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Day trip from Bath: Lacock and Castle Combe
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| Lacock, Wiltshire, England (Cotswolds) | |
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| Castle Combe is another village lost in time. It is owned by The National Trust, who rent the houses. The exteriors remain as they have been for hundreds of years. Parts of Pride and Prejudice and Emma were filmed here. | I was excited to find this obvious example of cruk building, where the crotch of a tree forms the end frame for a cottage. |
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| We had lunch at The George Inn in Castle Combe. The tour guide said the inn's historic building was worth seeing but the food was mediocre. He was right on both counts. | We dined at this table with tourists from around the world who were on our trip. |
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The ancient fireplace in The George could date back to the 1200s. Note again the horse brasses, common decorations for fireplaces in inns and homes.
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I'm backed up against the bar now, trying to show the relationship of a dog wheel with the fireplace. |
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Small dogs were specially trained to run for hours in these wheels. They turned the fireplace spits of roasting meats.
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Another great example of 1400s Tudor building with the cruk timbers and jettied windows. |
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| Sign of the Angel pub's ancient entryway. | More cruks, and a typically Tudor jettied upper story. The house could not be bigger at street level, so the upper stories were pushed out for more space. |
| Castle Combe, Wiltshire, England (Cotswolds) |
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| This was the setting for the harbor in the Dr. Doolittle movie starring Rex Harrison. | Set pieces and careful camera angles made the little stream into a boat harbor for the movie. Castle Combe, in The Cotswolds, was once voted the prettiest village in England. |
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| Although administered by the National Trust, all the buildings are privately owned. Notice that there are no power lines or other modern intrusions. | Rich architectural details are preserved here. |
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| This was Dr. Doolittle's house in the movie. | The town market square. Castle Combe was a weaving center in its day. |
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| Brilliant flowers enliven historic buildings. | History is everywhere you look. |
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| One of these terraced houses has been painted, but the other two show off the cream-colored stone of The Cotswolds. | One last look at the picture-perfect Cotswold cottage. |
