Chester

Town clock

There is a 2 story arcaded shopping area

Part of old Roman wall

Steepest street in England

Shrewesbury and Long Mynd (Long Mountain)

We saw this paraglider. The boys were happy that they were on the ground!

Stratford on Avon

Clock tower

We went to see a play at the Swan Theater. It was fantastic. The actors spoke Olde English and were fantastic...although we couldn;t understand everything they said!

Side view of Anne Hathaway's cottage

Cotswolds

The view from Dovers Hill.

They "count" their sheep!

Another view from Dovers Hill

The old market place in Chipping Camden.

All the houses in Chipping Camden are made of stone.

This house in Broad Camden has a thatched roof.

This house has a slate roof. See the stone fence.

This is Broadway Tower, the smallest and "tallest" castle in the Cotswolds.

Brecon Beacons and the Big Pit Coal Mine

The train we saw in the Beacons

We saw this sheep open the lid to the salt box (used in the winter for the steep roads) and having a snack of salt!

This was draw bridge over the River Avon. It was a "push bridge" since  done by hand and not an engine.

We went to a coal mine, down 300 feet! No pictures below since the only batteries allowed were for the lights on our hard hats. We wore a belt that weighed 12 lbs with a battery pack and emergency breathing device like miners use to wear.

Here was our guide for the mine tour. He worked in the mines when he was younger. In the 1800s children from the age of 5 use to work in the mines to open and shut doors. They worked in complete darkness, earned a penny a day for 12 hours work. The only school hey went to was Sunday School to learn how to read and write. They use to have lots of rats since they used horses to pull the coal carts and there was horse feed in the mines.

Wales

Welcome to Wales in Welsh and English!

Cardiff Castle

Mantle sculpture in castle

One of the ceilings....

and another ceiling, all with gold leaf!

Welsh dragon captured the boys but they were able to escape!

This is at St. Fagans Historical museum with old buildings moved from different locations in Wales.  This was a pigpen and dry stacked stone fence. 

The boys at at telephone booth.

This was a grocery store. The display was for crackers and cookies (which they call biscuits)....you didn't buy by the box but could buy as many...oras few...as you wanted.

This is hard to see but was a TV with a magnifying lens underneath that you could put over the screen to make the picture larger...and only in black and white.

This was the school house. If the spoke Welsh they would get punished (whipped with a cane)...and if were left handed theyhad their left hand tied behind their back so had to use their right hand.

This is the Celtic village

We then went over to the coast to see where our friends like to surf.

Here is the Nash Head light house and fog horns.

Look how big the fog horns are in relationship to the people!

Bath...and the Roman Baths

The boys overlooking the Roman Baths. The baths were fed by a hot stream and date from around 25 AD.

This is a Roman lady visiting the bath being attended by her slave...who was very afraid of the Stanleys....but the lady thought they were very cute.

The Royal Crescent

We had lunch at Sally Lunn's. It is one of the oldest original buildings in Bath...around 1400.

Inside Bath Cathedral