Castle Combe, Bath, Lacock

After breakfast we decided to go for a walk in the village and ended up doing a circuit of the woodland around the village that took over an hour. We met a local as we were walking who directed us, after walking with us for a white and chatting, through the forest, across an ancient Roman stone bridge, and along beautiful muddy paths coated with bright autumn leaves of red, orange and yellow, back to the road and eventually back into Castle Combe. A lovely walk through autumnal English woodland.

Back in the village we looked at the little church and the gravestones around it, then returned to the Castle lnn to check out.

On the road again, we headed for Bath. There were traffic jams on the outskirts, our first indications of the busyness we encountered in the city. Bath has become – at least in school holiday season, and I can’t imagine how busy it is in high tourist season – much like a big outdoor shopping centre. People and traffic were everywhere. We went through the abbey and the crypt museum, which were lovely apart from a Christian hard sell that was noticeable in the pamphlet and museum exhibits, and spent a while walking around looking for a place to have cream tea for lunch. The city has lost a bit of its charm since I was here in 1991 I think – much too busy.

We left mid afternoon and headed for our last place to stay before London – Lacock. This is another beautiful ‘frozen in time’ village like Castle Combe, and I think I even prefer it. The Sign of the Angel is 15th century but has an older feel, with word panelling and even more wonky angles than the Castle lnn. Our room doesn’t even have a lock, just a wooden latch opened with a piece of string!

Unfortunately, character doesn’t come cheap and we’ve splurged for these last two nights before London, but it’s worth it.

We strolled through the village to nearby Lacock Abbey, once owned by Fox Talbot, the father of modern photography, and in fact the subject of the first ever photograph. Unfortunately the rooms were closed, but the beautiful cloisters of the original abbey (recently used in the Harry Potter films) were open, and very atmospheric. After strolling around the building we checked out the Fox Talbot museum exhibition, then walked back into town as the light was failing and had a couple of pints at a lovely old pub called the George Inn. How I’m going to miss these old English pubs!

Here l am now catching up in this diary in the cosy guest room of the Sign of the Angel. The history here is so thick you could to cut it with the proverbial knife – how many other guests have stayed here in the last 500 years?

Nice dinner – I had rack of lamb – downstairs in the restaurant (if overpriced, as usual). Still waking up at night and not getting a full night’s sleep, unfortunately.