In July 2024 we stayed for a week at The Paddock, The Ridgeway, Crudwell near Cirencester in order to go to the Air Tattoo that was taking place on Sunday 21st July at RAF Fairford. Whilst we were there we visited a number of other places in addition to the Air Tattoo. Here are some photos:
This is "Negus" a Boeing 747 (Jumbo Jet) that is stationed at Cotswold Airport, Kemble. British Airways retired its fleet of Boeing 747 in 2020 as a result of the downturn in trade arising out of the Coronavirus pandemic. Negus had been repainted by British Airways in heritage colours a year earlier to commemorate 100 years of service. Following negotiations it was agreed that Negus wouldn't be scrapped but would be stationed at Cotswold Airport. Internally the cockpit, First Class Seating and Business Class sections are exactly as they were when the plane was operational. The Econonmy Class seating has, however, been turned into an events venue.
Here I'm in one of the First Class seats.
The airport at Kemble used to be the home of the Red Arrows ... they left one of the aircraft behind when they left.
Polo matches take place at Cirencester Park most days of the week. We went on the Wednesday of our holiday. I'd understood the website to say there was a charge to be paid for the day but when we arrived I followed in a horse box through the gate and whilst we were there no-one seemed to be collecting any money. I was apprehensive about getting out of the park thinking that the gate might be closed against us, but when we got there we were able to get straight out. So I think the website was just ambiguous and perhaps a fee is only payable at the weekends when the main matches take place.
More sport - our holiday cottage came with it's own pool table!
The village of Crudwell lies on the road that links Malmesbury to Cirencester, so we spent the day after the airshow looking around Malmesbury. This is Malmesbury Abbey. It's an unsual place because half of it is a completely functioning church. The other half is either a ruin or missing (a storm caused the Abbey Tower to collapse damaging the buildings nearby). Immediately adjacent to the Abbey is the Bell Inn which was once used by the Abbey monks as accommodation for visitors.
This is the market cross in Malmesbury