Headed off from the Edward Hotel about 9.30am towards Chippenham. It isn't far and we couldn't get our room until the usual 2.00pm, so headed for Cheltenham.
It is worth a look and is a very attractive town with wide streets, and tons of shops of all kinds, from designer stuff down to the ubiquitous "Pound Shop" (read Dollar shop for Australia). Cheap and nasty stuff in shops I will go into, but hope nobody sees me coming out of!
Found a good car park and Lee bought a shirt, and then we walked around a bit. Very nice stone in the buildings, of Corsham or Bath stone, and it was a pleasant sunny day with lots of people around. We think it is quite an affluent town compared with Gloucester, which is only a short distance away.
On to Chippenham via Cirencester, which we had been to on the last trip in 2007,but this time came in from another direction and the houses are really attractive in that lovely stone used everywhere in the area. From just out of Cirencester we kept seeing signs indicating the direction of "Amy and Anton's Reception". Obviously a wedding, but the signs appeared for miles and miles, almost all the way to Castle Combe.
As we came into Chippenham, we decided to go on to Calne, which is an area in Lee's family history for the ancestors with names like Parfit/Perfect; Sage, and Little in her Loveridge family. Walked to St,Mary the Virgin Church and spoke to a very helpful local man, who told us some of the history of the area. Then we did the required look around the graveyards, but some of the stones are so old and are of the same stone as the church, and they don't work well as headstones.
We had a really nice lunch at a little cafe, and they did simple salads, of ham and salad or cheese and salad, and so we had one each and shared the ham & cheese. Just nice plain simple salads like you used to have when you were growing up.
Another Premier Inn tonight, but this one didn't have such an interesting menu as some others, and you start to get sick of "pub" meals. They all seem to come with chips! Lee had lasagne, and I had a very disappointing plate of slow-cooked pork ribs with a glazy sauce. Trouble is the pork ribs were probably sitting there and all they did was pour a sauce over them! And, the accompanying veg was a poor overcooked piece of corn on the cob, grilled tomato, chips and coleslaw!!! Not a combination I would ever think of having on one plate.
When you stay at Premier Inn, (which we am more than happy with for many reasons), it usually comes with a chain restaurant "attached", like 'Brewers Fayre', 'Table to Table', 'Beefeater', and 'Brewer and Chef' , and they all have their own cooks and staff. Most are excellent, but just sometimes things tire a little, and they drop their game. It can't be easy having such extensive menus, and wondering how many servings you will need, but if you're out there in the market, the standards have to be maintained or people will stop coming.
We had a really nice lunch at a little cafe, and they did simple salads, of ham and salad or cheese and salad, and so we had one each and shared the ham & cheese. Just nice plain simple salads like you used to have when you were growing up.
Another Premier Inn tonight, but this one didn't have such an interesting menu as some others, and you start to get sick of "pub" meals. They all seem to come with chips! Lee had lasagne, and I had a very disappointing plate of slow-cooked pork ribs with a glazy sauce. Trouble is the pork ribs were probably sitting there and all they did was pour a sauce over them! And, the accompanying veg was a poor overcooked piece of corn on the cob, grilled tomato, chips and coleslaw!!! Not a combination I would ever think of having on one plate.
When you stay at Premier Inn, (which we am more than happy with for many reasons), it usually comes with a chain restaurant "attached", like 'Brewers Fayre', 'Table to Table', 'Beefeater', and 'Brewer and Chef' , and they all have their own cooks and staff. Most are excellent, but just sometimes things tire a little, and they drop their game. It can't be easy having such extensive menus, and wondering how many servings you will need, but if you're out there in the market, the standards have to be maintained or people will stop coming.
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