UK Trip Days 27 & 28 Cirencester

Pat's place at Cirencester

After arriving from Maastricht quite late last night to Susan's at Great Chesterford, we thought it might be a bit much to immediately leave again for Cirencester. It was the perfect opportunity for John to spend some time with his sister Susan (Grrr! Degotardis and their bonding!) and for Barb to attack the huge pile of washing and catch up on the blog, and both these things were achieved. The weather is delightfully warm, so three loads of washing dried quickly on the clothes line in the back garden. Susan and John hit the Saffron Walden markets together and came back laden with cheeses and fruits and the makings of chicken kebabs and sausages, which John then barbecued in the back garden and we then sat outside to consume it. Altogether a lovely relaxed day!

Early the next morning we departed for Cirencester, down the M11 and M25 and onto the M4. These major motorway roads can be notoriously busy and during the week days you are usually crawling along .... but this was Sunday and we sailed along at unaccustomed speed and arrived mid-morning.

Pat's house in Cirencester

On the street where he lives

When we pulled in, Pat's neighbours Ian and Jane were in their front garden about to go out. They came over to meet us and see if we were bone fide visitors. Pat had given us the code to the outdoor key safe, but when John tried to insert the key in the deadlock on the front door he was unable to turn it. It appeared to be blocked by insects or pollen. Ian came to the rescue with a tiny screw driver to clean it out. Yay .... it works!

Pat's house is wonderful! Even though it was a very warm day outside it was quite cool inside. Our bedroom overlooks his very picturesque back garden and also the back gardens of some other neighbours. The whole effect is of a huge cottage garden and it's magnificent; the Cotswolds are divine. We haven't seen the fox that had a litter of baby foxes under Pat's back shed but we'll look out for her this evening.

The back garden...perfect for dining al fresco

The view from our bedroom window....glorious!

The guest bedroom

John and I walked into town via a rather lovely park. People were out enjoying the warmth, sunbaking (sunbathing Barb, though sunbaking might actually be nearer the mark) and picnicking on the grass. Even Barb removed her cardigan! On the edge of town we walked past the very beautiful
Church of St John the Baptist. It boasts an outstanding Perpendicular-style tower and wild flying buttresses and has a majestic three storey south porch built by the abbots in the 15th Century. As we walked by a service was in progress and we could hear organ music and enthusiastic hymn singing - it was really quite magical.

Barb outside the church in Cirencester

Loving this church

The back of the church

Three storey south tower

We walked on to Black Jack Street hoping to find a café called Jack's recommended to us by Pam and Pat as having the best coffee and cakes in town. We found it! They weren't wrong about the cakes either, and we can vouch for the coffee and walnut cake now too. We walked further into the town and also found the Mountain Warehouse store much lauded by Jan & Nick on their visit here last year. We too found it well-priced and quality product and of course made some purchases.

Black Jack street

Mmmnnn....cakes!

Yum yum!

Market stalls in Cirencester

 

Down another street we finally located a Tesco supermarket. We stocked up with food for our stay here and walked home through the park laden with a couple of shopping bags, stopping now and then to admire beautiful old trees that reminded Barb of the Magic Faraway Tree, and the ducks and swans swimming in the pond.

Love this tree

Ducks and swans on the pond

We've managed to get in contact with Carmel and Nick Hall (friends from Brisbane) and have arranged to meet them at their home in nearby Swindon on Tuesday. Sadly John's old friends Ross and Judith Munro who also live nearby in Painswick are away at the moment on their canal boat, so we can't see them this visit.

We walked back into town later in the late afternoon to find somewhere to eat tonight. On the way we were able to take a better look at the church and graveyard and also examine the remains of St Mary's Abbey (another one destroyed by Henry V111).

What's left of St Mary's Abbey

The church graveyard

Ruins of the old Roman city wall

We found a very nice bar and restaurant in Black Jack Street called Cote Brasserie. It looks deceptively small from the outside but opens up when you go inside to quite a large space and an internal open courtyard. The food was great and the waiters very attentive and on the ball. We may return here again.

On the way home we found the remains of the Roman city walls. Not much left of it now, but apparently this area is full of buried artefacts dating to Roman and Norman times. Cirencester really is a lovely place full of surprises. How lucky is Pat to own a home here .... and how lucky are we that he's kindly let us use it? Thanks Pat!