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House Sit in Beautiful Bath by Rob Shackleford

House Sit in Beautiful Bath by Rob Shackleford

Britain by House Sits – Inverness, Scotland

Why is House Sitting for Travel a good idea?

Rob Shackleford and Deborah-Jane Mackay House Sit Bath
Beautiful Bath

Other of our Travelling with Traveller Inceptio Blogs

India by Royal Enfields 1 Britain by House Sits Scottish Food Scottish Culture Southern Scotland Northern Wales
Faces of Scotland House Sit Bath Faces of England House Sitting UK Faces of Wales Visit to London

 

Our final of the four house sits in which we engaged for 2019 / 2020 in the UK was to care for two cats in Bath. Our host, Hazel, was off to discover South East Asia and we had the pleasure of caring for Winston and Elly for a few weeks. While we love dogs, cats are terrific for House Sitters as, in most cases, they honestly don’t care if you’re around. Their only concern is that they are fed and their litter tray emptied and refreshed, so for us this house-sit meant a chance to see more of beautiful England.

Bath is one of the prettiest towns in England and iconic for its Georgian architecture and, of course, the Roman ruins around the ancient baths, which give its name. It is our place to centre our exploration of the south-west of England and the south of Wales. We are constantly amazed at how different Scotland, England and Wales can be, not only in accents, but also in the nature of the land and buildings.

Rob Shackleford and Deborah-Jane Mackay House sit Bath
Bath Pultney Bridge

Rob Shackleford and Deborah-Jane Mackay house sit Bath
The Roman Baths in Bath

Bath was truly amazing and enjoyable, for there was so much to see and do. There are always new places to discover and fall in love with.

One such town is Bristol, which has a lot of similar architecture as Bath and has a terrific vibe. A University town, Bristol is vibrant and delightful. We only spent a day there, but it is a place to which we hope to return for a longer stay.

Another amazing city is Liverpool. Once known for it’s financial troubles, this home of the Beatles is another place with a terrific vibe, great cafes and a beautiful waterside precinct that contains, amongst other things, The Beatles Story,  a very professionally put together museum dedicated to the Fab 4. Not only does it have their story detailed in word and  media, but it carries memorabilia, instruments, and the biggest Beatles shop imaginable. Yes, it is certainly a must see for most travellers, especially lovers of the Beatles.

There are other places of course; incredible Oxford, home of one of the world’s oldest universities, explore the amazing Yorkshire Dales, Cheddar, home of the cheese by that name, Avebury, home of the largest circle of standing stones in Europe, (we visited in the middle of solstice where a lot of rather strange people had gathered,) Torquay, home of Faulty Towers on the coast to the south of England, the twee little historical villages of the Cotswolds and Stratford Upon Avon, and of course Cardiff and southern Wales.

Rob Shackleford Travelling with Traveller Inceptio in Youlgreave
At Youlgreave – Giolgrave in Traveller Inceptio

Travelling with Traveller Inceptio - Deb at Bath Abbey
At Beautiful Bath Abbey

Travelling with Traveller Inceptio - Avebury standing stones
The Standing Stones at Avebury

We especially like Wales and hiked some of the spectacular Brecon Beacons and discovered the ancient burial chambers of Tinkinswood and St Lythans near to Cardiff. Another place worthy of a visit is the Roman ruins and museum at Caerleon.

In all of this I was able to engage in research for current novels in draft, or for future stories. Because Traveller Inceptio happened to take place in England, I was able to take care of a lot of research relevant to the continuation of the story. One such place was Youlgreave. Honestly, I don’t know what led me to choose Youlgreave, and its older form Giolgrave, as a significant location for the characters of Traveller Inceptio, but I’m glad that I did. For those of you who might be familiar with Traveller Inceptio, the village at the centre of the story was Giolgrave. Now Giolgrave, as far as I understand, was the name given to a plot of land upon which Youlgreave was eventually built, but I opted to imagine it was the name of a much older settlement that might have moved from the forests in the deep past.

That’s the freedom of being an author, I suppose, though I do everything I can to make sure the history is as correct as can be.

Please note that, when faced with true experts of the Saxon era, I welcome judicious correction, for I am ever eager to learn more.

Travelling with Traveller Inceptio - Rob Shackleford at Tinkinswood
Tinkinswood Burial Chamber in Wales

Rob and Deb live at Burleigh Heads, on Australia’s Gold Coast.

Rob is an author of Traveller Inceptio, published by Austin Macauley Publishers.

Deb is a yoga teacher and administrator par excellence.

If you have any questions regarding the contents of this blog, please email Rob via his email: [email protected] or Instagram @rob_shackleford_

Rob Shackleford and Deborah-Jane Mackay house-sit Bath
Rob and Deb at the Beatles Story in Liverpool

 

 

If you have purchased or read Traveller Inceptio, please take a photograph of yourself with the book and send it to me. I would be delighted to post them to my social media.

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