Minchinhampton

The last couple of days have been close to home. We have enjoyed short trips to Cheltenham and Gloucester and Minchin-bloody-hampton as a friend calls this attractive little village. The bloody part, I think, has more to do with some one's poor navigational skills, however, there it is.
We had a beautiful drive over to Cheltenham to the annual German Christmas fair. The countryside is lovely with so many charming cottages and large country estates. Cheltenham is the home of two large prestigious schools, some of which were used in the Harry Potter films. The market consisted of a series of small booths along a pedestrian street. We really were not shopping but rather window shopping and looking for bratwurst and crepes. We found both, yum. We saw a spectacularly whimsical clock that performed every hour with bubbles and music.
Monday is not the day to go to Minchinhampton. It's closed. We strolled and took some pictures and enjoyed an hour of site seeing. In the evening we went down to see our friend Malcolm trounce the opposition at bowls. Yesterday we had tea at a lovely old bistro here in Stroud and had supper with another friend Derek Jowett. He showed us some wonderful pictures he had taken three weeks ago in Rome. The days are flying past. We went to Gloucester today and I don't have the pics ready, so I'll do that trip tomorrow.