Cream Tea for 3, Please

When I was 14 I got a book for my birthday I think from a distant family member that was titled 1001 places to go before you die. I spent a full year flipping through the book taking notes in my Lisa Frank bright purple notebook. I finally narrowed down about 50 cities around the world and titled the list “Places To Go”. I think my teenage self would be pretty impressed with how many places I’ve been able to cross off that list. And how many places I’ve added. Some of the cities or attractions that I had initially added felt so out of reach that I think I simply added them to have a long list. As I sat in my tiny bedroom in Knoxville, Tennessee on Harry Potter sheets listening to my desktop PC whirring from The Sims running too long, I couldn’t even begin to imagine how I would actually travel all over the world. One of the places I had written down was The Cotswolds. The pictures of bright floral vines twisting up sandy brown stone cottages appealed to me but how would I even get there? Fate and practicality aligned in late May when I paid my friend Alex a visit.

Alex lives right outside of Cardiff in Wales. I planned to fly into London and then take a coach bus to Chepstow and stay at Alex’s parents for the night. Then, the next day we would go to Cardiff. Without knowing my childhood goals, Alex had planned a scenic day exploring the Cotswolds in between seeing Chepstow and Cardiff. 

I made a few missteps on this trip but after kicking myself for not anticipating everything that happened I just shrugged and thanked past me for having the money in my account.

I flew into Stansted which was cheaper on paper but in reality it was hell. If you are planning to fly into Stansted you should anticipate the 30 pound round trip train ticket required to get into Central London. Additionally it wasn’t running on Sunday causing me to almost miss my flight. I honestly would have rather missed my flight than shell out the 150 pound taxi fare that I had to pay when I realized any public transit alternative would get me to the airport a full hour after my gate closed but more on that later. 

I arrived in London bright and early with plenty of time to make it to my 11:45am bus to Chepstow. After wandering a bit and getting a coffee I boarded the completely sold out bus ( but not before taking 500 pictures of double decker buses and taxis  for my class. I swear I’m not that big of a tourist! I just have 18 car obsessed four and five year olds waiting for these pictures back in Hungary!). 

The bus was completely full due to a music festival in Chepstow. I bonded with my 75 year old seat mate, who showed me 500 pictures of her King Charles Spaniel, over how raucous all the festival goers on the bus were. I was lucky that Alex had bought my ticket for me ahead of time. There were quite a few people who had planned to purchase the ticket from the driver and were turned away due to everything being sold out. The bus left from Victoria Coach Station and serves all of The U.K.- an excellent way to get around without the hassle of a rental car! 

After bouncing through London traffic, I watched the views outside my window got greener and more hilly.

Chepstow

After a two and a half hour ride, I arrived in Chepstow. Alex drove me to his parents house where we dropped my stuff and headed out to Tintern. The village of Tintern is home to a beautiful but completely stripped abbey. King Henry the 8th dissolved monasteries of their money and assets when he was in the process of splitting away and forming The Church of England. This abbey, while still standing, was one of King Henry’s victims. 

Across the field from the abbey was The Anchor Inn, a pub and restaurant with lots of picnic tables outside. While part of it was renovated and had been built on to, I was glad to see that most of the pub seemed to be untouched from its original days when it served as an inn. The entrance in particular was small and made of stone with large dark beams making up a perilously low ceiling.

We walked along some footpaths passing houses with chickens and free egg boxes. It was super green and lush and instilled a sense of peace and tranquility that the busy morning of travel had brought. 

The Netflix show Sex Education was filmed there as well and it was fun to see recognizable buildings. 

After we had a cider at the pub, we headed into Chepstow where we walked around downtown. I met Alex when he was 18 so it was fun to imagine him as a teenager walking around the town square.

The Cotswolds

The Cotswolds is the kind of place people think of when they hear English countryside. Its the type of charming you’d find immortalized in a little Christmas miniature village or a Thomas Kinkade painting. After driving from Chepstow to Stow on the Wold it was easy to understand why the rolling hills and meadows of The Cotswolds were designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. This designation ensures that the natural beauty is conserved. After walking around an art fair and buying a bag with mushrooms all over it that Alex called foul we stopped in a tiny pub for lunch. There were plenty of authentic looking pubs to choose from and all seemed to be teeming with locals and tourists alike trying to take in the unusually sunny day. After we ate fish and chips and downed more cider, we walked around a bit more taking some pictures. We stopped and wandered the grounds of a medieval church called St. Edwards. Two ancient yew trees have grown over the north entrance of the church giving an eerie and abandoned look despite the fact that the church is still in operation. 

From Stow in the Wold we drove to Bourton on the Water, another idyllic little town teeming with photo opportunities and tourists. We sat admiring the waterways and low bridges used to traverse the town. After admiring the cottages and wandering in and out of a few shops we stopped for tea. I was tired from all the walking and honestly was thinking of getting a cup of coffee while Alex and Isaac had tea but on the suggestion, I was given a look that inferred I might be tarred and feathered and thrown out of town so I agreed to just get what everyone else was getting. I’m not normally big on dairy products. Maybe its PTSD from being forced to drink milk with every lunch at school but since plant based milk has become more readily available I don’t really consume it all that much ( I do however eat a full block of cheese once a day but thats different!). Needless to say I wasn’t bouncing with excitement when Alex ordered three cream teas. Cream tea, I learned, is a form of afternoon tea that comes with tea, a scone, and clotted cream. It was well-worth the slight stomach ache I endured after. 

That night we had dinner and went out in Cardiff. The crowd was mostly university students. I really felt my age as we walked down the street watching the chaos of a night out ensue.

We had a few cocktails at a bar and went back to Isaac’s house. 

The next morning on the way to my coach, we walked through Cardiff Castle’s grounds and a beautiful well- manicured park. 

I wish I could say my journey back was calm and was a great bookend to the trip but it was honestly bad luck personified.The M4 was closed causing my bus to arrive in London an hour later than usual. Then, I found out the train back to Stansted was not running and was replaced with a bus. The usual 45 minute train ride was supposed to take 2 hours on the bus. In a state of panic I went up to a London Underground employee and asked what I should do. After helping me map out all possible ways to get to Stansted she looked at me a bit sympathetically and said “You really should just take a taxi.”

I wanted to say, “Who the fuck can afford a taxi from Central London to Stansted?!” but instead I said, “What a great idea thanks!” and walked away. I decided I would take the subway as close as I could get to Stansted and then get off and take a taxi. The taxi was still insanely expensive but was far less than if I had taken it from Victoria Station. 

I arrived at the airport 30 minutes before my gate was set to close. I wasn’t able to get my boarding pass online. For some reason I had to check-in in person. After spending 20 minutes in the line to get my boarding pass I got to the security line and ended up pretending my mom was waiting for me at the front of the line to get through faster. I made it right as they were boarding the last people. I feel like I very much deserved the $8 Heineken I purchased on the flight. 

Visiting Alex was long overdue. He had traveled to New York a lot over the years and had always made time to see me. He even visited me in Budapest in February so I knew I had to visit him before going back overseas. It never felt like an obligation, though. The thing about this trip is there wasn’t a big tourist attraction to see. It’s hard to differentiate the top things to do and see in the three places I went because it felt like our time just naturally flowed from one activity to the next. 

My advice to people who are wanting to explore and get to know this region is to rent a car and very loosely plan out your days. Plan where you’ll be staying at night and leisurely make your way there, letting the days naturally unfold. Just know that going to a rustic, pastoral little village might be the activity for the day. Going to the pub in town and carrying your cider from the bar to the table outside might be the most active you get. People watching at a cafe with a steaming cup of tea in your hand might be the most social interaction you have. But honestly thats what I needed. 

Have you ever gone to any of these places? Comment below with any tips or tricks!

You can check out some photos of my trip below or check out my instagram for my continued adventures and missteps