England was absolutely loverly.....

Best.trip.ever.

Still catching up on laundry and the weeds took over the garden while I was gone, so I haven't had much time to get back into the blogging mood.

We were blessed with uncharacteristically fabulous English weather. Sunshine almost every day - it didn't even dare rain on the day of the Royal Wedding, although rain was predicted. Wills, Kate, the Queen, and I were very pleased with the weather for wedding week.

Our tour group was staying in Stratford-Upon-Avon the day of the wedding; a tour of Shakespeare's birthplace and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre was scheduled for the morning of the wedding. In typical recalcitrant Red Hamster fashion, I "went rogue" and told the tour group goodbye and snuck back to our hotel room to watch the Royal Wedding live on the telly. I just had to see that wedding dress and the first kiss on the balcony the exact same time as the rest of the world saw it.

I rejoined the tour group for an afternoon tour of Hidcote Gardens. I was still so smitten by the wedding, and then smitten by the beauty of the gardens, that I forgot to take pictures of all the garden flowers! Go to the website link above and you will see exactly what I saw at Hidcote. ...sometimes it's nicer to live in the beauty of the moment rather than fumbling with the camera....

I did get a picture of a wee lamb in a nearby field.
(Yes, the lamb has a number spray-painted on him; I think for id.)

After the gardens, our coach driver tried to take us on a drive through the classic Cotswold town of Chipping Camden, but was stopped by streets blocked off for wedding celebrations. Our group took a quick stroll through the High Street. I was hoping to join some wedding celebrants and get a glass of champagne, but we didn't have much time and I thought
I'd already been enough trouble.

Oh yes, we ran into Wills and Kate, and they are just a lovely couple.

...more when I have time...