On the drive from home we stopped at few Neolithic sites on Salisbury Plain. Most were closed due to Foot and Mouth disease, but that meant there were no tourists wandering amongst the stones at Avebury.

We stayed for a week in a self-catering cottage at "The Beeches", a former chicken farm converted into a B&B establishment and hobby farm. Eric and Danielle are playing an intense game of Pokemon cards, with Kevan admiring all of the powerful attacks.

The attached cottage was occupied by a family who live in Cornwall. There were two boys the age of ours, plus a 2.5 year old and a 9 month old. The owners also have two kids. Many of these kids tended to run around outside in the afternoons and evenings: riding bikes, climbing in the tree-house, etc. Kevan is setting up his stomp-rocket: you stomp on an air bladder and the the foam rocket fitted on a hollow tube shoots up: 4-5 meters for a really solid stomp, but sometimes it fizzles.

When not busy visiting historic sites or running around outside, we would also watch TV. Here Eric and Mole are watching something entrancing.

The Beeches is only a mile away from Bradford on Avon, a lovely town rising up a steep hill to the North with the Avon flowing through the town centre. There are pleasant walking paths along the river and the nearby canal. Between the river and canal was a huge ancient tithe barn (not pictured).

Saturday we visited Farley-Hungerford Castle. Note the mat soaked in disenfectant that visitors must cross on the threshold, another sign of the Foot and Mouth epidemic. Almost all footpaths in the countryside were closed as a result. A few had recently reopened, including a stretch of the Kennet-Avon canal towpath, which we were on a number of times during the week.

The view from the castle hill was lovely as green leaf buds and white blossoms covered the trees. The countryside from here to Bath is quite hilly, with rather flat ridge tops cut by deep valleys. The countryside seems much more fertile than the barren Salisbury plain we crossed on the drive from London.

The chapel (with its garden shown on the right) was the best preserved building. In the crypt under the west transept there were still lead coffins of some noble ladies and their infants, who died about nine centuries ago. There were only educated guesses as to who exactly was resting there.

The chapel interior had once been colourfully painted. There is one fading mural of St. George impaling some unfortunate dragon. The microphone on the top right was fixed to the wall, apparently to listen for the sounds of falling plaster. Not many examples of these murals survive.

The main attraction of Bowood for us and many other families on this Easter Monday was a big adventure playground. Harrr matey - shiver me timbers. Come to think of it, the weather was quite cold; and that before the cloudburst.
The secondary attraction of Bowood for the adults was the stately home of the Earl and Countess of Shelburne, who had the foresight to turn their estate into a historical theme park in order to afford the upkeep. The parents took turns minding the kids while the other toured the house (which had some interesting objets d'art). Some ancestor had been both governor general of Canada (1883-8) and Viceroy of India (1888-94) in order to make ends meet. He brought lots of fancy ivory and silver trinkets back as presents from India. The Canadians must have been cheapskates in comparison- no such gifts were on display... Then we all had tea in the Tea Room.