Sudeley Castle, Winchcombe and Chedworth

On Friday, 21st April we headed to the lovely village of Winchcombe to visit Sudeley Castle. It was a wonderful place to visit with an amazing history. Henry V111 had visited and his last wife Katherine Parr died here. There were also some wonderful collections especially the embroideries.

These were just a few of the embroideries on display.

 There were also peacocks who enjoyed showing off!

We then had lunch in Winchcombe which is another lovely little town. Also had a chat to a delightful lady in the local church about the history of the town.

We then navigated some tiny one lane roads to Chedworth Roman Villa which was very interesting. 

Portsmouth

We picked up our car on Thursday, 20th April, and then headed to the Portsmouth Park and Ride. We went to the port again and had another look at the Mary Rose, which was one of Henry V111's ships. The last time we saw it, the ship was under some kind of liquid restoration. This time it is out of this so it was very interesting to see it. The museum is so good. There are lots of wonderful artifacts from the ship and stories about the poor men what went down with the Mary Rose in 1545.

It was lovely to wander around the docks too.

We then drove to Cheltenham, where we were staying for the next two nights.

Bayeux and Arromanches-les-Bains

On Tuesday, 18th April, we went to Bayeux to see the Bayeux Tapestry/embroidery. It was amazing! What a wonderful thing to see. I can only imagine how many hours were spent stitching this amazing story of William the Conqueror nearly 1000 years ago. It is even more amazing that it is still here and so colourful and we can see it! You can't take photos of the stitching but there are many images online.

We wandered around the town too and it was lovely as well.

We then went to Arromanches-les-Bains where some of the Normandy landings happened in World War 2. We went to see the amazing 360 degree movie of the 100 days of the landings and it was very moving. We then headed back to Caen to return the car (always a bit stressful getting fuel etc).

On Wednesday we went and walked around Caen Castle. William had a small castle here in 1090 or so!

We then caught the bus to the ferry terminal at Ouistreham and caught the ferry to Portsmouth. It was rather nice to relax for the 6 hours on the ferry.