Today we had plans; James’ present from me for Christmas '22 was a flight simulator experience at Gloucestershire Airport. It was only forty minutes drive from Bibury so we had time for a stroll around the village first. We saw the cutest wee ducklings swimming in the stream. It’s so pretty but oh boy it’s touristy! Especially our little lane, Arlington Row, which has many people walking up and down it during the day. The 19th-century artist and textile designer William Morris called Bibury "the most beautiful village in England" when he visited it. I noticed that a lot of the tourists are Japanese, and on enquiring I found out that it’s because the Emperor Hirohito visited and stayed in Bibury during part of his honeymoon, when he was still only a Prince, in 1921.
James enjoyed the flight simulator, which was an exact replica of the controls of a Boeing 737, with a wraparound screen depicting the take off, journey and landing. He said that it was so much more realistic than the flight simulators he has used on the computer, which just have the normal screen and a joystick. I was able to spectate from one of the seats behind the cockpit. The instructor explained the controls to James, who already knew quite a bit because of his interest in aircraft. He successfully took off from the airport, flew the plane and landed safely! The instructor said that it was a very good landing. Then he had time to land twice more, he chose Glasgow and Birmingham airports and didn’t crash the plane either time! After saying our goodbyes to the friendly instructor and his trainee (a retired pilot who has recently moved back to Gloucestershire from Dingwall) we walked to the nearby Aviator Restaurant. It was a very nice wee restaurant, quite busy with families and pilots.
Our next destination was Bourton-on-the-Water, a very pretty Cotswolds village which I first visited as a child, maybe in about 1970, with my mum and Dad and Jennifer. I went back there with James in about 1987 but haven’t been back since, and it was lovely to see it again. The village has lots of cafés and a little river running through the middle; it was very busy with tourists. But for me the highlight was the model village, an exact replica of the real village. It’s absolutely amazing, built to 1/26th scale, and you can recognise all the buildings and roads. Like the real village it’s very pretty and it’s an absolute pleasure to walk around its streets, with the buildings about waist high. I can still remember so well walking there as a child. The really cool thing is that since the model village is a replica of the real village, inside it is another smaller replica of the village! And inside that is another tiny one - amazing! We went on to Northleach for a very nice coffee in the village square and later a delicious dinner at the Catherine Wheel pub in Bibury. As we strolled back to the cottage we could see trout swimming in the stream and jumping up to catch flies.
James enjoyed the flight simulator, which was an exact replica of the controls of a Boeing 737, with a wraparound screen depicting the take off, journey and landing. He said that it was so much more realistic than the flight simulators he has used on the computer, which just have the normal screen and a joystick. I was able to spectate from one of the seats behind the cockpit. The instructor explained the controls to James, who already knew quite a bit because of his interest in aircraft. He successfully took off from the airport, flew the plane and landed safely! The instructor said that it was a very good landing. Then he had time to land twice more, he chose Glasgow and Birmingham airports and didn’t crash the plane either time! After saying our goodbyes to the friendly instructor and his trainee (a retired pilot who has recently moved back to Gloucestershire from Dingwall) we walked to the nearby Aviator Restaurant. It was a very nice wee restaurant, quite busy with families and pilots.
Our next destination was Bourton-on-the-Water, a very pretty Cotswolds village which I first visited as a child, maybe in about 1970, with my mum and Dad and Jennifer. I went back there with James in about 1987 but haven’t been back since, and it was lovely to see it again. The village has lots of cafés and a little river running through the middle; it was very busy with tourists. But for me the highlight was the model village, an exact replica of the real village. It’s absolutely amazing, built to 1/26th scale, and you can recognise all the buildings and roads. Like the real village it’s very pretty and it’s an absolute pleasure to walk around its streets, with the buildings about waist high. I can still remember so well walking there as a child. The really cool thing is that since the model village is a replica of the real village, inside it is another smaller replica of the village! And inside that is another tiny one - amazing! We went on to Northleach for a very nice coffee in the village square and later a delicious dinner at the Catherine Wheel pub in Bibury. As we strolled back to the cottage we could see trout swimming in the stream and jumping up to catch flies.
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