Monday 15 June - Lacock Village

This is a National Trust Village in Wiltshire. It is occupied by tenants but no significant changes can be made to any of the premises and no one but tenants are supposed to park in the village proper. Apparently, the village often features in historical productions. It was probably a fairly dismal village originally judging by the very plain parish church and the lack of any historical significant village buildings. A short distance away are the remains of an old abbey but it was closed by the time we arrived at the village.

Monday 15 June - Bowood House, Bowood, Wiltshire

This is a massive house and formal garden situated in parkland featuring local and exotic trees. It is reached by a long driveway which, for much of its length, wends its way through a forested avenue. The house features an extensive collection of art some being some centuries old. A Turner has pride of place. There is a wonderful nature playground for children. In this picture of the house, the presence of Vija gives some idea of scale. The front door immediately leads to the pictured chapel which must have been one really big statement when it was put there.
(photos 24-25)

Monday 15 June - Roman Temple at Bath

Of course, our main reason for visiting Bath was to see the Roman Baths. This is a great exhibit far more extensive than we realised beforehand. It is the site of the UK's only thermal spring and was held sacred by the ancient Britons and even more so by the Romans who built elaborate buildings at the site for various religious purposes. Excavations have retrieved several artifacts. The Roman figurines around the main pool are not original but a Victorian addition. A pair of ducks were happily using the pool at the time of our visit.

Monday 15 June - Bath cathedral

Although far from being the largest cathedral in the UK, this one certainly must rank highly in terms of the number of windows - a total of 52 large windows all with stained glass. The beauty of the building is somewhat marred by the masses of memorials on the walls and floors many of which have become muddled by Victorian re-arrangement and many of the floor-based memorials have been walked on so much that they are now indecipherable. Beautiful ceilings and great windows though.

Monday 15 June - Jane Austen Museum at Bath

Vija was very definite that we had to visit this museum dedicated to Jane Austen's connections, real and literary-wise, with Bath but it really eventuated that she was far more interested in that cad, Mr. Darcy. An interesting little museum featuring period dress and a talk on Jane Austen and Bath.

Sunday 14 June - Churchstanton Church

We visited this church because some of my ancestors were baptised, married and buried there in the late 1700s to early 1800s (Osborn family). The village consists primarily of the church, a church hall and the surrounding farm houses. The village mail box is part of the church fence. Because of these factors, we expected little of the church. Once we entered the church, we were very pleasantly surprised. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book but how much of it dates back to then is not yet known and obviously there have been modifications since then. It is quite a large church of a size one would expect for far larger villages. It retains a box seating arrangement from ancient times when families paid for and maintained their own boxes. Earlier to that there had been pews and the carved pew ends have reportedly been used to provide a safety wall on the large organ mezzinine above the church entry - an obvious later modification. The font has been crudely but elaborately fashioned out of a single block of sandstone. We were at the church when a local came to lock it up for the night. From this person we learnt that the morning attendance was 12 persons but about 18 every Sunday was about the norm. A couple of years ago there was an order to close the church because the roof needed repairs. The locals banded together to raise 150,000 pounds for the necessary repairs.

Sunday 14 June - Dunster Castle and Village

Dunster Castle occupies a very elevated position above Dunster village and the surrounding area. It was beseiged, and taken after 11 days, by Commonwealth forces during the Civil War. It has been rebuilt and modified over the years and much of the village looks to be older than the castle. A member of the family donated the premises to the National Trust with contents in 1976. We did not see as much of the medieval village as we would have liked as we could not get any nearby parking due both to a lot of bussed tourists and a major archery competion taking place nearby.