Warm and cozy Bedfordshire

Another day of bliss. Sleep in and then up for brekki and a drive, this time around Bedfordshire. I often will use the term “I’m off to Bedfordshire” when heading to bed, and now I really have been there, and managed to stay awake! Before we head to Bedford itself we drove to a few small villages which contain thatched homes.

Thatched cottage

It was so sweet and lovely, all the homes looked warm and cozy, and I almost wanted to just let myself into a home and curl up on a bed Goldilocks style! I resisted the urge though and instead stopped at a pub to have a quick lemonade (no, no typo, it really was just a lemonade) there was a lovely green park as the pubs backyard/beer garden and some great play equipment for kids (monkey bars in the shape of a helicopter and pretend wooden horse and cart, that’s pretty cool huh?!) but then as we approached the grass we spotted at the end of the garden two small deer. I was a tad excited, my first ‘wild’ deer! We tried hard to tip toe up closer for a camera shot but they picked up our scent and bolted. We stood still and hoped that perhaps they’d return but alas, they didn’t. No matter, we had more to see and had to move on. Chris’ mum had recommend a pub to visit in that area, she’d come across it in her travels a few years back, so we found the “Hare and Hounds” and popped in for lunch. It was more a restaurant than pub and oh my gosh, the food was amazing! By far the best we’ve had yet in the UK and it had Michelin star awards. Michelin stars aren’t given out to pubs, but I swear to you, this place deserved one! We shared a baked Camembert and fruit toast entrée and then both had the yummiest steak known to man. So so good!

The yummiest entree thus far in the UK

At the Hare and Hounds

After stuffing ourselves on great food and a cider we made a move to find the ‘Swiss gardens’ To do this we had to drive on a small dirt road that lead us past a regal looking college, through an open sheep paddock (dodging sheep as we went) over a cattle grate and past a sign that read “look both ways for aircraft” as we were driving over an airstrip that was in the middle of the paddock. It was all so random and odd, but it felt like a real adventure and was quite fun. We had a lot of trouble finding these gardens but then as we were giving up found a sign out of the corner of our eye and did a U-y. When we saw the price of entry to the gardens we had a slight heart attack and quickly decided that it wasn’t so important to see a load of plants and instead shared a cold drink by a paddock where WW1 planes were loaded up and ready for take off.

An old WW1 Biplane

We watched as this one particular plane flew around the open sky and then flew low whizzing past us, it was entertaining and it was nice to watch the ‘start up’ process that they have to go through just to get it in the air. I just hope that who ever was driving through the random paddock remembered to look both ways before crossing as it took off! We moved on then to Bedford which is actually a large town. As it was getting on to home time for the workers the roads were becoming slightly busy so we decided to take refuge in a shopping centre for a short time, just so it could calm down and we could calmly navigate our way home again. We ended up in Tesco’s, which is a huge grocery/department store here. Anything you want you will find at Tesco’s. I’m not kidding! They do food, wine, clothes, house hold goods, car insurance, travel… everything!! It’s enormous! We had a squiz around before heading back on less congested, less crazy roads and made it back in time for a yummy dinner and another lovely night of chats.

Warm and cozy Bedfordshire

Bedford, United Kingdom