"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
Like with most things our time in England must come to an end; That end is the 11th of July; Tomorrow in fact. For those who have followed along through my posts I hope I have brought you something of value and some idea of how amazing this trip, our first to England, has been for us. We are currently in Oxford although head to Heathrow Airport tomorrow for a flight to Finland after a month in England. It's an odd feeling really; Sadness at leaving this amazing country behind and excitement at the prospect of seeing my brother 
The quote at the start of this post is quite relevant I think, for a couple of reasons: "The end of the beginning" is certainly correct as this first trip to England will certainly not be our last, it 's just the beginning, and secondly it's a quote by one of Britain's most influential and celebrated people, Sir Winston Churchill.
My wife, Faith, taken in Boscastle, Cornwall. The contrast of greens and blues captured my heart early on in England. Everywhere we looked was a beautiful vista...My wife makes any photo beautiful in my eyes though :)
Just outside of Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire, William Shakspeare's birthplace. The cottage in the background is where Anne Hathaway lived and was courted by Shakspeare. He married her when he was at the age of eighteen. He was six years his senior.
A little friend who thought it would be cool to sit on my shoulder for a while. This was taken in the butterfly house at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire.
London, taken at Buckingham Palace. The soldiers guarding the Queens residence are actively serving soldiers, not just ceremonial. As you can imagine they take their duties very seriously. The pomp and ceremony surrounding everything they do is incredible.
Bovington Tank Museum, Dorset; The world's largest tank museum. This is a Tiger II army tank built by the German's in World War Two. This was the most feared tank in the entire war being a heavily armoured and armed beast of a thing. This tank was responsible for many victories. Bovington and Lulworth army camp's is where much of the army's armoured training takes place to this day.
We met this guy in the tank museum, a former tank commander, who was on a day out with his grandson. This guy spent years inside a Centurion tank on many deployments. We chatted for an hour or so and he explained the type of tank he commanded (which was on display) and then went our separate ways. Surprising who one meets.
This is the London Eye. Most people have probably seen it featured in various movies set in London. It's instantly recognisable as one of those intrinsically London-ish landmarks!
Chedworth Roman Villa, Gloucestershire. Britain has a close tie with the Roman's since their initial invasion and then occupation for some 400 years. Dotted all over Britain are the remnants of their life here. This shows a mosaic floor and the small pillars suspending it. Hot air was vented into the room in this way. The first heated flooring! There's a new archeological dig happening there this month to uncover more treasures.
Clovelly, Devon. This lovely little town clings to steep hillside and has this lovely little harbour at the bottom. The entire town permits no vehicles and is unique in that it's privately owned by one family and has been for a long long time.
Inside Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire. Faith's reflection is in a really clever cross-shaped water feature within the cathedral. Also note the white origami birds which is an exhibition currently running within the cathedral. Salisbury Cathedral also holds Britain's best-preserved copy of the Magna Carta which is why we visited in the first place. I wanted to see it. Unfortunately no photography is permitted so you'll have to google it. It's worth doing too as the Magna Carta is one of the most influential document ever.
Glastonbury Abbey, Somerset. This was England's second most richest Abbey which is probably one of the reason's it was looted and destroyed in King Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries after he broke with the Roman Catholic Church in the mid 1500's. It was completely destroyed as you can see. It is also famed as being the resting place for King Arthur's bones. The Abbey is about 1200 years old.
The abbey must have been spectacular before it was destroyed. Here's Faith doing her best to hold up the remaining parts. There were many buildings on the site originally and people from all over the known world made pilgrimage's there. It's last Abbot, Richard Whiting, was hanged on Glastonbury Tor during the Dissolution thanks to good old Henry the Eighth the most notorious of England's kings.
Kightshayes, Tiverton, Devon. This Gothic Revival country house and gardens was one of the best we visited. Owned by the Heathcote-Amory family who are famous for lace production which is obviously where all the money comes from! The gardens and house were simply stunning!
Tintagel Castle, Cornwall. Built by Richard 1st Earl of Cornwall int he 13th century the site covers the mainland and a small island adding to the castle's fortification. It's ruins now but if you look closely you will see some of the ancient stonework that made up the castle. The castle is linked to the legend of King Arthur however there is no factual information to back that up. It was a very cool place though.
Old Wardour Castle, Tisbury, Wiltshire. One of England's best preserved castle ruins this castle has a brutal past. It was caught up in the Civil War between the Parliamentary forces and the Royalists. It suffered two sieges and was destroyed in the second, by complete accident, by the owner who was trying to win it back from the Parliamentary forces.
Tavistock, Devon. This was one of the many amazing meals we ate! This particular one was at The Whitchurch, a lovely little country pub. The meal in the foreground was mine, a pie. So good! You'll note a nice little drop of the amber fluid in the background. :)
Dyrham Park, South Gloucestershire. This 17th century mansion is nestled within a deer park, hence the deer's in the image. We had not intended to come here however were told about it by another tourist and made the effort for which we were grateful. The grounds, (deer park) formal gardens and mansion are simply spectacular.
Durdle Door, Dorset. I'm going to finish up with this one. It pretty much speaks for itself I think. This is on the Jurassic Coast and we hiked for long way over the cliffs, the Coastal Path. It was odd because not too far away is the Lulworth army camp as mentioned above and on the day we were there they were live firing 50 calibre machine guns. It was odd to be surrounded by this lovely scenery and then hear (quite loudly) the machine gun fire. I didn't mind much, made me miss my guns a bit though.
Our journey in England has been an amazing experience and the images are a tiny snippet of what we saw and did. I have around 4000 photo's all up and have found many things that I want to learn more about, research and explore. We'll be back here someday, hopefully soon, but for now we need to turn our attention to our next destination, Finland...And family.
Thanks for following on our England journey, hopefully you have found something of value in my posts.
Faith & Galen x