8/10 (Monday) – Castle Combe, Lacock, and Farleigh Hungerford Castle

Today started out gloomy and rainy but we headed out anyway for some villages that were supposed to be very quaint and not to be missed.  We weren’t disappointed.  The first stop was the village of Castle Combe.  Fortunately, as soon as we parked there the rains stopped (and started again just as we were leaving…blessed by the travel weather gods).  The village is very small.  So small that you can stand in the main square, turn in 360 degrees and see practically the entire village.

Most of the old stone homes had lovely flower boxes or mini-gardens in front.

Of course there was the ubiquitous quaint old church, St. Andrews, with ancient cemetery and more lovely stained glass windows.

  There was a lovely little river that ran through one end of town.

And tucked away in one corner was a lovely little garden with a Great War (World War I) Memorial.

This was a lovely little village, great for walking around and peaking through garden gates.

While in Bath we had been told about another old, quaint village called Lacock complete with an abbey.  Fortunately it wasn't far from Castle Combe so we decided to add it to your itinerary. 

The Lacock Abbey is over 800 years old and is very well preserved. 

The building includes much of the old religious rooms and the beautiful Cloisters. 

This room below was used during the filming of one of the Harry Potter movies (don't remember which).  Regardless, it oozes character and history.

After the Dissolution of the Catholic Church by Henry VIII the abbey was sold to a private family and held by the family until it and the surrounding lands, including the village, were given to the National Trust in 1944.  During the time it was privately held much of the abbey was renovated as a private dwelling.  So the tour was a mix of a medieval Abbey and an opulent private home.

The tour included the large kitchen with large fireplace in which a huge old stove had been inserted.

The tour ended in a grand room with statuary tucked all up and down the walls.

After touring the Abbey we wandered into the village for lunch at a 16^th century pub, the Red Lion Pub (either its is a really popular name or it is a chain of pubs...we saw a lot of Red Lion's). 

Fortunately the rains had stopped by the time we finished lunch and it remained dry and occasionally sunny the rest of the day. 

After lunch we walked through the village to see it's quaint streets and shops (and 21st century cars).  There are about 30 families still living in the village.

One of the more unusual buildings we saw (meaning we hadn't toured one anywhere else) was the old and very large tithe barn.  These barns were used to hold the grain and hay that the villagers and farmers gave to the monastery as their tithes.

Of course this village also had a lovely little church, St. Cyriacs. 

The ceiling colors were unlike most that we had seen at other churches.

On the way out of the village we stopped by the small garden to tour and talk to some of the gardeners. 

We decided to head back to Bath after finishing at Lacock.  However, on the way we saw signs for The Court Gardens (they have gardens evverrrryyyyywhere) so stopped in for a visit.  These gardens turned out to be especially lovely with some large lawn areas...

lily ponds...

wildlife and flowers...

gorgeous walkways and alleyways...

  

and views of the manor house from all corners of the gardens.

There was a row of yew trees pruned into very interesting shapes.

We hit the road again, fully intending to get back to Bath.  But we got distracted again when we saw signs to Farleigh Hungerford Castle.  This castle was started in the 14^th century, expanded in the 15^th, and sold in the 17^th century to pay off gambling debts.  It was abandoned in the 18^th century and “mined” for the stone to build other buildings so most of the site is ruins.

However, the small chapel and priest’s house that date to the earliest days of the castle were still intact.

There was even a small patch of some of the original wall murals that were in pretty decent shape. 

Behind the church was a small stretch of street that looked like maybe it had been restored.

Parts of the old moat or defensive ditch were evident.

Having run out of hours in the lovely sunny day, we headed back to Bath for dinner at a Moroccan restaurant and then headed to the B&B to pack.