On my last full day in England, Dan's mom took me to the nearby town of Hungerford. The Hungerford adventure started with a ride in Dan's parent's Smart Car. As a member of the SoCal Smarties, I've seen all types of Smart Cars. However, this was my first time in a UK Smart!

Dan's Parent's new Smart.

UK Smart Car!

The interior of their Smart.

Their car has a feature that I had not seen, Eco. The engine shuts off when the car is at a stop.

I love having my Smart Car in Los Angeles, but I think that if I lived in England, I would definitely want to have one. The narrow roads are scary!

The drive to Hungerford was very beautiful. Here is a picture of one of the prettiest spots that I saw on my trip, a giant field that is a cow pasture in the warmer months.

Just like Newbury, Hungerford is a beautiful town filled with buildings steeped in history and full of character.

The main street in Hungerford.

Travel agency.

Building address

Mom and pop hardware store.

Great store name.

Bumps in the road.

Alley to residential section.

Warning sign

Hungerford is filled with antique stores...some high end and some just junk.

The community events board.

Pretty window.

Hungerford street sign.

Shop front

Naturally, i had to take a picture of the bookstore.

Clock close-up

Beautiful old building with a clock tower.

I love writing reviews on Tripadvisor and I was happy to see the familiar owl in a shop window.

Our first stop in Hungerford was the Antiques Arcade. The Antiques Arcade is deceptively small looking from the outside, but is massive. Inside, the building is split into two halves, each with a row of individual antique stalls going deep into building, including some on a second floor and in a basement. It's a place where you could spend many days and never see everything, objects are crammed into every available space.

I don't even like antique shopping, but I have to recommend the Hungerford Antique Arcade as a must-see. It's quite spectacular and the building itself is nothing like we have in America. I quite honestly had no idea where to look, as there was just so much to see. The best thing about poking around the arcade was finding objects that were completely foreign and unusual, like old machinery. There are some really old and unique objects for sale!

The Hungerford Antique Arcade

The Hungerford Antiques Arcade

Caution Sign.

Cool ceiling

Taxidermy for sale ( not even remotely the strangest thing that you could purchase)

Steep stairs leading to the Junk Shop.

The Junk shop, located in a damp basement.

Giant flag

Books for sale!

Sign for a British reality show. If this was on an American channel, it would totally be a TLC show.

My favorite part of Hungerford was walking by the canal. The canal runs through the town and has a lock allow for boats to enter. It is filled with ducks and lined with pretty homes.

Walking towards the canal.

Mooring info

The crossword notice...love it!

The Hungerford Canal.

Ducks

Lots of ducks!

This house had a notice on the door...

Just in case the message wasn't clear with the crossword.

Pretty canal house

Door knocker

Ivy lined path

A boat parked on the canal

The walking path along the canal.

People fish here too

The Hungerford canal.

Another fishing info sign

The Hungerford Lock

The Hungerford Lock.

The Hungerford Lock

Written in stone near the lock

The Hungerford Lock.

The Hungerford Lock

The Canal

Underneath the bridge

Great name for a boat!

After the canal walk, we went back to the main street and found a hidden path to take us back to where the Smart Car was parked. I took a ton of pictures.

The only red phone booth that I saw on the whole trip.

Round-a-bout

Funny

Pub Quiz is a big thing in Los Angeles too! Love it!

indian restaurant

That's a lot of logs!

Graffiti on the hidden path.

Another antique store

Warning sign on the hidden path.

A more modern church stuck in among the old buildings.

A dog house

i want to live in "Mole House". I also learned all about mole holes on this trip.

Town map

The hidden path.

We decided to walk up a set of stairs and found the hidden pathway.

The local pet store.

old gate

A round-a-bout without any physical barriers.

I love the vines on the brick building.

We came across a flooded road. Luckily the Smart had no trouble managing the water.

The Smart waiting for us in the parking lot. We left just as it was starting to pour.

Driving through Hungerford

Driving back through the beautiful fields with dark skies.

A big THANK YOU to Dan's mom for taking me to Hungerford. We spent a wonderful afternoon in a charming town.

One of the stereotypes about England that I heard repeatedly, especially when I mentioned my upcoming trip, was that the food is awful. I am here to dispel that rumor, as a majority of my meals during my vacation were wonderful. In fact, the first restaurant of the trip made the best ham sandwich that I have ever eaten. EVER!

I spent an afternoon touring the town of Newbury with Dan's mom and she took me to the cutest cafe for lunch called the Teashop by the Canal. I ordered a ham sandwich on granary bread. The key to making this sandwich so superior was the liberal spread of heavenly onion chutney. The onion chutney was so delicious, that if allowed, I would have grabbed a spoon and eaten it straight out of the jar. Speaking of chutney, if any stereotype might be true about English food, it could be that they have an abundance of chutney/jams/jellies. It works for me.

The Teashop by the Canal

Teashop by the Canal

inside the teashop, very cozy

Tea!

Dan's mom pouring the tea

My rose petal tea

My amazing ham and cheese with the fabulous onion chutney.

Dan's mom ordered a vegetarian cheese sandwich

Later the same night, I had dinner at a restaurant called The Newbury, located right in the Newbury town center. I would best describe The Newbury as a Gastropub, great food with an upscale, yet warm vibe. The location has undergone many incarnations, including a nightclub with purple walls. It was packed on a Saturday night, especially the bar area. On the recommendation of Dan's sister, I ordered the Fish n' Chips, which ended up being a wise choice.

For dessert, I had lavender ice cream with shaved honeycomb as a topping. So good!

Dan's mom had the vegetarian pasta.

Dan's dad had lamb.

My fish n' chips with peas.

Monday was the coldest day of our trip. Freezing. We took Dan's kids to the park, but didn't last more than twenty minutes before needing to warm up inside. We took a warm-up break at the Cafe Rouge that is located in Newbury's new outdoor mall. It snowed as we had coffee and cakes.

3/15/13 was Red Nose Day in England. This is a day of comedy to raise money for AID's relief in Africa. Everywhere we went we say promotions and advertisements for the day.

The interior of Cafe Rouge.

The exterior of Cafe Rouge.

The interior of Cafe Rouge.

The adults had carrot cake. Yum!

The kids had Red Nose cakes with a portion of the proceeds going towards Red Nose Day.

I ate too much to limit it to one blog post. Stay tuned for more England food reviews.

England March 2013- Hungerford

England March 2013- Gluttony Part One