Bourton-on-the-Water to New Forest
April 6, 2018

We left Bourton-on-the-Water yesterday to travel down to my parents. As we were in no rush we had a late breakfast (9am).  Helen had wanted to go to a wool shop in the village but they were closed on Wednesday (randomly).  Everything only opens at 10am in most UK villages and so we had to wait for 10am anyway.  Helen discovered that the owners had friends with them and so decided to shut the store for the day and to go to the beach with them (it was around 10 degrees so a lovely beach day!).

The drive down to my parents home was about 2 hours and was relatively easy.  The traffic was light and with a stop at a ‘services’ on route we arrived at just before 1pm.  It was a beautiful clear day both in the Cotswolds as well as in the New Forest (which is where my parents live).  The temperature rose to around 14 degrees – a lovely UK spring day!

My parents live in a village called Burley Street which is almost a suburb of a slightly bigger village called Burley.  It is in the New Forest which is a protected area.  Most of the ‘forest’ was destroyed in 18th century already through a storm (4000 Oak trees were lost in one storm in 1703) and the Royal Navy who used the wood for naval ships.  It now has very few trees and is more like an open pastureland.

The unique thing about the New Forest is that horses (called New Forest ponies) just wander around in the area.  My Mom (horse whisperer!) has some ponies come regularly and get her attention by eating her roses.  She tries to chase them but they know she will give them a carrot or two and so they hang around for that.

We went in the afternoon to the shops in Ringwood which is the nearest town (about 7kms away). The British have some crazy regulations and we hit one while trying to buy paracetamol.  You can only buy a limited quantity at one time.  The ridiculous thing is that we were 4 people present but the rule doesn’t change.  So I said to the cashier then just do another transaction and she said she can’t do that either.  So I simply gave Stephen cash and sent him to another till and he paid for it separately.  It is a ridiculous rule that is so easy to circumvent it makes no sense to have it.  And for paracetamol! It wasn’t like we were trying to buy hundreds – we only had two boxes!

Until tomorrow

P, H, S, M & C

2 thoughts on “Bourton-on-the-Water to New Forest

  1. I love the New Forest! What a beautiful place to live 😃
    I had a laugh about the perfect beach day and glorious Spring weather!!!
    Enjoy your time with your folks and congratulations to your mom, Peter.

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