Day 10 - Hereford

We started the day with a quick drive from Birmingham to Hereford. We actually went to Leonminster first. We stopped and went to the town market and found some scones and shortbread. They were both pretty good. 

We were still hungry so we walked around a little more and found a little bakery in town. Drew had a Hot Crossed Bun, which is just a roll with raisins and that criss cross of whatever that is, and Cheri had an Apple Custard Danish with hot chocolate.

Van Kampen Gardens at Hampton Court was beautiful, and of course Cheri was interested in finding the locations she’d chosen for her book. They did discover one secret passageway right after the tower that wasn’t mentioned on the website when she originally did her research, so she has decided to add it.

The maze was really fun, and there were more than enough dead-ends for poor Danielle to be distressed by. Drew and Cheri had heard a trick to mazes, which does work, and they didn’t get lost. So perhaps Ethan knew the same trick. Of course it’s certainly possible that he would—being as old as he is. If you ask, maybe we’ll tell you.

We found out while there that the house will be open to visitors tomorrow, and it normaly isn't ever open to visitors, so we're going back tomorrow. Oh, and we saw some contruction workers having tea and scones for their break. Just not used to "construction workers" taking a tea break. Hmm.

Herefordshire is very pretty with rolling lush hills that are lined with hedges and some trees. There appears to be more farmland than development. And Cheri was more interested in the area since it is where her great grandfather and his family are from. They went to two churches where relatives are buried. The one was built in the 1100’s.

Castle House Hotel is where we are staying. And the room is the most impressive so far. It's called the "Royal Suite," is very large and quite luxurious, and it also has those towel warmers but better because they have more bars. The biggest drawback is that we are actually paying for this one. Interesting note: if you look at the desk in the corner and next to the flowers you will see something that looks like brandy. We didn’t touch it, well, we smelled it, and that’s what we think it is. That’s something we’ve never seen in a hotel room before. Then on the table in the center, there is a bowl of fresh fruit and by the desk is two bottles of that lovely “still” water.

Dinner was at The Spread Eagle. We don’t know why it’s called that but the food was good. That “starter” was a creamy mushroom thing, very yummy. And the dessert was a bread and butter bread pudding with cream. We tucked in (That's a British way of putting it.) before we remembered to take a picture, so you get a shot of the remains instead. And Drew was asked if he wanted a pint or halfpint of coke. That was a weird way to order soda, and they did have it on tap, so apparently bars and pubs do it that way.