You’re British, so scale it down a bit

Our last day in the Morgan. Until we can get our own at least.

The schedule claimed today would be a relaxed day, and even recommended a leisurely departure time. Since we knew we couldn’t cram a whole visit to Bath in in a single morning, we decided to just hit the road to enjoy the day. It still ended up being a little frenetic, but alls well that ends well.

Our first stop for the morning was the tiny village of Castle Combe. Car fans will know Castle Combe racetrack, built on a nearby World War 2 airfield. The village itself is ancient. Our book recommended stealing a parking spot in a lot at the Manor House. Although there were signs warning that it was booked for a private event, we figured nobody would get too mad at a Morgan. (We were right)

We visited the village church (parts dating to the 13th century) which features some excellent informational panels about the historical life of the village. Filled up with knowledge, we needed to also get filled up with cake. Down the street at the old stables, we got some cake, scones, and coffees and sat outside enjoying the day. The weather went from nice to amazing – gorgeous sunshine and warm temperatures. We strolled the village a bit more, then hit the road.

Our next stop was the larger but still very charming town of Tetbury, where we took a walk along an old rail bed. Everywhere in England is advertising upcoming arts and craft fairs, presumably just to taunt Kat.

We’d planned to do a much longer lunch stop in Bourton-on-the-Water. After all, we were ahead of schedule! And it sounded like a delightful place. Unfortunately, we hit some traffic and some roadworks and also the book is liar, and so we lost all our margin and rolled into Bourton basically right on schedule. Multiple descriptions of the town say things like “It’s like Venice in Britain!” … presumably these were written by people who have never been to Venice. It’s a town with a stream that dogs romp in, which is nothing to shake a stick at.

What is similar to Venice is that it’s overrun by tourists. We parked at the overflow parking lot and took a stroll, but decided to just grab a quick sandwich and hit the road.

Although we technically had until 5pm to make it back to Malvern, we decided on a plan for the evening that involved getting some picnic supplies before dropping the car off, so we decided to just drive through the rest of the afternoon. Although we didn’t have time to stop, Kat made notes in our book of which towns we would like to spend more time in for our next adventure in a Morgan. We had more gorgeous sunshine, and flowing Cotswolds scenery. Both of us ended up sunburned. In the UK! Who even knew that was a thing? We had a picnic dinner in the lavender garden at Stanbrook Abbey which was littered with rose petals from a wedding just a few hours earlier, and dealt with logistics for our day tomorrow.

What a week in the Morgan! It performed flawlessly and we really fell in love with “our” car. Just enough space for our stuff, big smiles from everyone, and we didn’t crash into any hedge rows.