Wales (4), England Phase 2

On Saturday morning it was time to pack up and head back to England so that we wouldn't have to rush to make our plane from Heathrow on Monday night. After packing up and saying our goodbyes to Lisa at the Cottages, we headed east on the A44 which would take us through Llangurig and Rhyader and eventually to Worcester. As we progressed eastwards the nature of the countryside changed from the wildish terrain of the Cambrian Mountains and then through between the Brecon Beacons to the south and the Black Mountains to the north until, in Herefordshire it was back to rolling fields and hedgerows. The closer we got to Worcester the more 'English' the countryside became.

We had thought to stay a night at Worcester but the Saturday traffic in the city was so dreadful that we couldn't bear the thought of trying to find somewhere to stay in the mad melee so carried on eastwards. Stratford-upon-Avon is only about 25 miles away from Worcester so it seemed like a good alternative. It was busy in Stratford too but we parked the car and had a walk around the town. It was again wuite busy but more with tourists than stressed out shoppers. We couldn't find suitable accomodation in Stratford but the lady at the information centre found us a room at Salford Manor just north of Evesham. This turned out to be quite a nice hotel set in a bit of land just outside Salford village. It had originally been a guest house for Salford Priory and dated back to the 1500s. We didn't discover the only flaw for our stay until we went to bed that night - the bedsprings were totally knackered and we had to sleep hanging onto the sides of the bed to avoid crashing together in the middle. There's always something!

Apart from the bed the Salford Manor hotel was good. At dinner, Pat couldn't face anything on the menu so asked for just a poached egg on toast which they had not the slightest hesitation in accepting on the order. When you get service like that it highlights the contrast between that and the 'must stick to the script' restaurants which seem to be the norm. Our room was not in the main building but in another separate wing but only a short stroll to the main building for dinner, and for breakfast the following morning. Memo to self - check the bed in future to make sure it doesn't date from the same era as the building!