Gingerjo’s Blog

After some deliiberation this morning we decided not to tour the Wadworth Brewery in Devizes as we struggled to see what it could possibly offer that was worth ten pound each. We decided to visit Cheddar Gorge instead even though it was quite a long drive and not in any way on the road to Bath.

It was a pleasant drive through some beautiful countryside and the gorge itself is spectacular. There’s a small ‘theme park’ at the base of the gorge based around their show caves. We easily spent the whole day there looking around the caves, the museum, and the cheese, wine, cider, fudge and gift shops. We also had a snack in Poppy’s Tiny Tea Shop and they’re not lying - it is titchy but very pleasant. On the whole the gorge attractions were worth the sixteen pound admission fee, although the crystal cave is cheesy if you’re feeling generous or just plain rubbish if you’re not.

We drove to Bath after dark relying on the satnav. Worryingly Jane doesn’t seem to know her left from her right and she kept trying to persuade us to turn down roads that didn’t exist. At least Mark had someone else’s directions to complain about for a change. Parking at the Travelodge was challenging but the location is good - next to the river and only a few hundred yards of the city centre.

After a short mooch we found a fantastic Nepalese restaurant called Yak Yeti Yak. I’d never eaten Nepalese before but I’d thoroughly recommend it.

We visited Avebury again today. It really is a fantastic place. Once again we were blessed with lovely weather and fairly low numbers of other visitors.

They were giving guided tours of the stone circles and the manor so we went on both. We’d arrived too late to see the house last time, but it seems this was just as well. When there was a tenant living there you could hardly see any of the rooms, but now they’ve moved out you get to see lots of rooms. It’s not what I expected. It’s much older and more higgledy piggledy.

According to the circle tour guide a lot of the stones were broken up in the seventeenth century to build the village, but many of the other missing stones were buried in the 1300s because they offended the church. Seems like thet did us a favour for a change - otherwise the village would probably be bigger. In the 1930s an amateur archaeologist set about reinstating the stones and they even found a mediaeval skeleton under one of them. Look like they were crushed when pulling them down.

We then had a pint in a lovely thatched pub just outside Avebury on the road to Silbury Hill, before heading back to Devizes.

In the evening we had a nice meal in The Crown, a Wadwoth pub just a few yards from the brewery. We’re planning a tour of the brewery in the morning.

Having bought a new mobile to kill the time while driving down to Wiltshire I thought I’d see if my phone can blog. It seems successful so far.

Anyway, Mark and I are heading off to Devizes in Wiltshhire for a couple of days. Then we’ve got another couple of nights booked in Bath. When we visited Wiltshire in 2006 we didn’t have long enough to see everything we were interested in. We always said we’d visit again but this is the first chance we’ve had.

We really need this break too. It’s been a hell of a year. After all the preparations for the wedding, flying out to Vegas, working like a woman possessed over the summer, this is the first real chance I’ve had to catch my breath. I’m really looking forward to a few stress-free days before the slog begins again.

We don’t really have any plans for our trip. I guess we’ll collect some leaflets and perhaps pop in the Tourist Info in the morning. There’s a brewery though so that’s Mark sorted!