A few photos from a day in the English countryside in summer this year.

While I love travelling to other countries, I also want to explore more of Britain so we have been taking day trips with friends, all within about an hour or two of London, over the last few months. For this day trip we headed to Oxfordshire to the pretty little village of Goring-on-Thames for coffee* and a look at how the lock operates before getting drenched (hellloooo English summer weather!) and scurrying back to the car.

Back in the car for another 20 mins, through winding back roads and we had arrived at our lunch destination in Berkshire, The Pot Kiln. We didn't have a booking (the restaurant was full) so braved the mizzle and sat in the garden on bench seats. A bottle of champagne, ploughman's lunches, venison rolls, a frolic with the cows** and clearing weather later, we had full tummies and were declaring that we simply must all move to the country ;)

*Try Pierreponts a sweet little cafe beside the lock/bridge. We only had coffee but the homemade sweet treats looked delicious.

**maybe not so much a frolic as a "Oooo look at the lovely cows. Oh wow, they seem to be moving in closer. Sh*t. Press the bluddy shutter button and walk.away.slooooowly!" I had a bit of a bad experience with a young bull a couple of years ago (I blogged about it waaaaay back) so I am a bit weary of advancing cows now, as much as I think they are beautiful.

p.s. The barbie in the last photo? We had that when we got home :)