Charingworth Manor, near Chipping Campden

Of the places I stayed in England, Charingworth Manor was my favourite.

Eventually, a little (make that very!) exasperated and hungry, I found this hotel. Only two nights were available, which was better than one. A B&B could be found later. Actually, it was just as well that no more nights were available. This was my splurge and I would have wanted to have stayed longer. 

I paid extra for the view, which I felt I needed. It didn't matter to me that this place is four miles from town (according to Google maps). It was so comfortable here.

The manor is up a long, long driveway on a 54 acre property.

My car, parked by the office entrance.

Petals on the driveway.

Around the grounds.

I think this was behind the manor.

More scenes around the property.

The room wasn't ready, which was no surprise considering I'd arrived unannounced, so I relaxed and unwound in this sitting room with a cup of coffee and cookies.

I felt fortunate to get this room facing the front.

It's a creaky hotel but the building is several hundred years old. The room had welcoming music playing on the TV when I entered. There are two desks, a round table with two chairs, chest of drawers, a bench seat at the window, windows that open, a bathtub (yay), a robe, slippers, kettle and assortment of teas and drinks, safe, room service, etc.

I was wandering around the room wondering what it would ultimately cost. Is it the kind of place that charges for every little thing, such as the bottles of sparkling water and the still water that I already drank? (I paid for the coffee and cookies in the lounge while waiting for the room to be cleaned. At the Stephanie Inn in Oregon those things are free… although it costs more to stay there.) Just as I was getting wrapped up in these thoughts, a jet or a whole squadron of them thundered over the building. It sounded as if the roof was going to come off. I took that as a loud - very loud, and clear message from Glenn to quit that line of thinking. He would want me to stay here, no question. It was his kind of place as well. I missed seeing the jet(s) out the window but saw swallows swooping around, which felt like a positive sign, as did the pink blossom petals that had been falling on me outside.

Later I asked the desk clerk if a military base was nearby. She said, 'No. It was very unusual for a jet to fly over like that, especially so close.' The manager, from Jersey, had the same last name as a friend of mine. I wanted to say hello but he was away. Jersey sounds nice - I'd like to go there some day. 

I love the view, and I love windows that open.

There was a good assortment of refreshments and toiletries.

An iron and board are always a welcome sight in a room.

And it's nice to have slippers provided too. There is my over-priced phone, which I quite liked, from Heathrow.

A bath ...

... a shower ...

 ... and that view.

Staddle stones abound.

The Priory B&B, Burford, Oxfordshire

The Priory is mainly a restaurant, but now rooms are rented in buildings lining the courtyard in the back. They were booked completely as of the following Thursday so that determined the number of nights I would be staying in Burford (4). I was fortunate to find such a place. I wrote then that the room was around £40-50 a night including breakfast, a bargain by Burford's standards. Most hotels and B&Bs were booked up for at least part of the weekend, and prices quoted for them were mind-boggling. Burford House: £270-300. The available suite at The Bay Tree Hotel: £245 on Sunday, £174 on Monday. In Canadian dollars that would be about $280 to $480. I checked other B&Bs but had no luck.

On Sunday my room was one with a shared bathroom...

...but the next day I could move across the courtyard to a larger room with an all-important ensuite bathroom.

The courtyard

The rooms didn't come with a hair dryer. One of the young waitresses said there might be one around but she would bring in her better model from home. That's what I liked about this place - the people were so friendly and accommodating.

It likely wouldn't have been Glenn's cup of tea, being rather basic and rustic, but then that was part of its charm. It was certainly adequate and more lively (even though for two of the four nights I was the only one staying there) than the B&B in Oxford, and the rooms were much more spacious. He would have hated the shower in the 2nd room which was the kind we found in Greece - a shower open to the whole bathroom. The biggest drawback to this B&B was that there was no internet connection. Burford isn't a town that has Starbucks and the like. The only public place I could find for emailing was at the library but their times were very limited. However, the location of this B&B couldn't be more ideal - at the bottom of the hill, right on the main street.

Summertown & North Oxford - May 3, 2012

The Cotswold House B&B in Summertown is a nice looking building with 8 bedrooms. Its claim to fame is that Room 1, the 'Morse Room', was featured in an Inspector Morse novel. I'd expected to see a couple running the place but there was only a manager around in the daytime, and a younger fellow on in the evenings. I never did find out who actually owned the place and dubbed it the 'You're on Your Own B&B' for its stand-offish atmosphere.

Cotswold House B&B 

Top left: My room was tiny. There was nowhere to put luggage except on the bed when not in use, or on the floor.
Top right:  I put one suitcase on the countertop over the small fridge. Bathroom was tiny too. Shower, no tub.
Bottom left: Staircase down to main floor.
Bottom right: Breakfast room. I aimed to get down for breakfast at 7:30 the next morning. On weekends though, it didn't start until 8:00.

It wasn't raining in Oxford, so I decided to go exploring. It was cold though! I wanted to walk to Oxford to pass by my great-great-grandparents' house, which is a street over and a mile closer to town.

Scenes in Summertown, which don't show the main shopping area of stores and cafes. It wasn't too far from the B&B. The picture on the bottom right might have been close to the Woodstock Road house, which is probably considered to be in North Oxford.

In Summertown I stopped for a snack. I think this was my first experience with Costa Coffee, but not my last. There is my purple umbrella which I would lose before long.

It surprises me now to read that I got into my great-great-grandparents' house on my very first day. I didn't want to annoy the new owner by snapping pictures so I only took one interior shot, with his permission.

This house, like the rectory in Addington, was being renovated, inside and out. There was scaffolding all over, so it was difficult to see what the building really looked like. A worker happened to be out by the sidewalk as I stopped to take a picture. Told him my ancestors lived there. "Oh, do you want to talk to the owner?" he asked. And just like that he was leading me over the muddy driveway to the front door. I don't know what the owner must have thought but he graciously invited me in and told me a little about the house, most of which went over my head. Freehold, leasehold, whatever. Apparently one man owned all these properties and people leased the houses but eventually they essentially owned them... I think. He said it's difficult to tell ownership because sometimes houses were leased out, which might explain why this address is listed in the probate for Mary even though someone else apparently lived there. He talked about a time when it was cheaper for people to stay in the houses rather than rent somewhere else, so there were old ladies in many of the houses.

He handed me a piece of paper with an amazing tidbit of information. I thought so, anyway.

In 1890 (though it says from April 5, 1889) - the house was leased for 99 years to Percy, Ida and Sally Stevens. This was a shocking revelation - I'd expected it to be in the parents names. 'Ha,' I chuckled, 'Those three were always together.' Well, not always but a lot of the time. Percy was supposedly deaf so maybe the sisters helped.

But the 1891 census shows my great-great-grandfather Thomas Jones Stevens (retired) as the head of the household. He is there with Mary Maddick Stevens and three of their children Sallie (Sally), Ida and Percy, all in their 30's, and also four of their grandchildren: grandma, Kate, Arthur and Edward, ages 4-11. Maybe it was some family arrangement that the house was put in the children's names so they would have something when the parents passed on.

Ten years later, in 1901, Thomas and Mary were living in Waldon (Aylesbury), along with Sallie, while Percy and Ida were at Iffley Road. Iffley Road is in the south part of Oxford. I didn't go there.

This paper shows the house on Woodstock Road as being subleased in 1901; yet when Mary Stevens died in 1904, it was the address given for her. Percy, Ida and Sally assigned the lease to someone else in 1912. I had no idea the family was involved with the house that long.

It shows their address as being on Warnborough Road when they took on the lease, which is not far away so I planned to check that out the next day.

 I don't know what it is about blue doors but I like them.

These buildings are typical of the area

Old Stables B&B, Winslow, Bucks

Saturday, April 28, 2012

The town of Winslow was a pleasant surprise and then it got even better when I saw the B&B. It's wonderful. It has character and is very clean and nicely decorated. It's also very reasonably priced (I think there was a discount after the first night). Since another lady who had inquired about staying there wasn't coming after all, I had my choice of two bedrooms.

Exterior shot, taken later on a sunny day.

I picked my favourite of the upstairs bedrooms...

... which is next to a nice-sized bathroom with shower, bath tub (yay!) and heated towel rack (mmm).

Looking down the stairs. That's my box of Quality Street chocolates on the table.

And that's my notebook on the table.

The B&B owner is very pleasant and humourous. Since he was going away the next day, I had the run of the whole house for 4 nights of my 5 night stay. I looked forward to it immensely. I could cook, do laundry, etc. I could pretend I lived here.

Living room.

Back yard where the 'whohoohoo' sound of doves could often be heard. Church bells could be heard frequently too - it was one thing that made Winslow a stand-out for me.

 View of house across the street from front window.

There were some nice little paintings, and a framed mirror ...

... and interesting decor in general. I was very comfortable at this B&B.

Alliston - the "You're On Your Own" B&B

The Stevenson Farms B&B

$135 per night

There are not a lot of places to stay in Alliston. There is an older style motel, a large & overpriced hotel with golf course that gets some very bad reviews on TripAdvisor and this B&B. Now I'm not a big fan of B&B's to begin with but this one turned out to be a particularly bad choice.

It is in the country some distance from the town, down a long, gravel driveway. We had no car because my sister would take us everywhere. We were the only guests on our first night's stay.

It was quiet and the bed was comfortable.

This is a good place to stay if you want to:

• Find no one around upon arriving because they forgot you were coming.
• Heat the room by space heaters once you find available wall sockets.
• Cool the room by opening windows because the portable air conditioner / fan doesn't work.
• Find a spot to put your laptop by removing bulb-less lamp from tiny surface, and struggle behind large furniture to use wall socket.
• Have the internet work sporadically - mostly not work.
• Use the tv manually because the channel changer doesn't work.
• Have the toilet plug from normal use.
• Run out of toilet paper and have to grab a roll from a vacant room because the owners are nowhere to be found.
• Bathe in gritty water.
• Dry off with orange-stained towels.
• Wait around until 8:30 am for a hot breakfast.
• Find former patron's underwear in a drawer.
• Go out and return later in the day to find the bed not made and nothing refreshed in your room.
• Be cut off from the outside world because the internet doesn't work and there is no phone available to use.
• Pay more than at the lovely Marriott in Guelph and only $25 less than the Royal York in Toronto!

In short, it's a good place to come to be on your own. Completely on your own.

On the second night two women booked into the room above us. Our ceiling light fixture made strange noises whenever they walked across their floor. The next morning we went out into the kitchen and the new women were trying to fix their own breakfast. "Is this your toast in the toaster?" one asked us. "No." Apparently the owners didn't check the toaster either. I wondered how long that toast had been in there. Welcome to the Stevenson Farms B&B, ladies!

Although we were booked for three nights we couldn't stand any more and told the proprietor, once we found her, that we were leaving. She did give us a 10% discount for the internet not working. We packed up our stuff and moved into my nephew and his wife's spare bedroom for our last night, which was far, far better than this place.

Looks are deceiving. The place looks okay outside and in.

Luckily, my sister presented us with this bowl of goodies. Although we had free use of the B&B's kitchen, I don't know if bottled water was available, so we really appreciated the containers of water... as well as the banana for Glenn.

Although hot breakfast weren't served until 8:30, you could fix yourself cereal and toast. Muffins and bowls of fruit were set out early and I must say the muffins were very good.

However, I will probably never stay at a B&B again.