Bourton-on-the Water

Since I was a very young girl I have loved to read of life in other lands. It all started with Mrs. Timmerman, my fourth grade teacher. On Friday afternoons, after lunch, she would enter the room with a new book, dressed as a character from a different country.Sometimes she even baked a treat which was common in that country. I was hooked. My favorite book became "If I Was Going", which followed the adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Sanders as they travelled the world together. God has allowed me to live in three different countries, and during my years abroad I learned to love England. The only books or magazines I could read for a long time were from England. I learned to prefer the "British Edition" of Country Living and Good Housekeeping. I read "Aga Sagas" (books set in rural English countryside in which the homeowners had Aga stoves to heat their cottages). And for many years, Terry and I would fly to London from Florence, and spend every penny we had saved, for four or five wonderful days together. We would enjoy the theater, shopping, tea at Fortnum and Mason, etc. During those sometimes difficult years, England was where we went to be restored and rejuvenated. Thus, this Spring, when we needed a place to go for two weeks while our students were traveling, we made the decision to rent a cottage in the Cotswalds for a week. Well Cottage is in a delightful little village, just north of Oxford. We took the train from Paddington Station to Moreton-on-Marsh , and then a taxi to Bourton. During our week here we walked the Public Footpaths, enjoyed scones and cream at teatime each afternoon, explored the cemetery, visited Model Village, cooked, celebrated Easter, visited the local Anglican church, and played many games of Nertz with the boys. The boys and Terry had boat races (boats made from stale Ciabatta bread, leaves and sticks) down the River Windrush. We wound our way through an old English maze, where a jewled dragonfly was found in the mouth of a golden frog.We spent rainy afternoons curled up with good books and hot tea. It was a magical week in a sixteenth century cottage. It will be hard to ever top this time away as a family. It felt like such a gift at the end of a busy semester away from friends and family. And I am so grateful.