Herefordshire and beyond

This morning we said goodbye to the cottage at Pentrebach, packed up the car once again and headed east back into England. Our first stop was the unremarkable town of Kington where we had morning tea in a quaint-ish tea room on the high street while we waited for the tourist information office to open at 10am. When it did we grabbed a couple of maps to guide us on a drive through the "Black and White Village Trail", a series of villages with old timber frame houses. We drove most of the trail, only rarely stopping because the weather was a tad ordinary.

From there we drove south to Hereford, where Phil promptly got lost. Thanks to Jane the GPS we got back on track and parked the car near the city centre. First stop was the Cider Museum, which is built on and incorporates the original Bulmers cider-making-place (or whatever the correct term is). Some great displays of cider making machinery and some videos about how cider has been made through the ages. The old Bulmers cellar was particularly interesting.

From the Cider Museum we walked past the sadly limited remains of the medieval town walls to Hereford Cathedral. Another nice cathedral with huge vaulted ceilings and plenty of tomb effigies to keep Phil happy. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures inside the Cathedral without a permit. So we just took them outside...

By the time we finished at Hereford it was certainly time for lunch, so we basically picked a pub at random along the road. The one we stopped at, The Axe and Cleaver in the village of Much Birch, was a very pleasant surprise. A very friendly staff and great food - Phil's cheeseburger had him wondering why McDonald's rakes in billions of dollars each year while pubs like this just get by.

Eventually we arrived at Weston-sub-edge, where we will be spending the next two nights in a B&B. Our room is very nice, but we're going to miss all the space we had in the last two places.