Silk Cottage
Silk Cottage was built in the early 1800’s and is part of a small row of cottages connected to the old silk mill by an arch over the drive. As the mill was powered by water, a small river (I haven’t discovered the name of it…yet!) runs alongside it. The mill and these four cottages are located at the bottom of a steep hill, which is peppered with other cottages as well. After descending the hill and walking under the arch, there is a set of steps and a main walkway which runs in front the cottages, with each cottage then having its own walkway to the door. Silk Cottage is the cottage at the far end and is snuggled up against the hill. Unlike Alice’s larger cottage, Silk Cottage has no windows facing to the rear; all four windows face forward only. The walkway to the door, as well as the private seating area in front which will be perfect for enjoying an early breakfast outdoors, is surrounded by flowers and greenery. The key safe is located next to the door and I won’t mind telling you that I had a bit of trouble getting the key out! Finally I got it right and here was a skeleton key for the door in my hot little hand.
The Kitchen
I opened the door and walked straight into the kitchen. There are only four rooms in Silk Cottage: the kitchen and bathroom are located on the first floor; the parlor (or living room) is located on the second floor, and the bedroom is located on the third floor. When I first walked into the kitchen, I faced two doors directly across from the front door. The door on the left leads to the bathroom while the door on the right leads to the very, very steep staircase. The kitchen is fairly modern and has wonderful tiling and a table for two next to the window. The rental company left me some homemade tea cakes and milk in the fridge and a tray of coffee and tea on the table as well as fresh flowers; so very thoughtful. All of the appliances are miniature in size since the kitchen and the cottage itself are so small. Perfect for one or two people, to be sure.
The Bathroom
After opening the door that leads to the bathroom; there is a small closet area which holds a washing machine. There isn’t a dryer but there is a drying rack outside. The bathroom is very nice: a nice deep tub with a hand-held shower head for washing and rinsing your hair. No shower curtain; so it’s a long, luxurious bath every night for me. Can’t you just feel my heart breaking? Not! The only downside to the bathroom is the fact that I’ve found four spiders in there so far.
The Stairwell
The stairs that go up to the parlor and the bedroom are the steepest I’ve ever seen (though I think my grandmother may have had stairs like these to her attic, but I can’t recall precisely). Having already slipped on them once, I am taking the utmost care in climbing and descending them. There are all sorts of interesting things to look at in the stairwell. Pictures, a display shelf of old-fashioned cameras, a collection box of antique thimbles painted with the faces of famous historical figures, a baby’s plate featuring George VI and his wife, etc, etc. When coming down the stairs and just as you are to enter the kitchen, there is a sign on the doorway which says “Mind Your Head”. Okie dokie! Luckily, I’m not in any danger of hitting my head on there; but if I were any taller, it might be an issue.
The Parlor
The parlor is very warm and welcoming. There is a little red settee with lovely pillows, an antique chair and a very nice woodstove in the fireplace. There are two windows in this room, each one with a window seat. I should mention at this point that the color scheme throughout the house runs to butter, cream and burgundy. Quite nice, really. There is a large basket filled with firewood and kindling next to the woodstove, an information notebook (as well as a basket of brochures downstairs in the kitchen) with suggestions of where to go, what to do, and recommended pubs in the area. There are even some maps showing the various walking paths within and around Blockley as well as the rest of the Cotswolds. A small collection of books as well as a closet which contains several jigsaw puzzles and games are in there as well for keeping me occupied.
The Bedroom
The bedroom is charm itself. An old-fashioned brass bed, a handmade throw, a white wicker chair, and antiques fill the room. The window gives the best view of the area and has white eyelet curtains on bars that swing open and shut over the window. As in the rest of the rooms, there are exposed beams of dark wood and what appears to be the original wood flooring. The mattress is extremely comfortable and the bedding is quite pretty. It’s just the kind of room I’d like to have at home. Quite lovely.
Last Night
The first night in the cottage was wonderful. As tired as I was from all the traveling, I decided to settle in right away. All the girly-get-ready stuff went into the bathroom, the books and electronics went into the parlor, and everything else went into the bedroom. There is a TV in the bedroom and one in the parlor as well; however, I have yet to get the TV in the bedroom to work. I’m sure it is something simple that I’m overlooking, like usual. On the other hand, how nice it is to lounge in bed and not have a box of noise shouting at me. I think it makes for a more restful experience. The TV in the parlor works well, however, and so I watched a little TV before going down to the kitchen to have my dinner of the sandwich and Coke that I’d purchased in Moreton-in-Marsh earlier in the day. Following that, I decided to take a hot, relaxing bath. Ahhhh. In Iraq, we do not have bathtubs and since we live in dry (no bathroom attached) containers, I have to share an ablution trailer with many other women. It doesn’t bother me very much; but I definitely appreciated the tub and the privacy here. Once my bath was done, it was time to write. I didn’t feel like writing in the parlor; so I took the netbook and camcorder to the bedroom with me. And that’s when I discovered that something is wrong with my camcorder. I can’t get it to turn on. So tomorrow when I go back into the village to get online again, I’m going to Google what I can do to fix it; in the meantime, however, this means no video uploads until I can figure out what’s gone wrong, sorry. I wrote late into the night; it felt so good not to be pressured by time: time to go to sleep, time to wake up, time to go to work, time to go home. I just wrote to my heart’s content and felt then, as I’m feeling now, a strong sense of peace and contentment. I truly wish that I could spend my life like this. The solitude is soothing, the environment is just right and I feel happy. At last sleep beckoned; I turned out the light and snuggled in under the bedding and drifted off to Dreamland.
Carrie and Emily
I woke this morning to birds singing in the trees. It took me a minute to realize where I was and when I did, I must have had the biggest smile on my face. I just laid there in bed, listening to the birds, for a long, long while. The room was filled with light. Eventually, I got out of bed and went down to the kitchen for a glass of milk. Then I went up to the parlor and watched TV for a while. Television here is a little disappointing because they have a lot of American TV shows on and not as many English TV shows as I would have liked to have seen. Ah well. So after a while, I turned off the TV and decided to start a jigsaw puzzle. There is a good-sized coffee table in the parlor for this very activity, thank goodness. After working on the puzzle for a while, I told myself, “Self, get ready and go outside!” Part of me really wanted to spend the day hiding away in this little piece of heaven; but I also know that a balance should be reached between solitude and socializing. I’m actually a pretty shy person; but since the divorce, I’ve made myself be more outgoing and each time I do, it’s rewarding in that I make new friends and I have new experiences. My tendency to hide away is still the stronger urge of the two, though. In any case, I got dressed, put on my makeup and then fought with my hair (giving up as usual and clipping it up in back to get it out of the way). I grabbed my netbook bag and my purse (as well as the cute skeleton key) and headed out the door. And then that first breath of the outside morning air hit me. I wish I could somehow convey the scent of the air here. Hemingway could do it with no problem, I’m sure. The best that I can do is to say that the air was heavy with the scent of flowers while the breeze was light and cool on my face. The weather here, according to everyone I’ve spoken with, has been perfect. The sun is out and the temperature is just right. A soft blue sky with beautiful fluffy clouds; green grass and flowers in every direction. This is my Heaven. So I walked down the walkway, admiring everyone’s gardens, until I arrived at Alice’s cottage and ran into her mother and younger sister enjoying tea outside. Her mom, who I’d met the night before but couldn’t remember her name, is Carrie and Alice’s younger sister is Emily. We had a nice chat about the mill and the cottages before I said my goodbyes and headed up the hill.
Blockley Village
The hill leading down to Silk Cottage is a piece of cake…down being the key word here. Going up is a whole other potato. It is seriously steep! I only had to stop twice to catch my breath, so perhaps that’s not too bad. I reached the main road and then followed the signs to Blockley Village. I passed by the village green; the walking path rose up alongside the roadway (cut into another hill; I can tell that I’m going to get some serious exercise on this vacation just walking to the village and back every day!) and that’s when I got a stunning view of the hills in the distance. I dug all through my purse looking for my camera (since the camcorder is on the fritz) only to find that the camera was back at the cottage. Dang me! I stood there for a while, just drinking in the view. As you may or may not know, the English primarily use hedges and stone walls to define their property lines. The effect of that is beautiful. After a while, I continued on. I reached the other side of the village green and headed for the high street (in the States it’s called “Main Street”). As I walked, I could see the top of the church’s bell tower and clock in the distance; like everything else around here, it was amazing. Who knew I loved old buildings so much?! Not me; I’m just as surprised as anyone else. I did hear the bells every hour while I was out; they sound incredible. It’s truly easy to feel as if you’ve been transported to another place in time out here. After a while, I found the Blockley Village Shop & Café. As with everything here, it is located in a very old building. There is a red phone booth (one of the old-fashioned ones that London is famous for) just outside the shop along with a stand of fresh fruits and vegetables. There were a fair amount of people milling around outside. It is a gathering place for the locals to meet, shop, have a bite to eat and/or a spot of tea, etc. I was completely won over. The interior of the shop itself is very small and cramped; however, the café opens off to the right and is quite nice indeed.
Jenny, Yvonne and the couple from Stratford-on-Avon
I was seated by a very nice woman named Jenny and although the shop sells soda, the café does not serve it. So I ordered an apple juice (and OMG it was soooo good!) along with a buttered bagel with scrambled eggs and bacon on top. England and I completely see eye-to-eye on the topic of food. There is no need for fancy-schmancy ingredients nor is there a need to make the food spicy or salty or peppery. Just a buttered bagel lightly toasted, still soft. Just plain eggs, no other additions. Just bacon cooked perfectly (not too limp, not too crispy). The bacon here is more like ham at home in appearance; there is no stripe and it is delicious! Even my sandwich last night was plain, hearty and delicious; just the way a sandwich should be, in my opinion. Anyway, the café offers free wireless broadband access; so I whipped out my netbook while I was waiting for my lunch and hopped online. I was very tempted to check my work email; however, I promised a colleague that I would not do so on this vacation and so instead I checked my personal email accounts and then uploaded last night’s entry to this blog. It was a little hard to concentrate because I was so busy people-watching. Jenny and her co-workers were busy bringing in a delivery and so there was a lot of chattering going on amongst them. I watched people coming in and out of the shop while I ate my lunch. After a while, it quieted down and then Jenny and one of her co-workers, a woman named Yvonne, came in and sat down in the café for a piece of cake (which I plan to purchase a piece tomorrow along with a nice bottle of wine for my birthday) and a “cuppa” (cup of tea, for those who don’t know what a “cuppa” is). We had a long and lovely conversation, in the middle of which a nice couple from Stratford-on-Avon arrived for tea (they visit the Cotswolds during the week to avoid the crowds), and they were all interested in my experiences in Iraq as well as learning about Oregon just as I was in meeting them and learning about the village’s history and future. Tomorrow the bank holidays commence; which means that shops open later and close earlier or don’t open at all. The village tried a year ago to purchase the property across the way so that they could have larger premises; unfortunately, they could not raise the 600,000 GBP to do so. They recently obtained council permission to build new premises down the road and are in the middle of raising the money for that. It’s always so interesting to learn about other people’s lives and about a community’s efforts to improve things.
Shopping
After lunch, I went into the shop portion of the building and purchased a few things to take back to the cottage with me: apple juice, pear juice, orange juice, Coke (okay, okay!), a homemade single-size chicken and ham pie, a small block of local white cheddar cheese, some single-serve boxes of cold cereal and green grapes. Food shopping has to be done daily or at the latest, every other day as the fridge is so small and there is little room in the cupboards. The total came to a little over 22 GBP (that’s including lunch). I’m not certain if that’s a good deal or not; probably not since rural food prices are almost always higher than urban due to supply-and-demand. And even though I’m carefully watching the pence (pennies for you Yanks); I’m also trying to remember that it is the experience that I’m looking for on this vacation and I need to balance frugality with a carefree attitude. Yvonne and Jenny told me that fresh croissants are made each morning along with fresh-baked bread. Mmmmm…bread! I informed them that I would be popping in each day for lunch and to upload my latest writings to this blog as well as visit with them; they assured me that I would be most welcome and that they are looking forward to seeing me again tomorrow. I absolutely love it here.
Tonight
After returning to Silk Cottage with my purchases, I put away the groceries. On the way back, I passed the Great Western Arms pub where I’ll be enjoying dinner this coming Tuesday night. I’d spent quite a long time at the café and was happy that the socialization gauge was reading full. Now it was time for some peace and quiet. I took another long, hot bath surrounded by loads and loads of bubbles and then afterwards went up to the parlor. It completely slipped my mind to heat up my pie for dinner; that’s okay, it’ll be there for dinner tomorrow instead. I got a good fire going in the woodstove and curled up on the settee to read. It was so pleasant: the sounds of the fire crackling, the smell of the wood, the soft lighting and the interesting book. Just exactly the kind of moment I love to be in. I can see where this would be quite the romantic place to be as a couple; however, for a singleton like me, it’s just as perfect. Once the fire burned down to embers, I closed up the house and headed upstairs to begin writing. And here is where I stop since Sleep beckons me with an inviting smile.
Tomorrow: Happy 43rd birthday to me!
Absolutely beautiful : )
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