Day 9 – Oxford to Shrewsbury, Through the Cotswolds

We got away at noon after a morning breakfast, a few loads of laundry and picking up the rental car.  We got a brand new 2010 Toyota Prius – a nice outcome since that is a car that we are considering purchasing the next time we need a car (which may be soon).  The four of us piled in with Jackie driving and off we went towards Wales, through the Cotswolds.

We drove through and stopped in several classic Cotswolds villages including Stow-on-the-Wold, Bourton-on-the-Water, Upper and Lower Slaughter and Chipping Campden.  Just the names alone bring images of British murder mysteries, Agatha Christie and knitters around every corner…

We ended that night at a Hampton Inn in Shrewsbury, in west central England.  It was a typical business-persons motel in a corporate park and in many ways it seemed like an American motel – spacious rooms, very quiet - but the one thing that was definitely different was the pub.  When we asked what time they closed the bartender simply said “we don’t.”  Nice.  We had a cold one before calling it a night.

The weather in England has been cold and wet.  We wear a sweater (jumper) most of the time and don’t go anywhere without our raincoats and umbrellas.  The showers never seem heavy enough to stop us from doing whatever we’ve planned on doing but it sure rains a lot in England.