Travels of a Fickle Woman (Part Two)

So where were we?

I left you at Ham, where we felt the chocolate-box villages must surely end - we'd seen so much loveliness we felt convinced we'd be returned to the more humdrum very soon.

But next we came to the tiny hamlet of Fosbury.  There was a little cottage for sale, which Mr U-t-B declared would suit him down to the ground - the garage cum workshop being the key feature I think.  We're not really thinking of moving - indeed we are in no position to do so! - but it was interesting (haha) to see that this little two-bedroom cottage (albeit in beautiful countryside and with a bigger garden than ours) is on the market (actually sold, subject to conditions) for more than we'd probably get for ours...

Dream on!

Fosbury had a very nice postbox - something I have a 'thing' for...

...like I have a 'thing' for nice gates, entrances and doorways...

Next we crossed from Wiltshire back into Hampshire and into Vernham Dean.

Mr U-t-B (for he is fickle too) decided that THIS cottage was just the place for him...

There was something very sweet about it - it was on a smaller scale than everything around it, completely surrounded by its own plot and you just wanted to walk in and set up home there!

There is a bed-and-breakfast in Vernham Dean, which I'm including a photo of in case we decide to go back some time for a longer stay.  That's 'Upton Cottage' if you're interested!

The prettily roofed village pub was alive with a beer festival and some cool music...

A wander beyond the pub included more cottage-, gateway- and Georgian-splendour snapping...

This scene made me think of old Ordnance Survey maps - the pub, the flag, the cyclists and the motor cars...

Next on the route was another tiny place - Ibthorpe.

This is Ibthorpe House. 

I later found out that Jane Austen visited here.  It was the home of her sister-in-law's family. There is a very similar but larger house, Ibthorpe Manor Farm which is a luxury bed-and-breakfast and venue for weddings and events. Looks like a super place to stay!

We then passed back through Hurstbourne Tarrant, where our jaws had first dropped earlier in the day and then drove on through Stoke and on, to St Mary Bourne.  

Love this one, but any cottage with a chevron in front of it makes me think I'd be waiting for a car to drive in as I was sitting peacefully with a game of Patience or some such...

Three real doves were in residence in the dovecot!

And this is where our little jaunt ended (well, apart from the getting home bit, which was not very snap-worthy!)  It may only have been a day out, but I felt we'd been away AGES and almost to a foreign land!