Chipping Camden to Cleeve Hill via the GWR and Sudely Castle: 18/4/23

 Left the Bantam Tearooms -- the only place so far I've stayed more than one night where my room was done out during the day without my asking -- and drove up to Dover's Hill to see what the view looked like under sunshine. Yes, the sun is shining, but there is still a brisk wind. Headed south then towards Winchcombe, where the next two attractions are. The first is the Gloucestershire -- Warwickshire Steam Railway, which runs for about 30k along an otherwise disused track from Broadway to Cheltenham racecourse. Winchcombe is in the middle, and trains run from here both ways. 

The volunteer staff had been delayed due to a fatal crash blocking the M4 motorway, and so I was just in time to hop on the first train, to Cheltenham. The carriages came from the 50s and 60s, and there was a compartment carriage at the rear that I came back on. We didn't go very fast or very far, but it was magical to go through tunnels and under bridges and see the steam from the loco swirling around us.

We had a few minutes at Cheltenham racecourse and then made the return trip. I looked around the exhibits at the station, had a pot of tea and a toasted teacake, and then set off. Most of the volunteers here are my age or older, and some of the exhibits have already been closed due to lack of staff, so it's hard to see how much longer things like this will be able to keep going.

From here I drove to Sudely Castle -- not to be confused with Studly Castle, which is somewhere entirely different. Sudely is set in a Tudor-style garden, enhanced with various animal sculptures including a herd of Indian elephants, to raise awareness of conservation. It also has some water features, with a pond containing some of the largest carp I have seen so far, and a Pheasantry. I didn't see any pheasants there, though they have been popping up everywhere else, including on the train trip. Winchcombe town itself was quite historic, but the parking was the usual nightmare, and I didn't stop there long.

The castle itself was built as a residence rather than a fortification, and the oldest bit is a ruined banqueting hall built by Richard III. He was chased out by the Tudors, who took over the place, and it became the residence of Katharine Parr after the death of her husband Henry VIII. She married her old love Thomas Seymour, but apparently found him in bed soon afterwards with Princess Elizabeth, who must have been about 14 at the time. And she died the following year while giving birth to a daughter, Mary Seymour, who also died in infancy. There's  a church in the grounds where Katherine Parr is buried.

After the Civil War the castle was de-roofed and left to decay for a couple of hundred years until it fell into the hands of some rich Victorians and was largely restored. There's a very full description of its modern occupancy in the castle itself, as well as a historical section. In 1970 the family moved into the servants' quarters and opened the main castle to the public; there's now a tearoom and a gift shop as well as various temporary exhibits there, and a rather feeble maze.,

My knee was playing up, so I drove straight on to my accommodation at Cleeve Hill Hotel. This is another big boarding house located right on the side of the highest hill in the Cotswolds. I found it after a bit of back-and-forthing on a busy road, and from my room I can look out on the hillside itself, rising steeply behind the house. I should probably have gone out to explore, but I thought I should rest my knee; and with no pubs or villages nearby to explore, I just had a quiet night in.

Tomorrow to Cheltenham to buy a new stick or see if I can repair this one. A bolt and a wingnut should do it, but where have all the hardware stores gone?