Village Life

Never in my life did I ever think I'd be looking for a home in a "village"...I mean, who says that anyway? Today, Stegen's co-worker offered to spend the day with us, touring around some of the beautiful towns and villages in the area. Not only did Kirk give us the best tour since we've been here, he left his wife and two small kids behind to do it. Kirk, you are awesome and please thank your wife for letting us borrow your expertise! Here are Kirk and Audrey in the town centre of beautiful Henley-on-Thames:

Kirk picked us up from our flat and drove us around to show us the quaint (and very English) towns and villages outside of Maidenhead. Before our tour today, we were almost positive that we wanted to live in Windsor--easy access to London, the castle, shopping malls. After seeing what the rest of the area had to offer, I'm sold on village life. 

Our first stop was to a small hamlet village. A hamlet usually refers to a subdivision of a larger parish. This particular hamlet was so small, you could stand at one corner of it and see it in it's entirety! The buildings have maintained their original features, including small doors that people, today, would need to crouch under to get through. Here is Stegen standing next to one of the taller doors in the Hamlet (the really small ones were behind little gates). If he were standing directly in front of the door, you'd see that his head is a bit above the frame!

We then drove through the beautiful town of Cookham and some parts of Marlow. Because these two towns are small, there are very few rental properties (known as "lettings" here) available. Just West of Cookham is the beautiful town of Henley-on-Thames. The town centre was everything you'd imagine when you think of England, and the path along the River Thames was absolutely stunning. Here is Kirk at Starbucks in Henley-on-Thames town centre:

We walked around the entire town and stopped off at an amazing park by the river. If today's trip has taught me anything, it's that 1) Kirk has very impressive (and scary) driving skills through narrow roads, 2) This area is made of narrow roads, and 3) We NEED to live in Henley-on-Thames!! I'm planning on calling some of the schools on Monday to find out if there are any spaces available for Audrey. We were scheduled to go see more houses in Windsor on Tuesday, but I think we might need to go back to the drawing board with our UK liaison. Show us the village life, Karen!

Walking the bridge over the River Thames

 It's been a long and eye-opening day! Tomorrow we head off to London to visit the Science Museum with the kids. It's time to hit the sack, but not before some FaceTime with Uncle Charles, Aunt Joyce, and Han Solo! We love and miss you guys so much!!