English Countryside {2014 Trip to England :: Part 2}

If there’s a place in the world that looked like my wildest dreams look, the English countryside is probably the places that comes the closest to actually looking like them!  While my sister Jessica and I were in England we rented a car for a couple of days.  We loved driving around and being able to see so many breathtaking sights, it was almost too much to process in that short amount of time.  I’m sure I set some sort of personal record for photos taken in a 24 hour period on one of these days… But can you blame me when town after town looks like something straight out of a fairytale storybook?  First you can see sampling of our day in the Cotswolds, followed by our day touring Highclere Castle and Jane Austen’s house.  Yes, I spent those entire two days in heaven.

Sorry for this post being a bit photo heavy… it was a bit hard to narrow down two of the most picturesque days of my life into one blog post!

Cutest little bakery I ever did see!

We stopped for afternoon tea at Barnsley House.  If anyone wants to have me photograph their wedding here, I will CLEAR my schedule and make it happen.  I’m not even kidding, please ask me!   If all else fails, I’ll just photograph Jessica’s wedding here because she already decided it’s the wedding venue for her.  I don’t blame her.  Everything I experienced at Barnsley House was exquisite, from the decor, to the afternoon tea goodies, to the friendly staff.

If you know me, you know I love me some Downton Abbey… And since we happened to be in England during the few months of the year they allow tours at the infamous Highclere Castle, we had to try and visit it.  Even though we hadn’t pre-purchased tickets (the pre-purchased tickets had been sold out for months) we were able to purchase some walk up tickets.  It was very surreal seeing this grand place in real life!

Another highlight of the trip for me was being able to visit Jane Austen’s House Museum.  This is where Jane spent the last part of her short life.   It was almost hard to even wrap my mind around the fact that we were standing in the very place she lived!

We made sure to get our fill of cream tea while we were in England, have no doubt.

Well there you have it, a sampling of our whirlwind week in England.  I’m so grateful we were able to go, thanks for being my travel buddy Jessica!