Saving the best till last

We set off in good time the next day, and managed the hour long trip to Bath along motorways, arriving at the Park-and-Ride station just after 10am.

Another beautiful day was emerging as we arrived in the city centre, although the kids energy and excitement levels were a bit low and needed an immediate hot-chocolate fix. Bath is too big to do quickly, and we only had a few hours to spare, so we decided to concentrate on the Medieval part of town and particularly the roman baths.

Spent a great hour learning how sophistictaed the Romans were and marvelling at the only hot springs in England. Really amazing how this area has been associated as a holy place for the Ancient Celts and Romans and then used by Anglo Saxons and Normans before falling into disrepair for over 500 years.

We grabbed a quick lunch of baguettes and pasties for the road, and then drove as fast as we could to the Warminster area, specifically Longleat Estate, the ancestral home of the Marquis of Bath, and of the first (and best) African Safari Park in the UK. We spent another fantastic 2 hours driving around the open air park, looking at giraffes, zebras, camels, antelopes (*many types), white rhinocerous, tigers, lions, cheetahs and timber wolves. Did I mention animal fetishes? We were in a frenzy, and Thomas took many great pics.

Afterwards we wandered through the grounds of Longleat House reminiscent of a scene from Brideshead Revisited. Ice creams wandering the gardens followed by a stop in the interactive animal enclosures to see monkeys, weasels, ferrets, giant snails and iguanas (fetish??)

We missed the Hedge Maze as the park was closing down, but otherwise had a fantastic day, and with the Caravan Park also within the Estate we settled down to watch a dvd (Fantastic Four) and have an early night.

The next day (yesterday) we tried to get back into the Estate to walk the Maze, but it was not possible without paying to re-enter the Park. Sadly we departed and drove the short hop to Stonehenge on a day drizzly and a good 6-8 degrees cooler than the previous two weeks have been.
Stonehenge is amazing, and humbling, and even the weather couldn't dampen our spirits as we wandered around it and marvelled at one of ancient mankind's greatest achievements.

The weather imporoved a little as we drove from Stonehenge to Old Sarum, another one of those magical places in Britain that has attracted the attention of every race to call the area home. You would think that after two weeks of castles and history we wouldn't have found anything new but that couldn't have been further from the truth. Sarum was an ancient stronghold long before the Norman conquest, and despite almost all of the original stonework having been dismantled during the Civial War or stolen for mundane building purposes, we still managed to get a very clear picture of what life must have been like here 1,000 2,000 and even 4,000 years ago.

In beautiful sunshine we dropped down the hill into Salisbury for a wander and a look at the beautiful Cathedral. Another magical hour including having the Chaplain of the Cathedral leading the kids around the church on a historical treasure-hunt,and finding the crypt of the 12th century Earl of Salisbury (half-brother to King Richard the Lion Heart and Bad King John of the Magna Carta!

A quick afternoon tea and it was time to leave for our campsite just eat of town, which as nestled on a hillside allowing the kids to run through wooded slopes in their new Norman Knight dressups both by sunset and torchlight. Ahhh!

What a pity that we're heading back towards London and the end of this amazing, magical mystery tour.

We will try to get one last entry done tomorrow, but if not, we will see you all soon in Oz.

Love from us!