England, my England

Take one Englishman and an American, shake slightly in an old car, add a dash of bitter and take to the English countryside for a spring weekend.

A whistle stop tour of some great sights in the Home Counties was on the cards; with only a few days available it was a race against time to get as many in before my guest went back to the USA.

Brian had arrived a little worse for wear from his two weeks in Europe. I could see that look of trepidation as we met at Reading station. He was wary of what I had planned. He had reason to, I suspect, as our previous trips had been alcohol fuelled adventures but he needn't have worried as I had the car and was restricted by the licensing laws of England!

We set off towards the beautiful Cotswolds nestled in the heart of England. The area gets a lot of tourists in the summer but we were hoping that before Easter it would be a lot easier to get around and avoid the crowds.

Our first stop was Chipping Camden a traditional market town that has preserved its wonderful golden hued looks for hundreds of years. With thatched houses by the dozen and a restored market hall you could be forgiven in thinking that nothing had changed here for centuries.

The next day it was an early start getting as many good photos as possible before too many tourists turned up to spoil the view.

We moved on to Stow in the Wold and down to Bourton on the water with its peaceful brooks and tidy lanes. The calmness of the small villages was heaven compared to the last visit in summer with bustling crowds and the feeling of one big theme park. I do wonder how the locals get along with this.

We skipped smartly out of the Cotswolds and drove on the old Roman city of Cirencester for a short stop before powering on to Stonehenge. The itinerary was driven by Brian as this was a must see. Stonehenge is now all fenced in and visitors get the audio handset explaining the meaning of the curious stone pillars. As if they knew!

Leaving the ancient site it was a bit of a drive to Dorset through a few back lanes in time to catch the afternoon sun in Kimmeridge bay. You have to pay to get to the bay itself as it is on private land but it is well worth the visit. I have stayed here a few times, once in the White House that sits perched up on the cliffs overlooking the bay.

The village of Kimmeridge is quaint with a revitalised and popular tea shop but it is the bay that most people come to visit. A scuba divers haven small boats and shore divers dot the bay; some in training, some for pleasure and others in search of the supermarket below seeking out scallops and other great finds hidden in the rocks on the sea bed.

We relaxed on the Cliffside and enjoyed the afternoon sun lazily watching the divers and sailors do their thing in the spring sunshine. A bottle of wine and I would not have left. But with no wine and an agenda to follow it was off to Corfe Castle and Studland bay.

Corfe was its usual pretty self but with the sun getting lower in the sky it was given a short visit before heading over the ridge through to Studland bay with its golden beaches and Riviera feel. No crowds on the beach but we still had to wait almost an hour to cross on the chain link ferry to Sandbanks to continue our journey.

Bournemouth was unappealing and lifeless, as the fog drifted in from the channel we motored on along the coast in search of a hotel for the night and the most authentic seaside town we could track down. We had luck and soon pulled into the popular and quite homely Lymington with its busy marina and quaint cobblestoned streets. We haggled for our hotel room in good credit crunch mode and slunk off to the Kings Head pub for some well deserved beer and excellent food.

The last day dawned and we set off for the New Forest to take in Beaulieu and Buckler's hard. The former a stately home with the added attraction, amongst many, of a world class car collection and the latter a remnant of a centuries old shipbuilding community providing scores of battleships in the past including Nelson's Flagship.

With horses, deer and cattle roaming freely it was clear that we drivers were only visitors in the forest. Horses ambled along the roads taking their time and gazing coldly at us as we passed slowly by once they had let us know who the boss was.

Passing out of the new forest we made our way to Winchester for a short stop to admire the Cathedral and gardens taking centre stage in the city. Office workers and tourists alike were taking full advantage of the warm lunchtime to lie on the grass and pretend summer was here at last. In England you grab it when you can.

The trip was drawing to a close but I couldn't finish it without a few local beers in the surrey village of Shere at the white horse and a final farewell at the Ship Inn in Ripley.

We made it back safe and sound, Brian's head spinning from the whirlwind trip and the local beers, finishing the night off in the Old Vicarage in Ripley with a few friends and parting company for new adventures.

Peter J Smith April 2009