The line of cottages, in the old barn
The lane up to the farm
We are in cottage #2, the old cow shed
the view from the hot tub is pretty fantastic--see that big wood plank on the lid? It (and bungee cords) are needed to keep the lid from blowing away.
It was in this early morning time period that we also discovered that something was amiss with the hot water--showers blasted out about 30 seconds of scalding water and then went stone cold. I sent an email, and we thought if we had not heard a response by lunch we would call---when we walked out to head to the store, the owner was already out looking into it as the other rented cottage had the same issue, and they had already put in a call to a plumber. They kindly offered use of their own shower in the man house, and later realized one cottage worked properly and unlocked that for us to use. By mid afternoon the issue was fixed completely and the owner was stopping by to be sure things were working as the plumber had said. No one wants to have an issue when travelling, but I have to say I was impressed with how well and how quickly this was handled.
After speaking with the owner as he looked into the shower problem mid morning, we headed to the local Tesco grocery store to pick up some things for lunch and dinner and some general breakfast and snack items to have around the house. Being able to shop on a Sunday is a very clear reminder that we "are not in Germany anymore, Toto." The open 24 hours sign out front just served to reinforce that.
British grocery stores amaze me. German stores carry more ready made items with each passing year, but the majority of food sold in our local Rewe or Edeka is still a basic ingredient (fruit, vegetable, meet, cheese, grain, etc). US stores have considerably more ready made or boxed (partially made) items, and British stores (both up North last August and now here in the South today) have more than anywhere I have seen. I would hate living with that, but for a week of vacation it is kind of fun to peruse all the many premade foods, grab a few and enjoy a reasonably decent tasting meal (better than fast food but certainly not homemade) with almost no effort for a fraction of the cost of eating out as a family.
Here is what we ended up with for lunch: a rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes, cauliflower in cheese sauce, salad and a chicken masala dish for Dave who doesn't care for rotisserie chicken---all told that came in at 11 pounds.
After lunch we bundled up (well, all except Rio who hates wind and loves British game shows and opted to stay at the cottage) and drove a bit further west to do some hiking along the famed coastal area known as The Gower. We spent about two hours walking along the cliff tops, in some very serious wind, the kind of wind that can making walking into it difficult, my New Hampshire readers will know what I mean when I say it was "top of Mount Washington" wind. It was cold but pretty.
Once back home, the wind had calmed down to tolerable, so we took a soak in the hot tub to warm up after all that time in the worst of the gales, before heading in for our frozen pizza and premade salad dinner (I told you we bought all the premade junk!) and now we are comfortably settled in with a fire going in the woodstove, while we play checkers and watch a movie.
All in all it was a very nice, unwinding kind of day. Tomorrow will be a bit busier--we will head into Cardiff where we have prebooked tickets to the Doctor Who experience.
--Hadley
No comments:
Post a Comment