a day in the tetbury

the snooty fox

tetbury truly is a beautiful village (i'm being edited by sister as i type). it's everything you'd think and expect from the 'shire'.

the drive out was fun - gina and i got a mercedes a-series and wow, that car sucked! and i'm not saying this because i'm a beamer person, as i was excited to drive a merc, but wow...worst car ever driven. driving was a bit nerve racking - i saved the driving for tetbury, but after hitting the curb a few times, i got the hang of it. at least i didn't hit any other cars!

we stayed at the snooty fox, a typical english inn, only the chef of the bar and restaurant on the main floor is a michelin-starred chef. it wasn't hard to see why - the food was amazing. but before i get to that...we had lunch at the Blue Zucchini Brasserie (for some reason, the link isn't working...) and we had a pint of hoegarten, a goat cheese and spinach tart with onion chutney and greens, and a gigantor hot cocoa with whipped cream and at least 50 mini marshmallows. mmmmmm.

we then went for a walk around the town, took some pics and went to highgrove, prince charles' charity shop. incidentally, 2 miles out of town is where HRH and his wife Camilla live, in Highgrove manor/castle/whatever. it was lovely.

afterward we decided to hang out at our hotel pub and boy did we meet some characters. first we met charlie, a 70+ longtime resident of tetbury, who also served in the RAF navy and army. This man has seen many things, been to many places, and survived unspeakable odds. He recently lost his wife, denied the loss of a limb (and it's looking strong to me) and beat cancer. he hung out with gina and i most of the night, and after many pints, started getting incoherant and a bit cheeky. however, his friend paul soon joined us (50+) and he entertained us with stories about his father's in law's 2 week visit until march (he was hiding from him in the pub) and his 3 week rush job for a wedding to his wife trish. and no...it wasn't shotgun. in fact, their first born came 3 years later. but all in all we had fun.

today i went to the company office in tetbury where i met my entire team, and then we went off for lunch at the weighbridge inn, home of 2 in 1 pies. i ate the regular sized (and maybe had half) of the turkey with the trimmings on one half, and cheesy cauliflower on the other half. yum!

tonight, gina and i head for some vampire lust with Twilight. i love the cinemas here - you book your seat in advance. sigh. i wish we did that in calgary.

i hear the xmas party was a great success last night. i hope you all enjoyed it!