Last day in the Cotswolds - more shopping and sightseeing

On our last full day we went to St Margarets Retail Park in Swindon first, where my friend went to Dunelm for some nice bedding, and I strolled through the Poundstrecher and Pets at Home and - last but not least ^^ -Hobby Craft.

They claim to be "the only place to find all your craft materials, art supplies, and craft workshops under one roof." So yeah ... that's where I've spend my very last pounds ;)

The rest of the afternoon we did some sightseeing. We drove from Swindon through Cirencester (one of the most substantial cities of Roman-era Britain) and Malmesbury (England's oldest borough, close to the Cotswolds atop an old Iron Age hill fort ).
At Biddingstone we made our first stop.

Fine houses flank the north side of The Green at Biddingstone.

Biddestone was the filming location for the
TV film Agatha Raisin and the Quiche
of Death (2014). Maybe I should read/watch
it. Sounds like fun :)

We had lunch in the secret garden at the back of the
White Horse.

After lunch we headed  to Castle Combe.

"The houses in Castle Combe are made of stone – and there
is a lovely charm about the way they have been built.
The village houses have thick walls, and the roofs
are made of stone tiles."

"Castle Combe was the location for the
Steven Spielberg movie “War Horse”. Most
recently it was used in a series of Downton Abbey."

"The beautiful Parish Church of St Andrew
is a  is over six hundred years old." 

At the centre of the village is a 14th-century market cross.
This is where the market is held. Photo credit. 

"Next to the cross is one of Castle Combe's two village pumps.
Small stone steps near the cross were for horse riders to mount
and dismount. From the centre of the village there are three
roads radiating out. One goes up the hill to the car park;
a second road goes towards the river – and the
third goes to the Manor House Hotel."

"There is no castle in Castle Combe, however
this picturesque village, with its Cotswold-type
cottages, is known to be the prettiest village
in England."

We pursued our way and passed - the funny sounding - Tiddleywick, as well as Avebury, one of the best known prehistoric sites in Britain, which contains the largest megalithic stone circle in the world. And before we went back I finally say one of the famous White Horses!

"The Uffington White Horse is a highly stylised prehistoric hill
figure, 110 m long, formed from deep trenches filled with
crushed white chalk. It is by far the oldest of the white horse
figures in Britain and is of an entirely different design from
the others inspired by it." Photo credits.

View from one of the car parks at the Ridgeway.

I think it's obvious that I had a wonderful time in this beautiful part of England! And of course it was a bonus that the wheather has been great, the compagny lovely, and that I got to visit 'Hogwarts' again.
Everything was also very inspirational for the building of my Hogsmeade cottage, especially since I've brought home so many miniatures :)

Visiting 'Hogwarts' - Lacock Abbey

One of the things I was looking for was to re-visit Lacock. I've been there in 2011 while on my trip to London with my son, and that had been a highlight then :)

Lacock is the place you see in TV period dramas, like Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Moll Flanders and Cranford. There are also TV and Film Credits for Robin of Sherwood, Randall & Hopkirk, The Mayor of Casterbridge, The Other Boleyn Girl and The Wolfman.

But ... we went to see Lacock Abbey, that features as Hogwarts in several of the Harry Potter movies! Like several rooms that were used as Professors McGonagall, Quirrel and Snape's classrooms. The cloister walk where Harry comes out from Professor Lockhart's room after serving detention and hears the basilisk, and where Dobby turns on Lucius Malfoy and tells him that "you shall not harm Harry Potter!" 'Walk in Harry Potter's footsteps'

My friend had been in Lacock several times but never to the Abbey and had planned to do that on this trip. I'd been here when my son and I did the Harry Potter Tour to Oxford & Lacock by Brit Movie Tours.
As soon as we arrived at the car park it felt familiar and I remembered all kind of details from my first visit, which was nice :)

The spot where Alan Rickman aka Professor
Snape told us: "I can teach you how to bottle
fame, brew glory, even stopper death ...";)

Miniatures in the Cotswolds - The Craft Village, Swindon

The third dolls' house and miniatures shop was something different than the others. We stayed in a hotel in Swindon and just a couple of minute drive from the hotel was Studley Grange, a craft village,  Butterfly World & Farm Village.
So when I had to spent about three hour on my own, I'd asked my friend to drop me off at the craft village :)

  

In the middle of the craft village there is a children's play area/Soft Play. All around the play area are small retail units, specialising in lots of different craft things. Many of the shops offer workshops, but unfortunately not on monday :') You can for example make a piece of pottery, a cake, chocolate. You'll find Wiltshire's only permanent Lego exhibition here.
You can buy things like knitting wool, beads and jewellery, everything for model railway enthousiasts, there's a quilt shop, a sweet shop, a barber, a photographer, and last but certainly not least ... a double doll house unit :)

  

So after going to the dolls house and miniature unit, I spent almost an hour looking around and had nice conversations with the two ladies running the unit. And yes, I bought ... a lot (a)

So I really needed to take a break after that and talk myself out of feeling guilty ^^

With still an hour left before I would be picked up, I decided to go to the Butterfly World & Farm Park. Inside it was very tropical at the butterflies and the reptiles, but outside it wasn't less warm.

  

I'd really enjoyed myself and I was just about to have another drink when my friend picked me up.

So, last but not least ... my pretties up close ;)

Miniatures in the Cotswolds - Bourton-on-the-water

After Lechlade we went to Bourton-on-the-water, a charming village which I had been looking forwards too.

"Located in a small valley amongst the gentle rolling hills of the Cotswolds, Bourton-on-the-Water is a ‘must see’ for all visitors to the area.
This popular village is often referred to as the ‘Venice of the Cotswolds’ because of the attractive little bridges that cross the gently flowing River Windrush, which runs through the centre of the village. Bourton has a charm all of its own at any time of the year.
There is much to see in Bourton on the Water and it is suitable for visitors of all ages especially families. "

There's also a 1/9th  scale replica of the centre of the village, called The Model Village, though we didn't visit that. Also at The Model Village is an exhibition of highly detailed miniature scenes and room sets, including several moving miniatures.

We had a very enjoyable afternoon walking through the little town and relaxing alongside the river with drinks and an ice cream :)

Another Christmas shop, and on such a sunny day :)

I'd read about a giftshop called Dutton's, that also sells miniatures. Photo's on internet had shown a red name plate with the store's name on it but it took me awhile to find it because of the awning that only told me 'films and memory cards sold here' (a)

Though  I had spent a lot of money on miniatures in Lechlade I couldn't resist those canisters and biscuits for the Hogsmeade cottage ;)

Miniatures in the Cotswolds - Lechlade

Last week I've made a trip to the Cotswolds with a friend. My only other visit to the UK was to London, so I'd been looking forwards to see this part of the country. The Cotswolds were so wonderful, and we were lucky to have very nice weather.
We visited lots of nice places and I got a lot of inspiration from all the cottages I saw :) I might show some of the photo's I took later on, but for now I want to tell you about the first - of three! ^^ - dollhouse or miniature shops I visited.

It's located in Lechlade-on-Thames (Gloucestershire) and it would be worth a visit even if it didn't have a miniature shop :)

There's even a little Christmas shop:

But my interest went to the one across the street: The Old Bell Pottery.

I had already checked their webside in advance and had seen gorgeous hand decorated miniature china. So I was a little bit surprised at first when I walked into a shop that was filled to the rafters with antiques.
The shop owner told my the miniature selection was upstairs, and after climbing a rather small staircase I was startled again when I saw the room which had display cases from top to floor on every wall, and hardly any space to turn around :)

I could have stayed there for hours and still haven't seen everything. It was a bit overwhelming to be honest ;) In the end I just grabbed a stool and sat before a sort of filing cabinet with lots of drawers, of which I've only opened half ^^
But, I found some very nice miniatures for my Hogsmeade cottage and I will definately visit the webshop again in the future :)