Time to visit the Hippies

Lacock, to keep with the Jane Austen theme, a tiny little historic village was our first stop. Its the scene of many period dramas, including the local village in BBC pride and prejudice. And for those of you who are an avid Harry Potter fans like myself the Lacock Abbey was used for the arched hallway they are always walking along inside the school.

On the map Lacock is right next to a main road. Lets just say its signage is terrible or we were too far asleep still but many U-turns were completed, we were beginning to think even the village we could see was an illusion.

We couldn’t find our way inside the Abbey but as we were leaving we found the gate to walk through the surrounding grounds, it was unlocked. So we went in, turns out its part of the massive walking trail network of England so we weren’t breaking any rules. More is the pity it would have been fun to see mum being a bit of a rebel.

Lacock Abbey

We finally arrived in Wells, only to discover that we had spent all our change on dinner last night. We had to borrow 30p off the ticket inspector to pay for our parking! She was lovely about it though. We stupidly thought that an hour would be fine to see the cathedral, also having bought a ticket we couldn’t just top it up like a parking metre so an hour would have to do. When we finished in the cathedral we were half an hour over our ticket. (As you can tell timing is not our strong point) Power walking back to the car we decided that the Bishops Palace had to be visited, this was a lot to do with the fact that we also had not had lunch yet and a picnic in the palace grounds sounded lovely. So another ticket, a coffee shop, and co-op later and we were sitting on the well manicured lawn of the palace grounds, there were no signs saying keep off the lawn but it didn’t quiet feel right.  Then other people started to follow our lead so I settled back and enjoyed our picnic.

A bit of arm chair photography - The view from our picnic spot

 This wasnt our picnic lawn it was a keep off the grass lawn - Bishops Palace with Wells Cathedral in background 

Inside of the palace visited and we were on our way to Glastonbury.  We found our b&b and a land lord the opposite of our one from Bath. This one was like pulling teeth to get any information.  We made a dash for the Abbey and had a lovely hour or so wandering the ruins. The place is full of information but best of all it contains the apparent resting place of King Arthur and Lady Guinevere. (There is a theory that the monks needed money to rebuild their monastery after a devastating fire, so decided to find King Arthurs remains but they were reconsecrated by King Edward I so that is good enough for me)

Me with King Arthur - It may look like it but I made sure i wasnt standing on his grave

Having paid my respects to King Arthur and Lady Guinevere and overstaying my welcome in the Abbey, it was time to check out the power of Glastonbury Tor.  Having missed out on all the new age shopping for some reason they keep normal shopping hours in Glastonbury. We had an early dinner at the hundred monkeys café, being none the wiser at the end of the dinner to what monkeys had to do with Glastonbury we raced to pick up the car and find the Tor before sunset.

This once again seemed easier said than done but a few lucky turns down little country lanes and we found the stairs up.  We are pretty sure we broke many a record to get to the top and find a spot before the sun sank.  Settling down in our chosen place we joined a few others in the wonder of the sunset. I was very jealous of everyone else with their glasses of wine, it was a lot more sophisticated crowd than I expected. Guess its not quiet Hippy season yet. Whens Glastonbury festival?

Just as the sun was sinking a set of Bagpipes started up, (not just by themselves they were being played by a guy all in white with a tartan beret) and played the sun down. There was silence by all, just watching and listening. The tower of St Michael on the top of the Tor makes a perfect amplifier. At least who ever was playing the bagpipes had a little bit of talent unlike the saxophone who was wondering around the base of the Tor on our way up, he had obviously been asked to go play elsewhere by his family or friends. 

Not one of my better shots but only one i could get without any dancers in the picture

After the sun had sunk, a didgeridoo joined the bagpipes, unusual combination but it kinda worked. A few hippys came out of the woodwork and started dancing away. We decided to make it down before it got too dark, still being serenaded by the Saxophone, we shouldn’t have worried being such a clear night it was still light by the time we got home.  

After a bath being watched over by angels painted onto the ceiling, I crawled into bed not surrounded by as many candles, or crystals as expected in a Glastonbury b&b.  It was a very strange b&b our land lord never reappeared after he met us the first time. There were signs everywhere saying ring this number if you need help. No information booklet or anything. It felt like we were wandering around someones house without them knowing.  Breakfast also wasn’t till 9. This didn’t help my plan for us to start early we had a huge day the next day. But it did help my need for a sleep in.