A Visit from Aunty Anna (15-16th) Bourton-on-the-Water

This weekend we were delighted to welcome a visit from Aunty Anna who was willing to brave the wilds of the West Country just to catch up with us all.  Nathan collected her from the station on Friday evening and, after the regular Saturday morning routine of lie ins and homework, she joined us for some old fashioned Robb fun - sight seeing!

Our destination today, Bourton-on-the-Water, was not new to Nathan who had visited with David and Paula last year (you may well remember his blog).  For those of you with poor or failing memories, the village of Bourton-on-the-Water is known for its picturesque High Street, flanked by long wide greens and the River Windrush that runs through them.  The river is crossed by several low, arched stone bridges, which, some say, had led to it being called the “Venice of the Cotswolds”.  Now I have not been to Venice but I must say I have my doubts on this one!  What I do not doubt is that Bourton-on-the-Water often has more visitors than residents during peak times of the tourist season!

 We joined with 100s of our closest friends (a large majority of them being OAPs) for a walk along the river before setting our sights on one of the main tourist draw cards, the model village.  The model village is a 1:9 replica of Bourton and includes a model of the model village itself (a model within a model), which was Abbey’s all time favourite part.  It was built by local craftsmen mainly out of Bath stone in the 1930s, and was opened in 1937.  We spent some time wandering this village, which, though fairly impressive, was not as sharp as Australia’s own Cockington Green, but then they are only English!!

  It took Zac a while to warm to the place. Perhaps he is a little too well travelled!!

 Abbey, a giant amongst girls!

 My favourite scene

 Abbey’s favourite, a model of a model of a model….

 of a model!

 Nathan decided we would have to check out this shop in town a little later – figures!

Having completed our model tour we found it was time to find somewhere for lunch.  With the sun shining we settled for the out door seating of The Kingsbridge Inn, which had the added bonus of having Hobgoblin on tap.

 After lunch, we wandered the High Street taking in the ‘tourist tat’ until we had to return to the car prior to our parking expiring.

 Nathan finally got to visit his shop. And afterwards we took care of that hoody problem!!