I have a new development to report on: I have now joined the masses of people who eat their porridge while chortling along to a podcast. While I have downloaded the odd intellectual missile (mostly at my husband’s behest) on random things like King Solomon and Ptolemy, I actually find that more often than not I indulge myself in podcasts of the more inane, mind-rotting variety – people tearing apart their dad’s porn efforts, say, or discussing Victoria Beckham’s parenting skills.
Rather than chastise myself, I’ve embraced all the silliness, and it has seeped a little into my work. I have thus decided that henceforth I am going to make more vlogs through which others can escape. Here’s one such happy jolly in the Cotswolds. Nothing hard hitting in here: just a little snoop around The Old Bell Hotel (incidentally the oldest hotel in the UK), a musing on puddings and me walking around a nudist garden (dressed – this isn’t that sort of video)…
For those of you hoping for a little more gravitas, here is a fascinating timeline of Malmesbury throughout history, and some pictures of the grounds/hotel/abbey upon which to feast //
500BC: An iron age community occupied the hill foot that is now Malmesbury.
675: Aldhelm, founder of the abbey, is given the first grant for his monastery.
880: Malmesbury is given borough status by King Alfred.
941: Athelstan, King of England, dies at Gloucester and is buried at Malmesbury Abbey, having given ‘King’s Health To The Men of Malmesbury Forever’.
1180: Norman Abbey Building Is Dedicated.
THE OLD BELL INN //
MALMESBURY //
ABBEY HOUSE GARDENS //
