Our village and the surrounds, 21May16

Written by Mary 21May16

Ashford in the Water is not really in the water but on the banks of the River Wye. It's a lovely little village, mainly consisting of honey coloured stone houses with slate roofs. Lots of cottage flowers in gardens which I think have been recently refurbished in time for Spring.

Today being Saturday, there seem to be loads of visitors in town even though it's a wet day. Many look like walkers - the British don't worry about getting wet. I suppose they are used to it.

Our cottage is about 300 years old with walls almost a metre thick. It's whitewashed inside with dark brown wooden beams across the ceiling. Very comfortable apart from the narrow helical staircase to bedroom and bathroom which would never pass building regulations at home. There's also a large wooden wardrobe in the bedroom which couldn't possibly have come up the stairs. Perhaps it's some kind of Ikea item - erected in situ.

Our cottage is sort of one third of a triplex. Mary's at the front door. By Kev using GoPro.

A closer look. By Kev.

Today we decided to visit the stately home Chatsworth House which is only a few miles away and is the seat of the Dukes of Devonshire. The mansion is set on 18 hectares of gorgeous grounds and is full of art treasures. The guide told us that any gold we could see in or on the house was real and not just paint. The opulence of it all was unbelievable and I'm sure any of you who have also been there would agree.

After three and a half hours of walking around Chatsworth with open mouths however, we called it a day and made for home and a late lunch.

Tap once for sound. The two hour visit to Chatsworth House boiled down to one minute. Filmed with a GoPro and edited on iPad. #chatsworthhouse #England #peakdistrict #statelyhomes

A video posted by Mary & Kev Long (@noosatravellers) on May 21, 2016 at 12:01pm PDT

Then we went on a walk to see the well dressings around Ashford, an annual event referred to by Kev in his blog post yesterday. It turned out to be a bit dismal as the rain began again.

Well dressing has roots going back into pre history. Apparently it started as a sort of insurance policy against the wells drying up. Both pics by Mary.

It's quite cold too with a Melbourne-like nip in the air!

Our hired car is a brand new Hyundai four door, just right for these narrow country roads. Initially, we couldn't start it and had to call for assistance. You have to press the clutch as you turn the key. Kevin reckoned jet lag prevented him from working it out himself! A good excuse I expect.

Thanks for viewing

Mary

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Kev Long
Author iPad Traveller for iPad and Mac.



The technical stuff:
Our main iPad is connecting to the Internet mainly through a cellular connection provided (prepaid, 3gb for three months for £16) by the UK "Three" network. On high ground and in town environments this connection has so far proven quite good but, as in Australia, some places lack good coverage so no or poor connection. There are quite a few WiFi options available too although not always advertised. Just ask if you're unsure if available. All except two of our accommodation reservations include free WiFi which is of course the preferred method of transferring large amounts of data but I have been posting these blogs and their images sometimes using only a cellular connection either from inside our accommodation or on the roadside.

Mary's iPhone is operating using an Australian SIM card (Optus prepaid) which is roaming while in the UK and gives us the ability to make phone calls (not cheap) and send and receive SMS. It also uses WiFi, can connect directly to the Internet through the local cellular system (expensive), and use a Personal Hot Spot provided by the iPad (essentially free as the iPad connection is prepaid).