16 years

In mid June G took a trip to Chippenham with his brother, niece and mum. The destination was this building below as it was the venue for an art exhibition of work by carers from all across Wiltshire and G's mum was one of them.

After looking around the exhibition and Chippenham itself they went onto Lacock for lunch.

If you watched the wonderful TV series Cranford a few years ago then you would recognise Lacock as the BBC filmed it in this most bea-u-ti-ful of unspolit locations. G said he was wandering around thinking 'Lisa would love this so much, I should be here enjoying this with her.' 
So after asking my mum if she would stay and look after T and S he booked us a night away to celebrate our 16th anniversary.
How totally fabulous is he!!!! 

Friday we took the train to Bath Spa, love the benches, then took the train to Chippenham

 where we wandered around the small town centre for an hour and had lunch by the river. G relaxed in the shade

and I pulled silly faces.

I didn't take too many photos but the blogger in me couldn't resist snapping a few things which caught my eye.

Like this building

the town's emblem 'unity and loyalty'

fabulously pretty doors and letterboxes

a sign for the Bear Hotel, his face looks a bit mean, but he has his arms out like he wants a hug, or maybe that's just the way I saw him?!

and I love the night bell by the front door of the hotel.

Should you ever find yourself in Chippenham I urge you to visit Magpie. It is a treasure trove of really reasonably priced collectables and it was the one place G was really looking forward to going back to as half of the shop is given over to LP's. He didn't leave empty handed.

After we finished our shopping we took the bus to Lacock. Oh my Oh my. It was jaw droppingly picturesque. I will save the photos of the village for a separate post as there are (ahem) a few.......

By now it was mid afternoon and so we went to book into our B&B. To get to it we had to walk across a field populated with sheep, most of which had taken shelter under this tree.

Next we had to cross a little bridge and this was the view to the left

and this to the right.

This pair of thatched cottages face the bridge and I wanted to get a better photo than this but one of the owners was working in their garden and so I had to take it at a distance, but I'm sure you get the idea of just how gorgeous they are.

This has to be one of the prettiest settings for a post box I have ever seen.

Just a stone's throw away is Damson Cottage where we were to spend the night. 

We were shown to our room, which was very comfortable and homely, by Dilly who runs the B&B. Whilst we sorted out our overnight things (and various purchases) Dilly made us tea and coffee. This was taken in the garden, under the shade of the apple tree whilst we listened to the Test Match. Words can not describe how totally and utterly relaxed we felt. It was completely wonderful. 

I did start off reading my new book club book but in the end I couldn't resist the lure of stretching out on the bench and I fell asleep for a while. Bliss.

We wouldn't hesitate recommending Damson Cottage to anyone who was looking for somewhere to stay in Wiltshire. G had a full English for breakfast which he said was delicious and I had the best scrambled eggs I have ever eaten. Dilly is very friendly and welcoming and the location is perfection. 
We are both hoping a return visit sometime in the future is on the cards.