Easter Weekend

For Easter our friends Nick and Clare, who just recently moved to London, came to visit us. We had initially planned to go to Wales, but because we left it a bit late, all the camping grounds were booked out. England is not New Zealand, where you can just head off at short notice and still expect to find plenty of accommodation. Instead we stayed at our place and went on several day trips into the surrounding area. Here are some photos of our day trips (taken partly by us, and partly by Nick or Clare).

Day 1:
First we walked up to the Uffington white horse, which is a 110m long stylised prehistoric hill figure, cut into the grass to reveal the underlying white chalk. And then we headed into Oxford to look at its amazing buildings.

The head of the Uffington White Horse

Lindsay, Yana and Kerstin walking up the White Horse Hill

I think this is the All Souls College, in Oxford

The Radcliffe Camera (a reading room)

Hertford Bridge

Such tourists...

Day 2:
Our second day trip took us back to Lechlade, where we had been a couple of weeks prior. We had a nice picnic on the banks of the Thames river and then hired a row boat. The boat was a little hard to steer, but in the end Lindsay and Nick found an efficient method of moving forward without going in zigzags.

Clare being the oars-woman

Yana in her life-jacket after surviving the mighty boat-trip

Day 3:

Our longest day trip had us driving through the Cotswolds in the campervan. We stopped off in Bibury and had a look around. Then we stopped in Withington, where Yana had a sleep and we had a road-side picnic. We went for a walk into the four possible directions, as far as the babyphone would reach, and explored the little village. On the way home we stopped in Cirencester, looked at the church and had a drink and some chips in a local pub.

Arlington Row, a row of 17th century weavers' cottages in Bibury

Easter Sunday at the church in Bibury

A pub in Withington

Day 4:
On our last day trip we went to Bradford-on-Avon, a nice little town by the Avon river. We had a look around and ended the day with a nice meal at a pub right by the Kennet and Avon Canal.

Town bridge in Bradford-on-Avon

Lindsay, Yana, Kerstin, Clare and Nick in a park in Bradford-on-Avon

The Kennet and Avon Canal

Us enjoying our pub meal

Finally getting out and about...

After what felt like winter hibernation, we have finally been getting out and about again. And in doing so, we have realised what a great area we live in (despite all the negative remarks about Swindon).

In March we had our friends Anna and Stefan from near Munich stay with us for a week. They have a little boy, Tim, who is two weeks younger than Yana. We had a great time catching up and we managed to see Stonehenge close-up, which can only be arranged by prior appointment. Unfortunately Yana got sick, so we couldn't do any more day trips. Anna, Stefan and Tim did a few trips on their own and we socialised with them in the evening, when the boiling hot, clingy Yana was asleep.

Stonehenge

Stefan playing double-carrier

Another day trip we did, towards the end of March, was to Lechlade-on-Thames. The town is almost in the Cotswolds, less than half an hour from our place. We parked on a car-park with a picnic table and had lunch while Yana slept in the campervan. Once she woke up we went for a walk along the Thames, watching the ducks, swans and river boats. We went to a nice pub, right by the side of the river and had a drink. It was a beautiful sunny day.

The pub in Lechlade

Kerstin and Yana enjoying the sunshine by the Thames

The river Thames