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Friday, January 26, 2018

How To Find Colourful Old English Villages With Odd Names Such as Sonning and March, or stay in a thatched cottage

Problem
Where can I find cute English villages?

Answer
They are all around. You just have to get off the motorway. For example:

On our way between Harrow and Cambridge, to reach the hotel The Old Bridge, at Huntingdon, we passed signs to a village called March. I had all sorts of punning thoughts.

'We are no longer marching like the Romans but driving through.'
'Shall we go to March in January, or go to March in February?'

We never got to March, so to speak. Just as well. No fun for photographers. It was raining.

The Romans marched this way. The small March museum is open a few hours in the middle of the day on Saturdays and Wednesdays. A church has a hammerbeam interior which you can see on Wikipedia.

The following day we drove from Harrow in NW London through Hungerford on our way to Little Bewyn to a Michelin starred restaurant, The Harrow (described in earlier posts).

Around England nowadays some of the older buildings have been painted bright colours. This one is blue. Unexpected. You could say it goes well with a blue sky on a summer's day. I like it.

I like the steeply gabled roofs and the inn signs. 

Here's a building with a steeply gabled roof, the triangular area  painted orange. I love it.

On the way out of Little Bedwyn, we passed a sign on a gatepost. It threated to charge you a large number of shillings if you left the gate open. Shillings. I remember shillings. Those were the days.
What does that sign say? Close the gate - or we'll fine you forty shillings! Photo by Angela Lansbury.

The M4 had two warnings signs about delays, so we diverted through old roads, which we call 'the scenic route' and discovered some more, equally delightful little villages.

I liked Sonning. But not much to do or see.

I started researching thatched cottages. I see one regularly driving through Kingsbury in NW London. But what can you visit?

If you want tea in a thatched cottage, there's one over the sea in Ireland.

In England the major tourist attraction with thatch is Anne Hathaway's Cottage in Stratford upon Avon.

Want to stay in a thatched cottage?
http://www.historic-uk.com/ThatchedCottagestoRent/

More ideas:
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g186338-i17-k6623220-Thatched_cottages-London_England.html

Author, Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

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