Sunday 14th: Drive to Bath via New Forest and Stonehenge (not actually a true henge)

• Drove to Lynhurst, walked the main street
• Drove to Bolderwood and saw deer, went for a walk in the Forest.
• Saw Stonehenge.
• Checked into our hotel in Bath (it has too many stairs)

Monday 15th: Bath

• Visited the Roman Baths.
• Went on a boat trip up and down the Avon River.
• Walked around Bath.
• Had dinner at handmade Burger Co.

Tuesday 16th: Bath and Beyond.

• Drove through the Cotswalds.
• Visited (in order): Corinium museum in Cirencester, Chedworth Roman Villa, and Berkley Castle.

In Brief (writing this on the 20th on the train to London Paddington):
We found the hotel room in Bath to be very small, the beds were very uncomfortable and we were on the third floor (no elevator) however it was very conveniently located. We had to pay £25 for parking around the corner for the two days we were there.

Highlight of visiting Bath was undoubtedly the Roman ruins in the Cotswalds. We had cunningly left our washing to be done at a nearby laundromat and for  £14 they washed, dried and folded our clothes while we went on our driving adventure.

The town and Museum in Corinium was lovely. We had a Cornish pastie at a local cafe and enjoyed the museum which, unlike the major museums in London, was relatively empty. This primed us for our next stop at the Roman Villa which had been excavated by the Victorians. Our tour guide was a semi(?)-retired archaeologist who proved to be quite insightful. For instance: the grade 1 listed roman ruins were protected by grade 2 listed  Victorian buildings which made it difficult to do any further site works.

From there we managed to make it to Berkley Castle for the 3.30pm tour, the last for the day, and as it turned out – a private tour! There was so much history it was incredible. Highlight was seeing an original Kings James Bible, interesting because the Berkley family have always been Catholic.

For one of our dinners in Bath we went to the Handmade Hamburger Co, which I had mistaken for another chain restaurant in London. The waitress was young and I made the faux pas of assuming she was a student! Bath has a large student population.

Other things to note:

We thought Stone Henge was a little overrated. Very busy with tourists, but very glad we saw it anyway.

The New Forest was lovely and we enjoyed a short stroll through some of the tracks.

Driving in the UK is still very stressful as the roundabouts are not always clear on what lane you need to be in.