A lovely little village whose name is. . . shh, it's a secret

When we were in England last Fall, we took two wonderful day-trips with The English Bus. One tour took us to Oxford, Stratford and the Cotswolds, the other to Bath, Stonehenge and a Secret Place.

I have written and shared photos of all our stops on the day trips (except for Stonehenge, for some reason) and if you missed them, just click on my highlighted links and have a look. Lovely photos, I promise.

When we set out on the Bath/Stonehenge trip, our guide told us we'd be going to "A Secret Place." He asked us all — there were 16 of us in the small bus — if we would keep his secret and we all agreed that we would.

So I'm not going to tell you the name of this secret place but I'm going to show you a few photos.

I will tell you that this place is mostly owned by The National Trust. You can come here to live (if you can afford a house) but you must agree to be an active part of a living community. This is not a medieval theme park. Young families are particularly welcomed — the school has around 75 students.

The latest structure that was built here was built around 1499.

The secret place has often made an appearance on television and in movies. It's so very picturesque, isn't it? You may recognize one of the old houses from the Harry Potter films.

Without further ado then (and don't forget to click on the photos):

(That's William. I'd know the back of his head anywhere.)

(William again, walking toward the Harry Potter house.)

(I wouldn't mind living in one of these little houses.)

This was certainly a highlight of our trip although I've said that a few times now. Maybe I'll reach the point of saying this was a "highlight of highlights."

A roof, a window, some stones

Did you know that if you buy a thatched cottage in England or Wales, it is, in all likelihood, a property registered with English Heritage Trust, a charity that looks after the National Heritage Collection? That means that if you have a lapse in judgement and decide you want to put some kind of tacky shingles (or even nice shingles) on your roof, you probably won't be allowed.

We saw a lot of thatched houses on our drives in the English countryside and, as always, our guides with The English Bus were full of information about the roofs, the regulations, the building materials, the advantages and disadvantages of a thatched roof. Who would know there would be so much to learn?

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This is the Bath Abbey. There has been a church on this spot for more than a thousand years. It's really interesting to read about at the link.

"The Abbey as we know it is the work of Sir George Gilbert Scott, who from 1864 to 1874, completely transformed the inside of the Abbey to conform with his vision of Victorian Gothic architecture. His most significant contribution must surely be the replacement of the ancient wooden ceiling over the nave with the spectacular stone fan vaulting we see today." (From the official site.)

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Did I mention some stones? I'll be back.