I had a lovely time in Castle Combe recently, a pretty village some 12 miles out of Bath. We were very lucky on the day I chose to go with my camera - there are often a lot of tourists, but I think the extremely hot weather that day had kept people inside and in the shade! The area is thought to have been inhabited for around 10,000 years and the river Bybrook which you can see in my photos is thought to have flowed through the same route for more than a million years. The village was established in the fifteenth century, expanding to its peak population in the middle 16th century when the woollen industry was most active. (Info from the Castle Combe Cookbook, which is so much more than a cookbook!) The market cross provides the focal point of the village and has been in place since the fourteenth century when the privilege to hold a weekly market was first granted. Here I am sitting in the Castle Inn restaurant - although we arrived quite late for lunch we were made to feel very wel...