A Coopersmith's Garden Tour: Summer in the Cotswolds, 2015: Coopersmith's Day Eight: Fifth Full Day of Tour - Tintern Abbey,Wyndcliffe Court Sculpture Garden, and Veddw

August 22, 2015

After yesterday's tour, I had asked Kenny how long it would take to get to Tintern Abbey. The usual answer, "maybe an hour, or an hour and a half . . . but the traffic in Wales . . . ," he said. OK, I thought. I asked him how long the trip would be between Tintern Abbey and whichever garden the group would visit in the afternoon. Jane might know, he said, or he could tell me in the morning. He was going to look it all up on the Internet that night.

It sounded like time on the bus would be considerably longer than usual, and my back was becoming stressed from sitting for so many hours a day, so John went on the bus with the group to Tintern Abbey and I spent the day discovering all the things I didn't know about Corse Lawn House, e.g., there was room service; lunch could be served outdoors; there was a swimming pool, and gardens, and so on - all available to guests. The manager thought Jane had told us about the hotel's amenities. But, she hadn't. More missed opportunities.

I bought copies of all the maps and guidebooks about the Cotswolds that were on display for sale near the front desk. I was hungry for information. Jane had talked for days about giving us maps, and she had finally been able to buy a few and pass them out - but she couldn't buy enough for everyone. Jane kept telling us those maps were really hard to find.

She loaned her one marker pen around so that people with maps could make dots to indicate the places we toured. Maps would have been nice to have on the first day of the tour, but better late than never; and one marker per person would have been more convenient, but one for the group was better than no marker at all. Wasn't it? Not really. We pre-paid Coopersmith's $8990.00 for this 7-day, 7-night tour, which did not include airfare, two additional nights' lodging, tips, "excluded" meals, taxi fares, or incidentals. Between the bus and the shared supplies, this reminded me of a low-budget school trip. I needed a day at Corse Lawn House to experience a little luxury.