August 19, 2015
Today, we boarded the bus at 9:00AM and met our new bus driver, Michael. First stop, Hidcote Manor, an "arts and crafts garden."
We entered Hidcote as a group through the exit for some reason. Jane gave us a brief introduction to the garden reading from her notes, then left us on our own again. I happened into a 30-minute, in-depth presentation about the garden given free by an National Trust volunteer. I don't know why Jane didn't mention it. Maybe she didn't know about it.
The tour had not improved. I knew Jane was a substitute for Alex Cross (the guide advertised to lead the tour at the time John and I booked it), but I expected her to be familiar with the itinerary: the gardens, the schedules, and the logistics. We were getting no tour-relevant information from her, other than what little she read to us on the bus directly from brochures and notes kept in a large three-ring binder marked, "Summer in the Cotswolds." Oh, how I wished for wi-fi on the bus so I could learn something about the gardens we were visiting! I would have to depend on the hotel wi-fi and do my research at night. I was frustrated.
My photos of Hidcote follow. For more information, see http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hidcote/.
Photo: Our group began the tour at the exit instead of the entrance of Hidcote, for some reason.
Photo: John used to keep bees, so he especially enjoyed seeing the hives.
After the wander in Hidcote, we rode the bus to Chipping-Camden for lunch. The bus driver, Michael, said the door kept blowing a fuse and he was down to the last replacement, so a new bus would be sent out. I hoped for one with a bathroom and wi-fi, but no such luck. The second bus was a slight improvement over the first one - cleaner, and with handicap access, which meant the last step off the bus was less of a leap and there were a few rows of seats with more leg room. But, the guide's microphone didn't work. Jane had to take over the other two front row seats so she could use the driver's microphone.
Photo: The replacement bus
Jane had no specific suggestions about where to eat, shop, or anything else in Chipping-Camden, so John and I stopped in at the first place we saw after getting off the bus, and found a window table for lunch. I had no desire to wander around the streets of a town I knew nothing about - I was doing enough of that in the gardens - and with only one hour of free time, I was unlikely to learn much about Chipping-Camden without wi-fi. John and I both preferred a leisurely lunch.
After eating (again!), we were back on the bus for the ride to Kiftsgate Court, which was less than a mile from the garden we had seen that same morning. It would have been easy to see both gardens, one after the other, and see a third garden on the same day, rather than spending more than an hour on the bus getting to and from Chipping-Camden for a meal stop in between, but I wasn't running the tour.
It was raining when we arrived at Kiftsgate Court, but after two weeks in Ireland with only one full day of sunshine, rain didn't bother me at all. It meant a wet wander around Kiftsgate Court. For more information about this stop, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiftsgate_Court_Gardens.
After a half-hour "tea time" at Kiftsgate, we got back on the replacement bus for the long ride home to Corse Lawn House.
Photo: Inside the replacement bus
Photo: John sat in one of the the rows with extra legroom.
As soon as John and I got off the bus, we headed straight for the bistro at Corse Lawn House. The staff was friendly there, and the atmosphere was calm and quiet, perfect for unwinding after another painfully slow-paced day. Making eight hours of touring out of two gardens situated next to each other seemed a bit lazy to me. Every day, we were spending more time on the bus than in gardens, and as much time - if not more - at meals and teas as on the bus. Worst of all, I wasn't learning a thing. Jane's chatter seemed to be about everything BUT gardens. John handled the day-to-day tedium better than I. He really didn't need a guide; he was knowledgeable about every aspect of gardening; and, he could easily ignore what he didn't want to hear. I satisfied my curiosity about the gardens we visited as much as time permitted using hotel wi-fi, but the tour provided no framework for what we were doing. That was apparent every time I tried to write something for the blog.
John and I opted for "snacks" in the bistro instead of a the usual three-course dinner.
Photo: John, after a long, wet afternoon
Photo: Welsh Rarebit
Photo: Sausage with mashed potatoes
Photo: Salad Nicoise
The kitchen at Corse Lawn House never disappointed. Some nights I felt I should be blogging about food and wine instead of the garden tour.
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