In April, my husband and I honeymooned (thank you, Hollingsworth v. Perry) for two weeks in the south of England and Wales. We spent a few days in London on our own, based at St. Ermin’s Hotel just around the corner from Buckingham Palace, doing Tourist Things (theatre, the Tower, the British Museum, the British Library, Westminster Abbey, the fabulously old and author-frequented Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a gaslight tour of the neighborhood around Parliament et cetera, et cetera), but the bulk of our time was spent being ferried about by our private guide, Michael Osborne (operating as Unique British Tours).
The great thing about engaging Michael was that we saw a whole different England than we would have seen on our own. Oh sure he took us to Stonehenge and Bath and Oxford, but we also drove off-highway along winding country roads that took us through alarmingly lovely little villages, complete with thatched-roofed houses in which real people actually live. He arranged overnights for us in assorted Wolsey Lodges (unique “luxury” bed-and-breakfasts that were mostly repurposed olde manor homes–including a horse farm in the country, a village great house, and (by far the best one) a converted 12th century mill) and a modern four-star hotel overlooking Cardiff Bay. He showed us things we hadn’t expected to see, like Avebury, a World Heritage Site with aged and worn monoliths that–unlike the more popular Stonehenge–visitors can actually wander up to and touch. He hosted us for beer at local village pubs and for a fancy-pants (and delicious) afternoon tea at the stately Manor House Hotel in Castle Combe.
Hazeland Mill, Bremhill, Calne, Wiltshire–the best of the places we stayed!
Of course pictures were taken, and since that’s what this blog is supposed to be about, let’s get to it. I hope some of these come off as something somewhat north of vacation snaps (for all our sakes). So Let the Travel Photography Begin!
For more travel and other photography, click here: www.ebutterfieldphotography.com
Big Ben at Night
Tower Bridge viewed from the Tower of London
Gaslit street at night in Westminster, London
Mill gears in a 12th-century mill in Wiltshire
Street in Oxford
Avebury monoliths
12th-century Lewis Chessmen, British Museum, London
Fan vaulting in the nave of Bath Abbey, Bath
Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire, Wales
Cardiff Bay, viewed from the St David’s Hotel
Exeter College, Oxford
Raven in the Tower of London
Interior of the clock tower at Bath Abbey
Cardiff Castle, Cardiff, Wales
Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire
For more travel and other photography, click here: www.ebutterfieldphotography.com
