Hadrian's Wall

We left for Scotland mid-morning on Friday July 17. It's about a 6 hour drive to Glasgow, so we broke it up with a stop at Hadrian's Wall in northern England. It was started in 122 AD to define the northern border of the Roman Empire and to defend it from the Scottish clans. There are several places along the wall to stop, but we visited the section near Housesteads Fort. We grabbed lunch at the visitor's center, then headed along the 1/2 mile hilly trail to get to the remains of the fort. There was a nice mini-museum next to the fort that showed some interesting interpretations of what the fort would have looked like back in the 2nd century.  It was a windy day, but the views were amazing! The further we climbed the hill, the further we could see across the countryside. Charlotte loved running around and seeing the sheep grazing around the fort. We spent a couple of hours there in total, then got back in the car to continue on to Glasgow. Well worth the stop!

Charlotte loved holding hands with Grandmom & Granddad as we went up the hill toward the fort

Posing with the family as we headed toward the fort

The remains of the fort from afar

Sheep grazing around the fort

Finding anything possible to climb on

Struggling up the steps but refusing any assistance, classic Little Miss Independent

Hadrian's Wall from the fort

Panorama view

Climbing through the holes built in the side of the grain storage area of the fort; the holes were in place to allow dogs in to catch the rats.

No rats here.

Granddad helping Charlotte down the steps

In the grain storage area; there was a secondary floor above the stones on which the grain was kept to stay away from moisture and vermin. 

Love these people!

Charlotte wasn't cleared to drive but tried anyway...

The rest of the drive went pretty well despite being somewhat rainy. The rain and clouds over the hills felt very Scottish :) We got to our rental cottage, which was in the town of Bishopton (northwest of Glasgow) and very cute! The best part was that there were lots of toys for Charlotte around; her favorite was immediately a play stroller with a little soft baby doll. When I asked her what the doll's name was, she immediately said "Joe." So it was named Baby Joe for the rest of the trip; luckily we were able to leave the cottage on Monday without any traumatic separation from Baby Joe. 

That night, we went to a wonderful restaurant at a local country club (Ingliston). The dinner was fantastic, but the highlight was that the restaurant overlooked indoor horse rings. Charlotte loved it, and she and Granddad went out walking around the rings a couple of times while we were waiting for dinner, etc. I'd recommend the restaurant for sure!

The view from our table

Hitchin Lavender Farms

The day before we left on our trip to Scotland, Charlotte & I headed to Hitching Lavender Farm with Mom & Dad to see the flowers in bloom! A friend had recommended the place, and also advised me to dress Charlotte in long pants/sleeves due to the number of bees there. Wow, was she right! The fields were really humming like a hive as we walked through them, and we had to proceed carefully to avoid annoying any of them. However, for all the mildly scary buzzing happening, all the bees were very hard at work pollinating and showed zero interest in us. Not once did a bee buzz near my head or act aggressive at all. 

When we arrived, there was a bit of a queue in the cafe to get tickets to the field (later we saw that we probably could have purchased them from a stand next to the field itself). It was just a couple of pounds to gain entry to the fields, which included borrowing a pair of scissors to harvest a bag full of lavender. There are a few basic rules -- just had to progress into the field a certain distance marked with flags, then cut from the sides of the plants -- to help the rows of flowers to maintain their shape & color.  We picked a row that looked the least crowded and slowly waded in. Charlotte did a great job pushing through the flowers gently, but got a little weary halfway up the hill so Dad carried her much of the rest of the way. Meanwhile, Mom & I gently cut bunches of lavender from spots where the bees weren't currently busy. There were several different shades and varieties of lavender in different rows, some of which had different scents to them. We got 3 bags full of lavender, which are now hanging in bunches around our house to dry. Maybe I can make some sachets with them to remember our fun day out!

There was also a children's play area next to the cafe; a good spot for a day out with kiddos!

Bletchley Park

My parents returned from Tblisi on a Tuesday evening, and on Wednesday morning we launched back into sight-seeing! We headed over to Bletchley Park, which is about a 40 minute drive from our house. If anyone has seen/heard of "The Imitation Game" -- a movie that came out last year (?) -- it was set at Bletchley Park and some of the scenes were actually shot there. It is the real-life location of the UK's Government Code & Cypher School, which was responsible for cracking several essential German secret codes during WWII. Most importantly, Alan Turing created the machine that cracked the Enigma code. The school's efforts shortened WWII by an estimated 2-4 years and saved countless lives. No one in the public *really* knew what was accomplished there until the 1970s, as the people who worked there were sworn to secrecy.

Sidenote: I watched "The Imitation Game" before going, and again after -- and it's definitely a good film to watch! I really enjoyed seeing the back room of the mansion, which is where the scenes in the "pub" were shot for the movie. They kept the room set up as it was for filming, which was fun to see/walk around in.

The museum is a bit expensive, but we were able to get 20% off tickets with our English Heritage membership, and the tickets are good for a year. So we may be back! We toured through the visitor's center, grabbed lunch, then went to various other structures on the property (named "Block A," "Hut 3," and other unimpressive names) to learn about Turing's "bombe" (the name for the computer that broke Enigma) and see a demonstration. There are a lot of interesting interactive modules to learn more about how seemingly impossible it is to break various codes/code-making machines, but it was relatively crowded (even for a Wednesday during the school year) so we didn't get to try each one. It was definitely interesting material! Hopefully we'll get back to use our passes again sometime this year.

The Enigma machine (German code-making machine)

Charlotte helpfully holding our drinks for us

Trying to detect morse code radio frequencies at one of the interactive modules

View of the Bletchley Mansion (it was an estate before it became a secret war-fighting location)

Another view of the mansion from across the lake

There was also a playground that occupied Charlotte for a good half hour!

Nymans House & Gardens

On the morning my parents departed for Tblisi, we drove them down to Gatwick Airport. Since it's a bit of a long drive to get there in London traffic, Paul & I decided to take a break at the nearby Nymans House & Gardens before heading back home. It's a National Trust site, and ended up being the perfect place to spend a few hours to let Charlotte run off some energy. She slept the whole way home! (Just over 2 hours.)

The house partially burned down in the 1940s (not associated with WWII) and the remains were never torn down. It makes for a really neat backdrop to the gardens, which are beautiful! We were in awe of the hydrangeas and roses in particular. They had some fun kids-oriented activities scattered throughout the garden, including croquet and "naughts and crosses" (tic-tac-toe). After wandering the gardens and touring the house for a couple of hours, we grabbed lunch at the cafe on-site before heading home. 

Amazing hydrangeas!

She is surprisingly gentle with flowers, I credit her Grammy for an earlier understanding of how to treat plants!

"Playing" naughts-and-crosses (not really, but she did say "O!" a lot of times)

The ruins of the house

Anybody home?

Charlotte monopolizing the entire croquet court (at first)

Charlotte and me on the croquet court

Enjoying the views from a bench in the garden while Paul toured the salvaged rooms of the house

The rose garden! Slightly past peak bloom, but still gorgeous.

Enjoying lunch, proud to be a "big girl" sitting at the picnic table.