Wotton-Under Edge to Old Sodbury via the Somerset Monument and Dyrham Park: 23/4/23

First day without a cooked breakfast, which is apparently the custom of the inn. I didn't press the point, because they had plenty of muesli and yoghurt and pastries. After that I began the day with a climb up Wotton Hill, which gives a good view of the town and the surrounding areas. Then I looked around the town a little -- it's not especially interesting -- before filling up with petrol and heading south to the Somerset Monument.

This is a huge tower erected on a hilltop in 1846 to commemorate Lord Edward Robert Somerset, who had died four years previously. He was a general and an MP, but why the Duke of Beaufort chose to commemorate him in particular nobody seems to know. The monument is on private land, and fenced off, with a tiny parking spot nearby, and though you can walk around it on a footpath, you can't get close.

On then to Dyrham Park, yet another stately home surrounded by gardens. This one's in a valley, so you can walk there along the ridge top and get another good view of the area. There's an old church on the estate which is not covered by the National Trust, but given what they charge for entry to the site, they should probably slip them a few quid from time to time. The house itself was attractive, and the gardens are nice, but at this stage they're all starting to blend into one. And of course there was a bookshop.

Dyrham Park was the property of William Blathwayt, of whom I had never heard, but he was Secretary of the Army at the same time that Pepys was Secretary of the Navy, under William and Mary, and apparently very good at his job -- and equally good at getting favours from the people under his influence. One of his sons joined the army and the other became a composer. His daughter married and died young.

Walked back up and drove on to Old Sodbury, where the Cross Hands Hotel is -- or rather, where Google Maps said it should be. No sign of it there, although there was a rather nice pub called The Dog Inn. A local told me it was a mile up the road, and it was, in a noisy spot next to the main road. A nice building, though; and here I had the Sunday roast dinner and a pint of Guinness, and retired to my room. About that time the general phone alert test that the UK government has been announcing for weeks went off. I got a buzz on mine, but there was no siren, and no apparent panic.

I had planned to go out and buy food, but the only choices were going back to the Dog Inn or heading out to a petrol station with a convenience store, and neither were very attractive in the drizzle, so I stayed in and made do with cheese and apples for dinner. So a fairly quiet day, though a somewhat noisy night. The Badminton Horse Trials are being held nearby, and perhaps this has brought out the rowdy element. Personally I hope they find them guilty.

Tomorrow I hope to find parking at Yate Station and take a train to Gloucester for some big-city vibes.

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