I’ve never really been one to explore much of my own country; I tend to prefer jetting off to exotic locations with different cultures and cuisines, with people to meet who live completely different lives to us, and far away from all the responsibilities at home. But after big trips to India and South America over the last year, we decided to spend the bank holiday weekend exploring some of England for a change.
We made a little road trip of it, the beautiful city of Bath being our first stop, where we splashed out on a fancy meal and hotel to celebrate our 7 year wedding anniversary (yes, that makes me feel old!).
Bath might only be a small city but there was plenty to keep us occupied whether it was touring the Roman Baths, wandering around the streets with their Georgian style buildings, relaxing in a spa or sampling all the delicious foods (of which there were many!). I’m a city girl at heart so loved Bath from the moment we arrived, especially because it was a lot quieter and more relaxed than London.
The city of Bath looking beautiful at sunset
Not far from Bath is the National Trust site of Cheddar Gorge, where we drove along the winding roads through the gorge and spent most of the day exploring the caves and town of Cheddar. It reminded me of our road trip along South Africa’s Garden Route with its high peaks and roads that curve around the mountains.
Driving through Cheddar Gorge
We then headed to the Cotswolds where, as is typical for the British summer, it didn’t stop raining the entire time. Alex loves the countryside so we stopped at lots of tiny quaint villages with honey stone houses and rolling green hills. It all still looked pretty even in the rain but I did stop at a Primark on the way to pick up a pair of boots and an extra umbrella!
The ridiculously pretty village of Castle Combe
We love road trips – being able to travel at our own pace and stop off wherever we want with no schedule or set plans to follow. When we drove past a book warehouse near Cheddar claiming to stock over 1 million books, of course we had to stop to load up the car. And when we drove through a small town in the Cotswolds and noticed all the cute tea shops lining the street, well we couldn’t really drive through without stopping for afternoon tea could we?!
Mr Ayla and I make the perfect team – with him driving and me directing (and occasionally sleeping) we hardly got lost at all 😉
Having fun on our road trip!
Considering I’m usually hell-bent on getting as far away from home as possible when it comes to travelling, our little road trip was perfect in every way. While the culture and language may have been the same, the food not so different, and the weather not so shiny, exploring parts of our own country was still lots of fun and we saw beautiful parts of England that I never even knew existed. It just goes to show that there are plenty of adventures to be had right on your own doorstep.
Mama Ayla's Adventures 
I loved the Cotswolds when I went a few years ago but would love to go back and see it again properly and also to head to Bath and Cheddar, which I haven’t been to before. It all looks so pretty despite the weather and I agree, sometimes it’s important for us to make time to discover the little areas of beauty nearest home 🙂
There are so many pretty places to visit in the Cotswolds – we could have spent much longer there! Bath was just lovely – I actually thought of you as it seemed a nice place for a sophisticated (i.e. less on the wild side!) hen do! Think I’m going to try to explore more of the UK from now on 🙂
Awww this looks like the loveliest little trip – I love visiting places around the UK when I get the chance. My boyfriend and I went for a weekend in the Cotswolds which was just gorgeous, nice and relaxed, great food and really pretty villages – although I’ve never been to Bath – it looks beautiful 🙂 I’ll have to check it out! You guys make a cute couple 🙂 xxx
The Cotswolds are so pretty and there is just SO MUCH afternoon tea!! Bath is lovely I’d definitely recommend a visit if you’ve never been. Haha thanks we do try! 😉
Almost my part of the world! I live in Cheltenham so the Cotswolds are on my doorstep but I’m rubbish at actually exploring them. Bath’s fab though (the Thermae Spa is a favourite) and there are so many other pretty places I must get out and see more.
Ahh we didn’t get quite that far as we only had a couple of days. You should totally explore the Cotswolds more – there are so many pretty places. Yep, loved the Thermae Spa! Such a great way to end the day after some sightseeing 🙂
Everything about your trip was cute 😀 what a romantic hotel room and cute village of the Castle!! Happy anniversary guys 😀 Im glad you enjoyed yourself Ayla!!
Everything was just so pretty. Thank you Allane, it was such a lovely way to spend an anniversary 🙂
I can imagine!!! So pretty and you didnt even need to go too far 😀
Lovely trip to celebrate your anniversary! Congratulations and thank you for sharing travel tip 🙂
Thank you Indah, it was a lovely trip for an anniversary 🙂
Such a lovely post 🙂 Don’t we just take advantage of what’s in our own “backyard’? We were only speaking to a German guy today and we were telling him how little we have seen of our country compared to what we have seen overseas! it’s lovely to have these type of getaways. Lock in another one… you know you want to!
Congrats on 7 years! We literally just celebrated our 6th so we are catching up 😉
PS – Just playing catch up with reading blogs (hence delay in commenting on this one) with not always the best wifi on the Camino plus the sheer exhaustion of doing minimal at the end of a day of walking 🙂
I think we all do it – the grass is greener and all that. We all want to explore other places rather than what’s on our own doorstep but I’m starting to explore a bit closer to home and there are so many things to see that I’m quite embarrassed to say I’ve never seen before! You guys should definitely explore more of Aus – it’s such a fantastic place!
Already done – just booked a little weekend trip to Oxford next weekend 🙂
Aww happy anniversary to you both too! Hope you’re having an awesome time!