England 2023

Where to even begin?

Back in 2019 this all started with an email for low fares heading to London. I pondered, as I imagined what it would be like to finally explore one of the countries I’ve always dreamt of going. Knowing the slower pace I would want to take along my adventures (while also knowing my husband likes the opposite – fast paced things), I decided to ask my mom to go with me. With the date of May 2020 picked out, tickets were purchased and our trip to England was set!

Queue February 2020…

It wasn’t long before we realized in early 2020, that this trip was going to have to be pushed back, at least a few months! I mean this was just a cold virus after all… right? Well partly, but far more serious than we anticipated. So with that realization, we moved our flights to September 2020 to be safe. When summer 2020 rolled around, covid was still very prevalent. We begrudgingly accept September wont be happening either. So we decide to post-pone our trip indefinitely. I was heartbroken but hoped for the best and had faith we would eventually get to England.

Fast forward to late summer 2022. With Covid lockdowns and restrictions finally letting up, we finally looked at setting our dates once again in May 2023.

Well, it is now 2 days after coming home from England and safe to say, the trip was well worth the wait. 3 years of waiting and being patient payed off and I’m so happy to be sharing this trip! England felt strangely homey to me. Maybe it has something to do with the amount of times I’ve watched Pride and Prejudice or The Holiday but being there didn’t feel strange at all. I felt as if I belonged. If I believed in reincarnation, I would have surely thought this was where I lived in a past life. The sights, the sounds, the lifestyle; all of which felt so familiar in a weird way. It was every bit as magical and beautiful as I imagined and I’m forever grateful to have gotten the opportunity to go.

I ended up taking 6 rolls of film throughout the trip so while those are sent off to be developed, these are the digitals I took along the way! There were several additional villages we visited that I did not get digitals of: Stow-On-The-Wold (it was raining heavily all day so no cameras were out lol), Moreton-in-Marsh, Blockley, Burford & Chipping Camden so those wont be in here as I only took iphone photos of those. I’m hoping I caught a few shots on my film camera of those but we shall see!!

SO hope you enjoy looking through! 🙂

Cirencester

Bourton-On-The-Water

One of our favorite towns we visited. Small, quaint and much to see and do!

Lower Slaughter

This town was also one of our favorites! (let’s be real, they’re all favorites haha). We got to go on a horseback ride through the town and into the river. Very charming and could very easily live here!

Daylesford/Chastleton

Not a ton of photos from Chastleton but oh heavens this house was amazing. Apparently, it’s one of the most unique houses in the world because everything in the house is original, nothing additional brought in to decorate. Just so neat!

Bibury

One of the more photographed villages in England. Just as charming as it looks but an absolute ZOO. People everywhere! I kept wondering what it was like to live in a town that was always SO busy! Nonetheless, it was also a favorite!

Castle Combe

This town is also one of the most photographed villages and considered to be one of the most idyllic and pretty. I was surprised that it was so small, but it was cute – again LOTS of tourists haha

Oxford

Easily one of my most photographed places – this city was just beautiful. The buildings and scenery was so unique. I felt it was the perfect mix of a city with a countryside feel. Tons to do and see. We ate dinner at the Quod as well as had afternoon tea at the Grand Cafe, which is known to be the first coffee house in England! Learning the buses was… fun but once we finally had it down pat, we were onto London! Isn’t that always how it goes 😉 Public transportation man, I give you city people mad credit!!

London

Our last day was dedicated to London. That being said, I did not take hardly any photos here. I think the pure fact of being overwhelmed at the size of the city ha. At this point in the trip we were wiped and, hindsight, probably should have done London first so we had a bit more energy but at the end of the day, we just aren’t city people. Cool to see a small portion of the city at least 🙂