#Come Away From Home|The Duke and the Shepherdess

[damhsagreine]

She catches him later in the kitchen. Using a stool to span the height difference so that right at his ear she can leave "Big heart energy. Dunna worry though. Oi'm no goin' let ye secret slip." before she's hoping down and away to find her tea pot.

Big... Energy || Accepting

His wife is the softest of God's creatures. Far better than he deserved and he knows it. Which is maybe why he stood there, stock still, when originally he'd come looking for something she wouldn't miss from the icebox to tide over her appetite until supper. Whatever Mrs Ravenchenko was making smelled heavenly, from meat to bread to sweets after. The family deserved a raise. "Sure an' tis I'm grateful, Mistress Sweeney." Old form, the way Grandad used to speak to Gran. His ideal of romance, his most explicit example of it growing up. Even his death hadn't broken their bond. "Fair is it I fear, ye've tole yer bees, an' inveterate gossips they are to the last drone." He looms over her and smiles down, his entire face alight with tenderness, with adoration, with love. "Does m' heart old or young wonders to have it filled with you, and with the boys. But even so, I'm not lettin' ye out of our promise this mornin'."

[chriskarrtravelblog]

The Crown Inn, Church Enstone review

Deep in the heart of the Oxfordshire Cotswolds is this unassuming inn, loved by locals and travellers alike

In the unspoilt village of Church Enstone is the 17th-century Crown Inn, a pub with five cosy low-beamed bedrooms. A proper country pub, is has a welcoming open log fire and locals chatting about country matters. The oak-panelled bar room has long plain wooden tables and settles with cushions, and serves traditional ales and beers by local breweries along with seasonal cocktails and delicious gins. It’s perfect after a country walk along the many footpaths that surround this tiny village of golden stone and thatched cottages.

Bedrooms have period features and lots of character. Credit: Ben Nicholson

Credit: Ben Nicholson

The Crown is owned and run by George and Victoria Irvine. They have turned it back into a traditional inn, beautifully run by charming local staff who are very much part of the local community. The supper manager is also a part-time shepherdess who can tell you all about her clever sheep, trained to appear in television commercials and films. The whole inn is a small art gallery of paintings, some by the owner George, others by local painters and some by famous British 20th-century artists.

Owner George is a keen painter and his pastoral artwork decorates the inn

The warm, comfortable bedrooms, each named after a local hamlet, have tea-making facilities with fresh milk, and the bathrooms come with big reusable bottles of 100 Acres Apothecary toiletries. There are plenty of pillows and a furry hot-water bottle if you want an extra-warm bed.

If you would rather stay separately there is also the Crown Cottage, which sleeps up to four people with two double bedrooms, a sitting room and kitchen. The Crown lay a log fire daily and supply everything needed in the way of fresh bread, milk, butter, jams and biscuits.

The whole area is ripe for exploring. Chipping Norton, the stylish and lively Cotswold town, is only a few miles away, as are the picture-perfect Tews – Great Tew and Little Tew – whose famous thatched houses and wonderful topiary hedges have everything you could expect from the Cotswolds, but with far fewer crowds.

It’s also a great place to stay for visiting Blenheim Palace, the birthplace and ancestral home of Sir Winston Churchill and the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough for the last three hundred years. It is just down the road from Woodstock. And Bicester Village is close by, if outlet shopping is more your thing.

The warm fireside welcomes you after a wintry walk. Credit: Ben Nicholson

After an afternoon spent exploring the area, or a quiet board game by the fire, it’s time for dinner. The delicious rustic food includes such seasonal treats as game terrine with sticky fig chutney and blackberries, or roasted woodland mushrooms and blue cheese gratin, to start, followed by guinea fowl with wild mushroom velouté, potatoes and parsnip crisps and pan-fried duck breast with beetroot. The desserts are well worth saving room for: the likes of iced blackcurrant soufflé with mascarpone, and milk chocolate panna cotta with a rich chocolate truffle.

Credit: Ben Nicholson

Credit: Ben Nicholson

After your meal there is always that lovely log fire to get back to and the buzz of tavern conversation, or on warmer nights you can head to the pub garden for some first-rate stargazing or a stroll around this unspoilt village with its beautiful church, St Kenelm, that dates in part right back to the Normans.

The next morning, breakfast is served back in the dining room, again with as many local ingredients as possible. There is a choice of smoked trout kedgeree from nearby Bibury or a full English breakfast, served with freshly baked bread and local honey and jams.

For a real Cotswold experience in a local’s country pub, served by lovely, courteous staff, The Crown Inn can’t be beaten. And in the depths of winter, it’s the perfect place to hibernate.

www.crowninnenstone.co.uk

READ MORE: Hotel Indigo, Stratford Upon Avon review

The post The Crown Inn, Church Enstone review appeared first on Britain Magazine | The official magazine of Visit Britain | Best of British History, Royal Family,Travel and Culture.

Britain Magazine | The official magazine of Visit Britain | Best of British History, Royal Family,Travel and Culture https://www.britain-magazine.com/features/the-crown-inn-church-enstone-review/

source https://coragemonik.wordpress.com/2020/01/06/the-crown-inn-church-enstone-review/

[damhsagreine]

To her credit she **almost** manages "big dick energy" with a straight face before half bursting into an uncontrollable bout of laughter so hard no sound of note escapes.

Big... Energy || Accepting

"Dunna know f' I should be laughin with ye, or castin' my suspicions yer way that yer sayin' I don't quite ...ah... measure up. Mayhap ye forgot twixt an' tween this mornin' an' right now an' need a remindin' o' it."

It's a playful tease, a rumble deep in his throat, as he catches his bride within the circle of his arms and drags her close. But rather than instinctively going in for the kill, Lugh merely buries his face in the nape of her neck, breathing her as deep as the expanse of his lungs allows. There's no real offense, no fear, no single worry in his mind that she finds him anything less than perfect for her, as she is his ideal and that he is still as much in love with her now ~if not more so~ as he was the day he saw her the first time. As the day he'd married her. As the day she gave birth to each of their sons. When he is old and grey and bent, he will still love her and more. And on his deathbed, he will thank his maker for every day that has gone by, and make her the promise of seeing her again. He shifts just a shade so that his lips align with her ear, his breath hot against it. "The things I will do to ye, Caitlin Buckley-Sweeney. From the top of yer head, t' the tippy of yer toes. Unfortunately, I've got work for me, an' you know how tetchy Michaeline gets when I'm not at his beck an' call."

He gives her delicate earlobe a nip. "But I want ye thinkin' 'bout that t'rest of yer day, aye?"