English Countryside

Whenever Dave goes someplace, he studies it beforehand.  He looks at maps, will google location. and before he leaves he has a picture in his head and can get anywhere.  Even on business trips he is the one driving all the time because they know he can get them there.  He did the same with our trip to England.  But the roads were marked a lot different than the map said.  It was a good thing I had gotten a Europe data plan.  We used almost all the MB on this day.  We got on the Tube to get to the car rental place.  It was a little strange at first driving on the opposite side.  The first time we came to a stop light the car died.  We were thinking, 'what in the world?'  After this happening a few times we realized that when you stop the car shuts off.  As soon as you push the gas pedal it starts again.  That feature took some getting used to.  Little nerve wracking at first. After a few frustrating moments and finally finding one place to stop on the side of the road we made it to Oxford.

I really had thought that Oxford was a cute little village.  I had visions of us strolling around for a while, looking at Pusey house at the University.  Apparently 150 000 people live there.  The kids were totally laughing at me.  Anyways we decided not to stop since I had no idea where anything was, and we continued on to Pusey Estate. I loved this little area.  So beautiful and green and the stone walls.  I could totally live there.  It is a private owned residence and so we just walked around the outside.

That is Pusey village.  Just those two houses.  Awesome!!

This sign is outside of the house.

Walking around to the back to get a picture.

Even the gates of the house have the horn on them.  How cool is that.

Down this lane was an apple orchard.  We stole some that where hanging over the fence.  Very delicious.

At the back were some security workers.  We asked and they said we could climb up and take some pictures.  Just don't touch the fence, it was electric.

Next we drove on to the closest little village.  Standford-on-the-Vale.  On the way on a quiet road, Dave let Cora drive a little ways.  Probably about 10 mins.  She wanted to be able to say that she had driven in England on the opposite side of the road.  At the village was St Denys church.

All these old churches and abbys are beautiful.  So neat how they used to build them.

Next we were off to the Temple.  It is on the opposite side of Englan, and took about 2 hours to get there.  So many roads are tree lined.  At one point I said to Dave that one of the reasons I had wanted to come to Europe was to see all the green that just grew.  To see the trees and roads and beauty.  But because of the trees and green it was blocking my view and I couldn't see the countryside.  He just laughed at me.

We made it to the temple.  It is very well hidden.  We really had to look at the maps and where we were on my phone.

Gorgeous grounds.  We walked around and had a snack.

Finally it was time to return the car to London.  We stopped in another little village to grab a bite and let Dave study out how to get back to the car rental.  There was absolutely nothing showing how to get in.  After searching and looking at different maps and sites, Dave determined for us to say a prayer for guidance.  He was pretty sure he had figured it out, but if we made one wrong turn or missed a turn we would head straight to downtown London.  We did not want to be driving there.  On the England motorway when you take an exit it doesn't tell you E or W.  It just lists the major town that is at the end of that motorway. That town could be 3 hours away???  We spread the map out, checked every town at the end of every road we needed, said our prayer and got back in the car.  We were absolutely guided for the next 2 hours.  We made every road change and exit and drove straight into the car return, said a thank you prayer, and returned the key. Dave took a deep breath and said he was done driving in England for the rest of his life.  :)  He actually did really good.  Only forgot which side one time for a second.  We were glad we had done it, so we could see the Estate and the Temple.  We were also glad this day for the guidance from our Heavenly Father and the promptings we received.