Goodbye to Bath - just for a while

A lovely but very brief visit to Bath, great to spend a little more time with Mum and Dad as well as Maggie, Andrew and Jan, before it is time to return to the US.

This morning I popped into town to get a few things and picked up a couple of books along the way..

This is a book of photos of Bath - one of those that, once having seen it, you think that you ought to have been able to produce such a thing for yourself!  It has some lovely photos and will be useful to help illustrate my answer to the inevitable but difficult question from new American friends: 'So, what are the main differences between here and where you lived before?' and 'What is Bath/England/the UK like?'.

I picked this second  little book up because, since being invited to the Russian banquet with traditional Russian and Ukrainian dishes by our neighbours in Reston, we have been debating what should be on the menu if we try to return the compliment with an English 'banquet' with West Country specialities.  

I thought that this might provide some inspiration and it certainly has some interesting recipes including Somerset Cheese Soup, Whortleberry and Apple Pie and a variety of puddings including Glastonbury and Quantock Puddings.  There is also a recipe for Sally Lunn's (isn't that supposed to be a secret?).

The other 'Bath' recipe is Bath Ground Rice Pudding - a kind of custard tart - which I had never heard of.   I would be very grateful for any suggestions as to what dishes should feature at our English banquet!

Back at Stonefield, after lunch today we sat out on the balcony to enjoy the sunshine and Maggie took this lovely picture and kindly agreed that I could 'blog' it.

This afternoon I said my 'Goodbyes' for now and set off along the familiar route back to Leamington.  Some of the countryside did look very beautiful along the way, especially before and after the rainstorms!

At one point, in Tetbury,  I almost managed a photo of the market hall and clock whilst waiting in a queue of traffic but it moved just too quickly!

My last photo today is a 'proper' English robin who came to Lauren's garden to forage this evening and found himself a good-sized worm for supper...