Bourton-on-the-Water

So we left Fareham and headed to Bourton-on-the-Water, in the Cotswolds.

The day after we arrived Willow started at the local village school. She has been to a right old mixed bag of schools over the years but seems to settle in well and luckily this was the case with this one too. She liked it because it was small with just over 80 pupils with only three girls in her year. So she got to mix a lot more with children older and younger due to mixed year classes. She managed to make lots of friends despite the school being small and spent many an evening round friends houses. Another thing I loved about the school is how close it was. By road it was only half a mile but if you cut across the back fields it only took 15 minutes to walk and had all of 100 yards of road to walk down. We made friends with the inhabitants of the fields on our way also with our favourite being Jerry the donkey.

Bourton is described as 'The Venice of the Cotswolds' and it is always packed with tourists, it is amazing just how busy the place gets. We have visited most of the attractions here over the years but on the first day of the tourist season we received some half price tickets so used them for the Model Village as Willow had been reading a book that had been based there so wanted to freshen her memory of what it was like. I love the small village within the village, within the village, etc. etc.

Even though I have always liked the Cotswolds and more specificity, Bourton-on-the-Water, this year there was something I noticed that was different from previous years and that was how friendly and supportive the community is. It made a real difference having Willow at school and I would have loved to have been more involved and even though we have since moved on I still feel a part of me is still there. I have never felt that before but maybe it is because I know we will be returning every now and then when we are close enough so Willow can go back to school.

Being in one place for a while also meant that I could sign Willow up for some classes. She wanted to go to hula hoop, as she had been learning this in America and wanted to continue. I did find one but it was an adult class but luckily they said she could go if an adult went with her. So I ended up signed up for hula hoop also and have to admit I have loved it and even managed to do it a little bit.

I am use to people recognising Tweedy, especially in the Giffords Circus catchment area, but with the year off and living in the area for a longer period, it seemed even more noticeable and also slightly mad.

The main reason for being in Bourton-on-the-Water, even though we arrived weeks/months before anyone else was for the rehearsals of the new Giffords Circus 'War and Peace at the Circus'. This is a manic time where a fairly peaceful farm suddenly becomes alive with all sorts of hustle and bustle. Prop and scene making taking over the barn, music being practised here there and everywhere, scripts being learnt and old and new friends coming together.

Finally the time comes to leave Bourton and head to Gloucester, the first ground of the 2011 tour.