Slad Valley & Tewkesbury

We had a noisy drive to Slad (the exhaust pipe has rusted through and will need replacing at some point tomorrow). This village was the home of the poet and author, Laurie Lee who wrote the "Cider with Rosie" novels which were set in the Slad valley (which I haven't read yet). We parked in the village and set off on a 4 mile walk in the surrounding valley

 
After the walk we had the inevitable chore of de-muddifying the dogs in order to make them presentable enough to be allowed in the village pub. The Woolpack is a nice old pub, full of character. It was one of Laurie Lee's haunts and the walls are covered with Laurie Lee memorabilia. The dogs behaved themselves while we ate lunch (Gnocchi and rocket salad for me) They endeared themselves to the elderly couple sat next to us and were rewarded with the leftovers that they couldn't manage.

We stopped at Tewkesbury in the afternoon and did a 4 mile walk around the town, following a walk in the guidebook I have borrowed from the library. The walk wasn't the most scenic, the route took us around the various battlefields from the War of the Roses in 1479. It didn't mean a great deal to me as I hadn't read up on this part of our history, but the dogs enjoyed romping around in the various fields.

One of the battlefields with Tewkesbury Abbey in the background:-

Another field - the site where one of the armies bivouacked before the battle:-
 
One of the old buildings in the town centre:-