Cotswolds

For my Mum's 60th birthday, we took a trip to the Cotswolds and stayed at the Lamb Inn in Burford.  Burford is a peaceful little English village where you can pass your time browsing antique shops, possibly stopping at some point for a cream tea to keep you going through the rest of the afternoon.  Not too many cream teas though because the food at the Lamb Inn is amazing and you wouldn't want to spoil your appetite.

We decided to go out for a walk which took us through some of the neighbouring villages and past this lovely little church.  As we walked away from the church we had to cross the field in the front on this picture to get back to Burford.  We'd noticed some cows across the other side of the field and as we walked down the hill the herd of cows noticed us.  They weren't just any cows either, this was an energetic herd of bullocks and now they were charging across the field at an alarming speed and heading straight for us.  Mum, Christine, Sue and Anne turned back and jumped over the wall of the churchyard.  Ian and I were about to do the same when we realised this meant we would be abandoning Dad (who had a hernia at the time and was not able to leg it up a hill and leap over a wall) to the crazy bullocks.  So we formulated plan B and, with some trepidation, made our way over to the edge of the field.  The bullocks caught up with us just as we reached the barbed wire fence. Ian and I managed to climb over while Dad edged his way along the side of the field, surrounded by curious bullocks.  They calmed down a little at this stage and followed us to the gate, keeping a close eye on us until they were certain we had left their field.  The others had managed to skirt their way around from the churchyard along the edge of the field too and soon we were all safely back together.  I ordered steak for my dinner that night.

As you know, these pictures get printed as Christmas cards and I wasn't entirely convinced that a herd of boisterous bullocks sent the right festive message so with a bit of artistic license, I've replaced them with a sunset instead.  It actually looks quite peaceful doesn't it...