In my last post I promised to tell you more of our adventures over the past few weeks.
One evening OH and myself went to explore Knowlton Church and Earthworks. This is situated near Verwood, a short drive from our home in Bournemouth. It is a ruined medieval church built within a Neolithic henge. People have been using this site for worship for over 2500 years.
It was a beautiful, warm summer evening and I stood on top of the henge and watched the swallows darting about and the butterflies feasting on the wildflowers that grow all around it. It is a magical place with a unique atmosphere. They still hold regular church services here, weather permitting and the sense of continuity and connection with past generations is very strong. A magical place!
Our next adventure was a long weekend in Bath. We both love Bath and when we lived in Exeter we used to visit often for the day. We decided to go for a longer stay as there is so much to do there. As this was to be our only holiday this year we splashed out and picked a good quality hotel. It is very difficult to find cheap accommodation in Bath. Apparently hotels there are more expensive than central London. I found the Ayrlington online and I was impressed by the glowing reviews. To my relief the hotel more than lived up to its reviews. Our room was large, beautifully furnished and spotlessly clean. I would highly recommend it. Also, if you like cats this is the place for you. The owner has three, two of which roam freely around the building lapping up attention from the guests.
It is a short level walk from the Arlington over Pultney Bridge to the centre of Bath
We went to the Herschell Museum and I thought it was one of the most interesting museums I have ever visited. The small Georgian house contains the telescope Willam Herschell used to discover Uranus in 1782 and two of Saturn's moons. He was also the first person to discover the existence of infra red radiation. As a gifted musician he composed 24 symphonies during his lifetime. His sister Caroline was his assistant and made important astronomical discoveries of her own including eight comets and eleven nebulae. She was honoured by the the Royal Astronomical Society. Remarkable achievements at a time when women were universally considered to be of inferior intellect to men and rarely received a good education, by our modern standards!
A statue of William Herschell and his sister Caroline in the Museum garden
Everywhere you go in Bath you see can see evidence of its elegant Regency past -
I also had time to visit the Fashion Museum and of course a bead shop (Bijoux Beads), a yarn shop (Wool) and a quilting shop (Country Threads).
The final part of our adventures will feature in my next post.
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