Books, Cheddar Cheese and Laundry

May 25, 2011
While having breakfast this morning our hosts told us about this village nearby that was the book capital of the UK. Every other store, it seemed, was a used bookstore. If we were interested in books, they said, we should go visit this village. So we scraped plans to drive to Cardiff and drove to Hay -on-Wye instead. They were correct. Everyother store was a used book store. And they were preparing for the annual Hay Festival, the largest literary festival of the year in the UK. We asked one of the shop keepers how this all happened. She told us about an excentric British gentlemen named Booth who thought having all these book stores would attract tourists. Turns out he was right.
After a couple of hours of wandering about Hay-on-Wye we hit the road driving toward Cheddar and the Cheddar Gorge. The Gorge itself is quite spectacular. There are records showing that man has lived in the Gorge for 44,000 years, but the English claimed it was only rediscovered during Victorian times, the mid to late 1800's. We are not sure we believe them. The unfortunate thing about the Gorge is the area of shops on the road just before you enter this wonder of nature. It felt like an America tourist trap. Tim said he expected to see a sign advertising last chance for Mackinaw Island Fudge. It seemed that every shop claimed to have the only Cheddar Cheese actually made in Cheddar. As much as we enjoyed the Gorge, we had no trouble driving past all the shops on the way out.
We spent the night at a B & B in Glastonbury. Glastonbury has two claims to fame. First, it is supposedly the site of King Arthur's and Guinevere's graves. Second, it is claimed that Jesus visited Glastonbury when he was a boy. It seems Mary had a brother in the steel business and Glastonbury was big in the steel business back then so it is thought he probably brought Jesus with him on one of his business trips. With the Bible being pretty much blank when it comes to Jesus' childhood, it is hard to argue the point. But.....
Today, Thursday, is laundry day. We have found a place here in Glastonbury to do our laundry. No word if Jesus did his here. Then we head on to London to find accomodations for a couple nights. Friday is a big day. We have tickets to the Chelsea Flower Show. We hope to include a visit to Wisley Gardens in morning. Check back for a complete report on the Chelsea Flower Show.