Poaching the Proper English

When you think of England you think of…. a proper English breakfast. The cafe in Blockley serves what may be among the best! We enjoyed one on Wednesday morning which inspired us to continue working on our poaching skills.

Thursday morning- while the sun was not brightly shiny, but was more promising in the am .

We had been joking all week about the various tools in all the little shop to help poach an egg. Today the showdown was set … the great British poach off was happening!

Manned with a pot of water brought to rolling boil and a poaching cup ( David using one version, Bob the other, we proceeded to poach! ( although the chef at the cafe says all you need is the pot and the water ) It was a fun twist on our breakfast.

No egg left uneaten…After eating the entries we headed out to hike Chipping Camden.

It was a beautiful morning, dew still on the grass. Starting in the village we find the public footpath to the trailhead. We arrive at a plateau with a vista of the vast English countryside on one side and a hedgerow full of chuckling pheasants.

As we approach the ridge to take in the view we feel

we can almost touch heaven! We are shaken from this reverie as a large brown creature bounds over to greet us. We meet Anthony and Dene. Anthony is a caretaker on the estate that surrounds our trail. Dene is the lovable dog on the estate who is out for a run. He gets his share of petting before he dashed off. Anthony proves to be a storyteller and points out the literary connections to this spot. It seems the far off point where we were trying to discern is of literary note. We are not so close to heaven after all, we are in fact on Middle-earth! The surrounding hills and valleys were the placeJ.R. Tolkien hiked with his pal CS Lewis and the Lord of the Rings were born. Off in the distance is the inspiration for Frodo and Gandolph’s battle at Weathertop, on the way to Rivendell.

As we look off to the left an ominous stretch of storm clouds (and visible downpours) approaches. Anthony points us on to the trail back to town and we head off.

Tonight we are continuing our brush with literature… we are off to Stratford-upon-Avon to the Royal Shakespeare

Company to see opening night of their new production of King John. The RSC is a stellar company of actors and creative staff. They see the relevance in the Bard’s stories and switch them up in intriguing ways to draw in a new audience of admirers. In this production King John is played by Rosie Sheehy ( gender bending is a staple of these productions) in a tour de force performance. The wedding scene morphs to a sixties dance sequence ( a little Austin Powers meets Will Shakespeare)but the language of Shakespeare comes alive in its full measure.

The intimacy of the RSC theater and the creativity of the play kept us chattering all the way home.