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Gloucestershire to Wiltshire

The whole area of Gloucestershire is like a fairytale land to me.

Bibury

I have long read that Bibury is considered one of the most beautiful villages in England and was eager for us to drive through.  It is so beautiful, almost like time stood still.  And yet it is unbelievably touristy.  For a village this size, the number of tour buses and tourists are overwhelming.  I started to wonder how the people here like all these intrusion from the busloads of tourists.  Even though it was drizzling when we got there, it is really one of the most beautiful villages I've been to.  Arlington Row is said to be the most photographed street in the Cotswolds.

Arlington Row: These houses were built in 1380 as a monastic wool store.   

This place also serves as a backdrop to a number of movies, including Bridget Jones' Diary

Chimney smoke

We took a peek at the Swan Hotel which was beautiful inside and outside
Arlington Row, owned by the National Trust

Just had to take a selfie here

Would love to experience living here but then not with the tourists

Outside the Swan Hotel

Found an accessible yellow field!


Grazing animals

Okay fairytale land aside, we had to hurry up to drive to Wiltshire now, 2h away.  We had bought tickets to Longleat House and Safari Park which is supposed to be K's highlight of the trip.  I was so sad that it was raining and to think he was so excited when he pre booked the tickets online.  Oh well, let's make the best of it.

We arrived at almost 2pm and decided to start with Longleat House.  This is a manor house owned by the same family and at least 17 generations have resided here.  Which is very impressive.  

Inside the house


As this is a sprawling piece of land, there is also space for a theme park for kids, and also the safari park.  This is the first safari park outside Africa and is pretty cool.  You drive through the park (Do not get out of the car) and different sections/ enclosures have different animals.  We saw rhinos, deer, monkeys, elephant, zebras, tigers, lions, wolves, flamingos… so many.  It was really good.  

A very foggy drive into Longleat

See how drenched this deer is.  Still so friendly.

Rhinos chilling

Gasp!  Spot it..

More gasp!  Walking past our car in a prowling manner.

Wow never been so near a tiger

Lions resting

Close up of the lions.. look at that lioness

As you can imagine, the lions and tigers were the main attraction for most people.  The cars were all stopped with us watching them in bated breaths as two tigers walked past our car looking all fierce and majestic.  The lions were more relaxes, chilling in their pack.  Maybe cos it's raining.  Even the monkeys were indoors - they are known to jump all over your car when in their playful mode.  Even though the rain was a dampener, we had a good time and would recommend a visit here.


"Strongly recommended!"  Says K

And this wraps up an enjoyable 4 days trip to the Cotswolds.

Would love to go back to Bibury and stay for a weekend perhaps.

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