Leaving Kent (on the far east side) we headed over to the far west side of England. Traffic by and around London on a Monday morning was terrible – and the weather was not much better.  We did, however, get several dry breaks that almost seemed to be purposefully timed for all of our afternoon events.

We headed to the Cotswolds, a fantastically picturesque region of England – full of rolling hills, charming villages, and wealthy “country farmer” estates owned by various lords, earls and the like.

We stopped for lunch at a pub in Woodstock, just down the road from Blenheim Palace. We headed through Oxford and on to Moreton-on-Marsh and the Cotswolds Falconry Center.  This turned out to be a much better visit than any of us would have guessed.  We got a full one hour presentation of their various eagles, falcons, owls and such.  All of their birds spend part of their time each day flying free about the countryside.  They were all raised at the center and always return.  We got a fantastic education about these birds and were allowed to see many of them flying about and demonstrating their various techniques for catching prey, finding and riding thermals, eyesight and hearing trials & etc.

A black vulture picking at Brenda’s leather shoe. Dead is dead, whether it’s splattered on a road or fashioned into comfortable footwear.

An owl that landed right beside me to eat a treat.

A Chilean eagle going in for the “kill.”  The center serves all of these birds dead, whole baby male chickens.  Several local chicken farms donate their male birds… normally they are incinerated (males lay fewer eggs than females) but here they donate them by the thousands to feed all of the carnivorous birds at the center.

They didn’t let him go out while we were there, but we could get as close as we dared and get a real good view of this Bald Eagle.

This row of cottages was built in 1380 as a Monastic wool store.  The town has been called the “most beautiful” in all of England.  It was indeed pretty.

Pretty girl running to and fro in front of an antique shop while the others were inside negotiating a purchase for Holden – a leaded crystal turtle statue.

Walking up to Northleach church … just another small town and yet another church going back to the 1150s.

Tonight we’re staying at a great 2-BR apartment in Cheltenham and we drive into Wales tomorrow morning.