Sunday Road Trip: A Visit to Chipping Sodbury

Don't you just love the names of the towns? I told Brian we should start planning our road trips by the names alone and see what happens.

Chipping Sodbury is actually not too far from where we live in Bradley Stoke, but it's part of the Cotswolds and the cutest little town so we added it to our Sunday road trip adventures. On this particular morning (full disclosure, a Saturday), we were actually just looking for breakfast and stumbled upon a town food fair, a little craft market, and Brian found a cute little barber shop to get his hair cut.

The centre of town is a big avenue with parking and shops on both sides. They had part of the main street blocked off for the food fair. Just look at that architecture.

As we walked along the street, we saw this decorated alley between two buildings so of course had to go an explore. Often these alleys are called Arcades and take you between the buildings from one street to the next. Since a lot of the buildings are connected to each other, they provide a nice shortcut.

This particular arcade led us to a morning market selling crafts, baked good (some amazing brownies!), plants and natural beauty products. It was very small, maybe around 10-12 stalls, but super cute.

Back on main street with a bit better view of the avenue.

This is the 'secret garden' area of a local pub. Quite common that you walk in off the street, wander through the pub and out the back to find a gorgeous open garden space. The houses in more urban areas are very similar.

And here's the barber shop. One chair, one barber so there's always a bit of a wait, but one of the nicest haircuts Brian has had in a long while. And, of course, the barber and the guy next in line loved his American accent so spent the time discussing Brexit and Trump. And this was weeks before the election. I can only imagine the conversation they would have now!

See the cobblestone sidewalk? Lots of that in this area. Thank goodness for the modern paved roads, but walking can be tricky.

I know, hard to believe this is the same place. Just outside of town is a B&Q, which is like a Home Depot or Menards. We popped in to find a few things for the house and felt immediately at home. A lot less space to work with, but still packed in everything you could possibly need for your home repairs.