Gloucestershire

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I want to escape from the hustle & bustle of modern life. And stay in a chocolate box cottage.

A very picturesque-style cottage in Blaise Hamlet just north west of Bristol. All of these cottages are owned by the National Trust.

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Dutch Style Water Garden at Westbury Court, Westbury on Severn, Gloucestershire, England.

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I want to walk across that back and forth as many times as I can, just to brag to myself that I'd be in such a beautiful place!

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In England, there is a beautiful range of hills called the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, or how I like to say, the Cotswold Charm. Purely natural beauty, a storybook (really) with the River Eye running right through it. Its sometimes called the "Heart of England" because its richness in beauty, its also said to be one of England's most beautiful little, quaint villages. The most stunning thing about this village is that nothing has been changed here for more than a century (since 1906 to be exact) and believe me, thats HUGE! There aren't a lot of places to visit like this. So, if you do pay a visit, make sure you do some heavy research since there aren't a lot of things to accommodate tourists. Good.

Pictured above is the Upper Slaughter, which is one of the two villages in Cotswold. The other, Lower Slaughter. {Keep in mind, the word "slaughter" has nothing to do with killing! It is translated into old English as "Slohtre", which means muddy place because of the rain.} Far more from being muddy though, there is so much sightseeing to do as well as gorgeous cottages to stay at.


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It's a fungi family!

The way to the Peto Water Garden at Buscot Park in Oxfordshire, England. Just the road to get there looks amazing, I wonder how much more amazing the actual garden is.

A miniature water garden (I think I'll opt to take this route considering I live in a desert!)
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Talking about all this green goodness, lets try to preserve our planet please please please!! Then we will have much more beautiful places like these to look forward to visiting. I know when its my time to visit pretty places like these, I want to be able to see them how they are today! Lets keep it that way.
Recycle Tote

Have some extra time? Simply, find who needs your help by going here!

In the May issue of Real Simple, they talk about leftovers and what to do with them....I wanted to share some good tips:

Clothes: Goodwill, Salvation Army, dressforsuccess.org
Children Items: Newbornsinneed.org, Projectnightnight.org
Books, CD's, DVD's: booksforsoldiers.org, readertoreader.org

And this was my favorite, swap an item!

Clothing/Accessories: rehash.com, swapstyle.com
Children Items: handmedowns.com, thebabychain.com
Books, CD's, DVD's: bookins.com, chancexchange.com, goozex.com, swaptree.com
Anything/Everything: freecycle.org, neighborrow.com, swapthing.com, titletrader.com