A sunny(ish) day saw us jumping in the car and heading off to see the true chocolate-box English countryside of the Cotswolds. Unfortunately, just like in NZ, the weather couldn't make up it's mind and soon we were driving through miserable drizzle, but not before we had visited the lovely little town of Stow-on-the-Wold (gotta love those names!).
We pootled around the town taking photos of the teeny tiny Michelle-sized doors and ancient stone supermarkets, before wandering randomly into an antique gallery. For a 1 pound entry fee (!) we were allowed to browse through everything from stamps & coins to matchbox cars & old toys to old paintings & hand-drawn maps. Before long I had found two beautiful lithographs of St Pauls & Westminster, while Anna had her heart set on a hand-drawn map of the UK. Unfortunately they were going for more than we had planned to spend, and we reluctantly set them down. But before we could leave a little old man popped up from his seat in the corner where he had been dozing and proceeded to give us a long talk on the origins of the pictures, before giving us each a discount. I had to draw some money from the ATM as there was no card machine there (funny that) and while I away away the man regaled Anna with the history of some 1797 pennies, which were apparently so large that they only made them for a year as carrying them around proved to be more hassle than they were worth. I returned to buy my pictures and was presented with a penny "to remember our trip by". It will certainly always remind me of our little trip to the Cotswolds & our random introduction to the world of antiques!
