughter; Old Mill:

Lower Slaughter:

Bourton-on-the-Water:

It took us about an hour to get to Bourton-on-the-Water (after a slight detour where we seemed to lose the path and ended up wandering through a town called Melville, which was lovely but not on the recommended route;)  We stopped for a delicious cream tea along the river and then started our journey back.

On the way back, Henry had a little disagreement with a horse:

sizing him up....

attack!

Lower Slaughter:

one of several sheep gates:

After finishing our walk, we made our way to our hotel for the night, the Old Swan & Minster Mill in Minster Lovell.  Again, it was too adorable for words.  We had a great little room in the converted old grist mill, complete with dog bed and bowls for Henry, and the grounds and gardens were beautiful. We had a delicious dinner at the Inn's restaurant and even got free champagne because we had to wait a while for our meal (which really we didn't and neither of us had even noticed but hey, we'll take some free champagne.)

Minster Mill reception area:

Old Swan main building/restaurant:

The next morning after Dan had a belated birthday massage at the hotel's spa, we explored Minster Lovell.  The town is literally made up of one street of thatched roof cottages and a church, but there are also ruins of a 15th century manor home, Minster Lovell Hall, which is open to the public to explore.  Locals like to claim that the ruins are haunted because during the wedding of William Lovell, his new bride was lost during a game of hide and seek.  Years later, a servant found her body in an old lead chest used for food storage.  It is thought the lid fell shut and locked her inside where nobody could find her.  The ruins are on a lovely spot along the river Windrush and were interesting to check out.

Minster Lovell Hall:

note the "opening hours" ;-)

We managed to pull ourselves away from Minster Lovell and continued on to our next stop, Stow-on-the Wold.  While not the cutest of the towns we visited, Stow has a lot of history.  There is even a hotel that has been continuously running since 900AD!

cute little shop selling handbags in Stow:

We then made our way to our last stop, Chipping Campden.  Chipping Campden was definitely pretty high on the list of adorable villages.  It seemed to us to be one of the more "posh" villages, with some larger, more elaborate cottages (with ornamental thatching, who knew such a thing existed?!) and a cute high street.  We strolled through town, checked out the church, and had lunch at the local pub.

Queen Victoria era postbox:

It was a great weekend trip and so fun to have our little buddy along with us:)

Tenerife, Canary Islands

Dan and I just returned from a wonderful week in the Canary Islands.  My parents flew out from Phoenix (a 20+ hour trip!) to meet us in Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands, which are part of Spain but located off the coast of Morocco.  We stayed at a cute resort called Sunningdale Village, an Interval timeshare exchange (thank you mom and dad:)) where we had a 2 bedroom unit with lots of patio space and great views.

view of Mt. Teide from our unit:

view from the upstairs porch:

The first morning after a lovely breakfast on the patio, we headed out for a walk along the coast over to the town of Los Abrigos and the black sand beach there.  

town of Los Abrigos:

black sand beach:

We then spent a lazy afternoon by the pool, followed by a delicious Spanish dinner of paella and squid in Los Abrigos.

drinks on the patio:

Sunday morning, Dan and I got up early and went diving with Dive and Sea Tenerife.  The dives were interesting but not quite as exciting as the dives we did in Belize.  Here there was no coral and less variety of animals, but more rock formations and fish.  The water was a little chilly too and despite full wet suits Dan and I were both pretty cold on the second dive.  We had fun though and it was good to refresh our diving skills after over two years.  That afternoon we headed over to El Medano beach, popular with locals with lots of bars, a boardwalk and tons of water sports available. We spent the afternoon watching the kite boarders and windsurfers.  

The next morning we played golf right next to our resort at Golf del Sur.  It was an interesting course with great views of the mountain and the ocean; Dan played great, shooting a 78 with 4 birdies ;)

That night we had dinner right on the beach in the popular resort town of Los Christianos, just a few miles west of us on the south side of the island.  

On Tuesday, we got in our rented Fiat Panda and headed off to explore the island.  First we climbed up Mt. Teide, the volcano which formed the island.  It is the third largest volcano in the world and 3,718m (12,198ft) high.  Unfortunately, the cable car to the very top was closed due to wind but we still got some great views.  

our Fiat Panda:

still some snow on the very top:

We then continued over to the north coast of the island, to the historic Spanish towns of La Orotava and Puerto de la Cruz.  

lunch in La Orotava:

 La Orotava:

Puerto de la Cruz:

After strolling around both towns, we continued a loop down the west side of the island.  We drove through the towns of Garachico and Buenavista del Norte, through some beautiful farming villages, and then along one of the craziest, windy roads I've ever been on.  It was great to see some other parts of the island and explore where some of the locals live.  

Garachico rock:

Buenavista del Norte:

La Gomera, another of the Canary islands west of Tenerife:

Thursday, after Dan had headed back to London for work, the three of us played golf at Amarilla golf course.  Although it was not quite as nice as Golf del Sur, it had great views of the water and two par threes right along the ocean.  

Thank you to Mom and Dad for another great trip!  The sunshine was just what we needed after a freezing cold winter in London.