ENGLAND {Day 6: Stow on the Wold, Broadway Tower, Sudely Castle, Derbyshire}

We began the day by visiting Stow on the Wold a little more.

It used to be a market town and there wasn't a great way to capture the square, but it was so charming!  We shopped for a bit before heading out.

We made a quick stop at Broadway Tower.

We assumed it was built for protection...

and learned once we got there that back in the day, Englishmen would build what they call
"Foley's" basically to show their wealth.h

Strange!

We intended next to head tho Sudely Castle,

but couldn't help but make our GPS mad by taking every detour into every possible village on the way.

We found ourselves on these tiny roads quite often.

We'd suck in as we drove through them.

Sudely Castle was next,

more of Julie's ancestors have ties here so it was fun to see!

And stunning.

They've kept lots of these ruins on their land.

Julie and I in the gardens.

My travel buddy :)

Julie and I both have a fascination with Catherine Parr, the last wife of Henry the Eighth.

She is buried at Sudely.

She lived there when she died.

At some point she must have been forgotten about.

In the 1800's some ladies were on the grounds by the church and saw something sticking by the foundation.  They talked a Gardener into digging into it and found her coffin, and this plaque!

AMAZING!

The rest  of this story is a little gross, so read on at your own risk.

They opened up her coffin to find that somehow, over the last 300 years,

she hadn't decomposed at all!

So incredible and gross.

Over time, so many people came to see it and open up her coffin that now all that remains is
"a little bit of dust".

Only in England.

The outside of the church at Sudely.

The castle itself.

We ate a lovely dinner in a town called Chipping Campden before heading on quite a long car ride to Derbyshire.

Once we got to Derbyshire (which is STUNNING!)

We headed to our inn.

We were excited to stay in this place, and it was probably one of the most memorial nights of the trip.

We went down to eat in the pub (some seriously good food),

and ended up chatting with the owner and a few of the local people for quite some time.

Turns out, he used to own the St. Mary's Gate in Arundel.

We loved the coincidence and were reminded of what a small world it is!

We stayed up chatting with our new friends well past midnight.

Truly, one of those nights I will forever look back on fondly.

So much fun!

(Things to remember: Julie's pep talk, the magic trick, the drive to the inn, the man snoring next door).