| Jul 29, 2006 - Chipping Campden, the Cotswolds
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 | | show all 15 | | Chipping Campden | | view of town from our window | | thatched cottage | | |
| We have been staying in Chipping Campden, one of the larger towns in the Cotwolds. It's a nice little town, full of yellow sandstone row houses and thatched roof cottages, surrounded by fields of rapeseed, barley and lots of sheep. The British seem to be almost as friendly as the Irish, and so far, everywhere we have gone, we have been greated very warmly. Our B&B is a great little place right on the main street of town. It's nice to be staying someplace more than one or two nights, allowing us to feel more settled and not constantly unpacking and repacking again and again. The drive from Claire's was about 2.5 hours with light traffic, so we made good time, arriving around noon, with blue skies and continued warm weather. We ate lunch at a little pub near our B&B, sharing a table in the shade of the garden with an older man who lives in a nearby town. He was a friendly chap and we had a nice time chatting with him.
We spent the rest of the day walking around town, and after a long nap, went up to St. James Church, where we experienced what Rick calls a 'Backdoor Moment'. It was a beautiful evening, and we were walking around the churchyard looking at the old gravestones when a group of guys asked me if I was a 'ringer'. I told him no, not knowing what the heck he was talking about. A little while later another guy came up to me asking the same thing. After telling him, 'well, I don't think so, but I have no idea what a ringer is' - he laughed and asked if we would like to go up to the top of the church tower and watch them ring the bells. We followed an older woman in her 70's who practically ran up a narrow, dark, winding staircase to a room where there was a group of about 8 people. They were of various ages, from a 12 year old boy to the older woman who brought us up. They explained that they were 'ringers' - people who go around to various churches ringing the bells. There were about 7 or 8 ropes, each with a colored band of red, white and blue, which they pull in unison, to ring the bells. After taking us up to the top of the tower for some spectacular views of the town and surrounding countryside, they invited us to watch them practice and even let us try it out. They made it look pretty easy, after all, how hard is it to ring a bell? Well, there's a little more to it than just pulling the rope. There is a certain technique to it, and both Candi and I found out just how difficult it is. Not physically so, as you really didn't have to pull very hard, but it's the way you pull and then allow the rope to gently pull your arms up, where you then pull just hard enough to pull the bell into an upward arc, resting in the up position until you gently pull it down again. After a few tries at pulling the ropes, they politely took the ropes back from us (we won't quit our day jobs). Evidently, these 'ringers', who come from the surrounding area (one of them came from as far away as Edinburgh), meet at various churches to practice and even get paid to ring the bells for weddings (not much, only about £5 per person - but they don't do it for the money obviously).
The next day we walked to the nearby village of Broad Campden, about a mile away, then walked back and rented bikes riding to 'Hidcote Manor', which has some beautiful gardens. The gardens are made up into a series of 'rooms' such as the red room, rose room, etc., each separated by hedges. We continued to ride through the countryside through several small villages, up and down gently rolling hills and past fields. It was a great ride, but we decided to cut it short when the storm clouds started rolling in. We got back to town in time for afternoon tea, which I had never had before. It was a 2-tiered tray of crustless cucumber and butter sandwhiches, scones, cakes and of course, a big pot of tea. Later we saw a parade of men come thorugh town, playing what sounded like German oompah music. They were called 'Morris Dancers', dressed in white and strange hats with bells strapped to their arms and legs. They stopped in the town square and did some dances, which involved waving white hankies, stomping their feel and slapping their thighs. Some of them came from the U.S., doing a tour of Britain. Niether Candi or I had every heard of this type of dancing. It seemed German, but maybe it's an English thing? who knows. |
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