Wilfred at Stonehenge and Bath

Hello!  It’s me, Wilfred!  And I'm still in London with my two dads.

Some people think England will turn me into a posh London Schoolboy...

April Fools!!

Last week, I had a bad cold and I nearly missed a whole week of school, but Poppy and Daddy took me to a paediatrician to get medicine so that I could be better for BIRTHDAY WEEK!  And good news!  I am (almost) better!  I still have a cough and take yucky medicine that Poppy puts in my orange juice, but I am back to school.  And most important, we got to go on our trip to Bath and STONEHENGE!

To get to Bath, we took the Great Western Railway from Paddington Station.   The Great Western Railway was the very first railway line in the world.

Me at Paddington Station



Me on the Great Western Railway

In Bath, we found a taxi near the train station and took it to our B&B, Marlborough House. 

Me and Poppy at our Bath B&B


With a MAGNOLIA like home!

By the time we dropped off our suitcase and saw our room, the sun was going down.  The man who runs the B&B told us good places close by for us to have dinner and he drew Dad a map.

Our B&B was near a famous Bath place called the Royal Crescent.


Me and Dad and the Royal Crescent

Most of Bath is built of the same kind of stone and most of it was built in the Georgian times.  The Georgian times were before Queen Victoria when there were three kings in a row named George.   The Crescent looks like one big building on a hill over a park.  It is really a bunch of houses, a hotel and a museum all joined together - but you can’t tell that from the outside. 



Me and the Royal Crescent daffodils

The Royal Crescent lawn has big patches of daffodils.  It was a warm evening and lots of people were outside.  I played with some nice little girls on the lawn and their mum took a picture of me and my dads. 

Me and my dads

After, we walked by another famous Bath place called, the Circus.  It is like the Crescent, except  the Circus goes all the way around in a circle.  In the middle are big old trees around a well (with a cap on it).  Dad told me that servants from the houses used to come there to get their water and gossip.  But it is not a good place to tell secrets, because when you make noise, you can hear it echo right around the circle.  If you go there, you can do like my dads and I did.  Clap your hands and you can hear three claps coming back to you!



Me and Poppy in the Circus near Gay Street and down the hill into Bath

We found our little Italian restaurant, Cafe Rustico, in a street by the Crescent. 

Dinner was very good, but I was too sleepy to eat at grown up time, so after my pasta I laid on my bench seat and fell asleep under my coat.  Dad carried me back to the B&B.

The next day, after a big organic vegetarian breakfast, my dads and I walked through the old town of Bath.   We saw some cool shops with neat stuff.   Sadly, our camera quit working, so Poppy had to buy a new one and get it to work and try not to be frustrated.  

Me looking at Pulteney Bridge

One thing I really liked that I saw was an old bridge called the Pulteney Bridge.  It is a stone bridge with shops and apartments on it, sort of like old London Bridge once upon a time, but now it is one of only two like it in the world.  The other is in Italy.

In the centre of Bath is the Abbey (which I guess is another word for big church).  There has been a big church here for more than a thousand years.   



The Rebecca Fountain by the Bath Abbey

Me inside Bath Abbey

Beside it was a big square where a guy was playing guitar and I danced with a little red-headed girl.

Dancing with the little red-headed girl

The thing that Bath is most famous for is next door to the Abbey – the Roman Baths. 


Me, Poppy and a long line for the baths

Because there was such a long line to get into the baths, we made a plan to come back and instead we got on a Mad Max Minibus to STONEHENGE!

On our way to Stonehenge, we stopped at the olden village of Lacock. 

Me and Poppy explore Lacock

In England, it used to be that a rich man or lady lived in a castle or a big house (they were called the lord or lady of the manor) and they owned all the land.  Everybody who lived in a village or on a farm rented from them and did not own their homes or farms or businesses.   After the World War taxes got so high, lords and ladies had two choices: sell their land or gave it away.  The lady of Lacock manor gave the village to the National Trust.   

The children's school

The spooky tithe barn was sometimes a jail in the 1400s

Spooky olden jail/barn with ghosts... or maybe dust...

People still live in Lacock as they have for hundreds of years, but they cannot change the way it looks.  And it looks exactly the same as when the buildings were built mostly in the 14, 15 and 1600s.  Lacock used to be famous for wool and sheep.  Nowadays, people come here just to look around or make movies.



Beyond the church is Harry Potter's house



Harry Potter's house in Lacock

This funny gate kept the sheep out of the churchyard

The sheep



The George Inn is so old, they still have a dog wheel to turn the spit in the fireplace to cook dinner! (but no dog...)

I walked a tightrope in the inn's backyard!



In Lacock, even the cats are friendly

Mad Max drove through the countryside. Dad took pictures of English cottages with thatched roofs. 

Mad Max said that only poor people had roofs made out of sticks and straw, but now thatched roofs are protected. People who still have them on their cottages can't change them.  Mad Max said that roof thatchers used to leave their thatcher's mark on the roof made out of straw.  Dad pointed out a thatcher’mark that looked like two pheasants sitting on the roof!



Can you see the pheasants on the roof?  They are made of straw thatch.

Finally, we were at Stonehenge.  It turns out that Stonehenge is a bunch of giant rocks standing in a field.  And they are HUGE!  Nobody knows why it is here on the top of this hill, but it is very old.  Stonehenge is so old, it was a ruin when the Romans got here two thousand years ago!  Can you even believe it? 



How the stones got here is a MYSTERY

Henge meanings “hanging” so the name means, hanging stone.    Nobody knows for sure how the long ago people could have built it without machines.  The stones weigh tons and tons and somehow they got them here on this hill from miles away.  It is a MYSTERY.  Nobody even knows why they did it.  But it must have been very important. 

Nobody knows EXACTLY what they were for.



Not even my dad.

What do you think?

Lots of people are buried here, because they found thousands of old, old graves - mounds of them.   My audio guide told me that on the longest and shortests day of the year, the sun rises over a special stone and casts a shadow. Some people think this means it was a calendar for long ago farmers.  Or a place to look at stars.   I told Dad, I think it looks like a temple.



Mad Max told us that they are going to close the road up to Stonehenge so that it will be more peaceful like in olden times.  He said they are going to have a train that brings people from a new farther away parking lot.

 I can’t wait to come back.  When they have the train, it will be perfect. 

The next day, we went to the reason why Bath exists – the Roman Baths! 

Once upon a long ago time, a boy named Bladud had a terrible skin disease.  People were afraid of him and sent him to live with the pigs.  The poor pigs caught the disease from Bladud and ran away.  Bladud found them rolling in strange hot steaming mud.  When he finally got the pigs out of the hot swamp, he saw the pigs’ skin was all better.  And so was his!  The people came to roll in the mystery mud, which they said was a gift from a goddess, Sulis.  

Statue of Bladud, a boy and his pig...with nice skin

Years later, the Romans came.  They dug away all the mud and collected the hot water bubbling from the ground in a pool.  They also thought it could cure sick people and that it was a gift from their goddess.  They built a big public bath place inside a temple.  When the Roman’s left, new people came called Saxons.  They didn't like Roman stuff and didn’t like to take baths, so Bath was pretty much forgotten.  Then one day, the Queen of England could not have a baby.  She would try anything, so somebody said – go have a bath in the mystery water, so she did.  And guess what?  She had a baby!  Can you even believe it?  By now, it is the Georgian times.   The Georgians tore down all the Saxon stuff and built stuff that looked more like old Roman stuff and now there is a big museum there.

 

The Romans had a roof, but the Georgians thought this looked better.

The museum is very cool.  I listened to my audio guide and looked at the artefacts (which is a word that means old mostly broken stuff people found) and then we went into the baths.

 

Bath, England, has the most complete Roman bath left in the world.  It is also the only hot spring in England.  The hot water bubbles up from a VOLCANO deep down underground and it is full of good for you but stinky minerals.    



This is a model of Bath 2000 years ago

Me and an olden Bath lady being Roman



Me and Poppy by the bath

Me and Dad by the Roman bath

Water in, water out.  I explain how it works.

Me roman in the gift shop...

After that, we went to the Grand Parade (which is a park by the river Avon where Georgians walked to show off their fancy clothes).  

The Parade by the Avon

An angel watching the parade

I met a little boy there and he had a TRAIN we could play with!  The perfect ending to a perfect day!


Well, that is all I have to say for this week. .. except one thing - NOW I AM SEVEN!!  My Aunt Debbie and Uncle Gord and my cousin Lianne are here to help me celebrate.  This week we start a month long Easter vacation at Ravenstone, so I am sure to have lots more adventures to tell you about next time! 

Bye for now!  Wilfie