europeannovice

My DH, DS and I just got back from a wonderful trip to the UK despite the horrendous weather they have been having. We avoided London this trip entirely and took the route outlined above.

We were three hours delayed on the ground before take off because engineers had to come on board to fix technical issues. Once in flight it was smooth.

Landed Heathrow airport on a Friday afternoon, saw the immigration line and got a bit worried about how long it would take but it really was fast moving, retrieved our checked luggage (sorry could not pack light to fit everything in carry-on--just don't have the knack), followed the signs for the central bus station and hopped on the Oxford bus to Headington. We each had a 24 inch checked bag and a small shoulder carry-on. The bus ride from Heathrow to Headington was very pleasant and took about an hour. We got off at Headington shops and found the Barclays to get some cash. A couple blocks down was the Red Mullions Guest House where we stayed. Our room had a king bed and a pull out sofa for DS. The bus into town was right across the street and took maybe 10 minutes but we didn't do that the first day. We ate at Rosemary's Chinese restaurant in Headington which was nice and had an early evening. Tomorrow--Oxford! More to follow.

annhig

nice start, e/novice.

i love reading trip reports about the UK by non-brits - i like looking at us through foreign eyes.

looking forward to more!

lovs2travel

I enjoyed your European Extravaganza trip report from 2010 so I am really looking forward to this one!

Gundy

I'm looking forward to this too as we are thinking of doing a similar trip next year.

europeannovice

Thanks for the encouragement. I think trip reports are great momentos and I really enjoy reading other trip reports too. So, here comes some more of ours.

If you recall from our Extravaganza trip, DS ended up getting sick the day we were supposed to go to Oxford as a day trip from London. Therefore, needless to say we didn't get there in 2010. However, this gave us the impetus to want to return. This trip was relatively short trying to squeeze a lot in only 9 days. I wish we could take off for three or four weeks like the rest of the world does but we worked with what we got. And I insisted that we go to Oxford first to make sure we had that covered before continuing with the rest of trip!

Prior to going I read that University Church of Saint Mary the Virgin was undergoing extensive rennovation so wasn't sure if the Towers would be open when we got there. In addition, I heard about Newcastle being flooded and that the UK was experiencing the wettest summer ever on record. I was so glad I packed the rain jackets, sweatshirts, long sleeve shirts, the water proof shoes and umbrellas! We needed every item. I took the sun block too just in case but that was not used once in the UK. Wishful thinking on my part.

First Full Day --Oxford

Anyway, we woke up to a cloudy day with threatening skies but it wasn't wet yet. We ate the full English breakfast and hopped on bus #8 directly across from the B&B. Ten minutes later we got off at High Street near Queen's College. It was a little after 9:00AM.

We found the entrance to University Church and was really pleased to find out the Tower was open for visitors. Yay! We can climb the Tower. The Naive is under rennovation right now. However, we had to first climb a very long set of scaffolding stairs and then the stone spiral steps up to the Tower. There is only one way up and the same way down. When you do this, just make sure other people are not going in the opposite direction as you as there is very little room to move over to let them pass. A bit daunting for someone as slow as I am but the view from the top is definitely worth it! To see all those spires. We were finally in Oxford, Wow! A great view of the Radcliff Camera too.

From University Church and with a street map in hand, we walked leisurely over to the Pitt Rivers and Natural History Museum. We didn't have too much time there as I did book an early afternoon Oxford tour from the information center prior to our arrival. We saw some of the masks and early writing instruments and reed instruments at Pitt Rivers. We also read the Dodo exhibit and saw the Dodo remains at the Natural History Section along with the dinosaur skeletons. Since DS studied earth science this past year and learned about the types of rocks, we spent some time looking at the rock exhibits as well. We spent about an hour at the combined museum.

For lunch we stopped at King Arms for fish and chips and a pint. Received our food relatively quickly and we were glad we got there just before a group of school kids stopped in there for a group lunch. The lead teacher placed the order for the group of twenty kids. The food was okay.

We had a half hour before our tour so we darted into the original Ashmolean which is now the Science Museum and saw Einstein's blackboard where he wrote the theory of relativity. We glanced at some scientific instruments. It is really a cool place.

Saw the famous Blackwell's Bookstore but didn't have time to go in as it was time for our tour. Right next to the Science museum or very close to it anyway is the information center on Broad Street and we met our tour. We entered the Divinity School and the guide shared some Harry Potter tidbits. We saw the Bridge of Sighs and went to New College. We loved the Cloisters where they said a scene from Harry Potter was filmed for one of the movies. We also saw the Cathedral at New College. She also showed us the dining hall and said that it was smaller than the one at Christ Church but I think they are more or less the same.

We didn't go to Christ Church despite DS being a Harry Potter fan. We thought the crowds would be too much since it was a very crowded Saturday afternoon.

Instead we decided to visit Magdalen. We loved the grounds and did Addison's walk. Saw some deer in the field and walked over to the canal where we saw a Hen party going on a Punt boat. The bride-to-be had on a veil. We didn't go punting since it looked like it was going to rain any minute and we wanted to see the Ashmolean Museum before it closed.

We got to Ashmolean a little after 4PM and the minute we got inside, the heavens opened up outside. It started to pour. Great to be indoors. We had a little under two hours there since the museum closes at 6PM but they want you to leave by 5:50PM.

We viewed the Egyptian collection which was very nice. Not as extensive as that found in the British Museum, the Louvre or the Met in NY but still a very nice exhibit. We also saw A Girl at the Virginal by Vemeer. Small but captivating painting.

We heard a live piano player and a lady playing the clarinet at a section in the museum. Everyone stopped to listen. They were quite good. We viewed the exhibits nearby to where they were playing so we could still hear the music.

We saw the cloak of Pochahontas' father, the Alfred Jewel, and the money exhibit downstairs. We didn't cover the entire museum as we had no time for that so we selected the two or three items we were most interested in seeing this trip.

Then we decided to take a bit of a rest and have tea and cake before they closed. We were the last orders of the day. The tea was good and the cake was also really good. Close to closing time and I wanted to use the restroom but the downstairs restroom was closed. One lady told me if I hurried across the street into Debenham's before they closed at six then I can use their restroom. So we dashed out of the museum and it was still pouring rain and literally ran into Debenham's before they closed. Made it in time!

We had a really full but fantastic day at Oxford. After Debenham's we walked through the market- a street with many shops and ended up by the carfax bus station to pick up the bus #8 back to Headington.

The bus stops right in front of the B&B. We took it the next stop over and got off and had dinner at Cafe Noir in Headington. This is a really great French style bistro with really good food, reasonable prices and a very very friendly owner.

We were having trouble with obtaining cell phone service. DH bought a Lebrara sim card which worked fine in London two years ago when we purchased a similar card but did not work at all for us this trip. The owner heard our conversation that we wanted to call home but were having trouble with our phone. He gave me his cell phone and told me to call. That was so very sweet of him. I made a brief call home to say we were okay and that we had no phone service at the moment. As I said, the service and the food were very very good!

It rained again as we were about to leave the restaurant and the owner had us stay inside a bit longer until the heavy downpour subsided a bit and guess what! We saw a double rainbow! How cool is that?

The owner of Cafe Noir also told us where to find the Headington Shark so before walking back to the B&B, with umbrellas held high, we viewed the great Headington Shark (a shark crashing head first into the roof of a home). It is a great attraction of Headington.

Didn't realize how long this was going to be and I am only writing about the first day! Bear with me since I tend to get too wordy.

jamikins

Great start...looking forward to more!

bilboburgler

ttt I just love visits to the UK,

irishface

I'll do more than "bear with" you! I will be following eagerly! Yes, a rainbow is really cool no matter where one is!

PatrickLondon

>> I took the sun block too<<

Aha! Didn't you realise that was a surefire way of making it rain? It's all your fault!!!

europeannovice

PatrickLondon,

I agree. Besides the sun block, we have a way of being in places that set records. When we were in Vancouver they experienced a record heat wave that year.

europeannovice

We loved seeing the rainbow. It really was special. How do I attach a picture?

As I said, I tried to pack in a lot in a short period of time. We spent only the one day in Oxford. I would like to go back and tour the Duke Humphrey's Library, see more of the Ashmolean, tour the Sheladonian Theater, and see Christ Church and the other colleges etc. However, we were very happy with what we did do that day.

Woodstock, Blenheim and Beginning of our Cotswolds Tour

Woke up early. Had a modified English I would call it by leaving some items out.

Okay--first things first. Get car, learn how to cope being on the other side and drive on the other side of the road! Too many round abouts to make one dizzy and too many narrow roads. But that is the way it is... I did not do any of the driving.

Surprisingly, arrived at the town of Woodstock, circled around a bit and found Blenheim Palace fairly early. It is hard to miss. We had purchased discount tickets for Blenheim Palace at the Oxford Information Center the day before so we had tickets in hand.

We decided to tour the Park and gardens first since it wasn't yet raining. Weather was cloud covered again with peaks of blue every now and then but pop up rain storms were happening as well. We decided to do most of our outdoor stuff this day since the forecast was rather bleak for the foreseeable future. Sad to read that it hasn't improved since.

We did see a man walking a white dog on the park grounds and I even said to DH that maybe the person is FlannerUK but I was too chicken to approach and ask. It might not have been and then he would think we were looney. So we continued on our way from the parkland area into the formal garden area saving the Palace for last. We saw the beautiful Rose Garden with red, white and pink roses in full bloom. Really pretty. We also saw the Water Terrace and Italian Garden. Then it started to rain again so we decided it was a good idea to enter the Palace.

Since it was a Sunday, there are no scheduled tours of the inside so you just go from room to room at your leisure and they have docents in each room to answer any questions. Plus you begin by going left for the untold story or right for the Palace rooms and Churchill Exhibition and then go out once you are done with one side and come back in showing your ticket again to do the other side.

We chose to go right first, so we saw the Palace rooms and the Churchill Exhibit during our initial entry. The Churchill Exhibit included some letters he had written to his parents asking them for money. We seemed to enjoy the Churchill War Rooms Museum in London a lot more than this exhibit. I thought the museum in London was more extensive about his life and times. The Palace rooms reminded me of a mini Versailles which I guess was the intent.

Then we exited and returned to go to the left side for the untold story. This is interesting as you learn about the history of the Palace through the maid's point of view as she time travels with you from room to room so you can see the progression of the Palace through the ages. It ends with a short blurb from the current owner who still resides at the Palace.

All in we spent about three hours at Blenheim between the park, gardens and Palace exhibits. We didn't take the little train to the Pleasure gardens. Instead we decided to leave to see other things.

We had a choice. From Woodstock we could go in a southern direction and visit Minster Lovell, Burford, Bibury on our way up to Broadway where our next B&B was located. Or we could continue in a northerly route to see some other things. We chose the northern route.

We stopped at the Greedy Goose in Chipping Norton or was it in Moreton n Marsh? Not sure. Since it was Sunday, we had the Sunday roast including Yorkshire pudding. Pretty good for the most part. Very filling but there was some gristle in my meat.

We stopped briefly to see the Rollright stones. Now we can say we saw all three--Stonehenge, Avebury and Rollright. Rollright of course is on a much smaller scale but still impressive and there is a nice view of the fields.

I had researched from home something fun for DS and found the Cotswolds Falconry Center in Moreton n Marsh. We arrived 15 minutes before the 3PM showing. They took out some falcons and other birds of prey and let them fly freely. The bird's incentive to return is the food held in the glove of the handler. It is quite amazing to see these large birds fly directly over your head as they scoop up their treat. They asked members of the audience to try and my son volunteered to hold out his gloved hand as the bird landed on him to obtain a treat. Son enjoyed that. We saw some owls on the premesis as well as some eagles etc.

DS wanted to stay longer but I encouraged him to move on since it wasn't raining and we wanted to see Hidcote Manor this day and not wait until tomorrow given the bleak forecast which was accurate.

We arrived at Hidcote about 4:30. The gardens were open until 7 or 8PM that day. We enjoyed wandering around the different outdoor "rooms". Lovely area. Saw some bunny rabbits and sheep grazing in the meadow. By the time we left, Kiftsgate was already closed so we couldn't do that and we still needed to check in to our B&B. We had notified them ahead of time that we would be a late arrival.

On the way to the Broadway High Street we spotted the Broadway Tower but again could not climb since it was after hours.

We stayed in a lovely B&B dating back to the 1500's with excellent hosts Pam and David. We stayed in a house which was older than our country. Pretty amazing.

That night we had dinner at the Broadway Hotel down the street. Very nice modern ambiance and good food although I don't remember what we ate and I didn't write it down either but I do remember we enjoyed it.

Back to B&B for much needed rest. Tomorrow more Cotswolds.

TheFlannerpooch

I've got a fan!!!!

But if you click on my profile, you'll see I'm not white.

And I very rarely take the Boss to Blenheim. The bloody Churchills insist I'm kept on a lead (300 years of interfering with local people's basic rights - and they still can't stop). And, frankly, the grounds are boring.

The odd human who's not seen Capabillity Brown's other 3,326,764 bits of garden design quite likes the landscaped part. The acres and acres we've got to traipse through, though: just featureless steppes. Never found a rabbit to chase - and it's the only place for miles around without a few stupid lazy pheasants for entertainment.

So with thousands of miles of footpath round here I can drag the Boss out on for exercise, there's lots better snacking everywhere else. What's the point of taking humans out for a walk if you can't grab a bite to eat while you're at it?

bilboburgler

Winston's search for money was a major issue for him throughout his life, as a result we have the unreadable "The second world war" which was bought by a grateful nation in its thousands. Plus a few major gifts from the nation meant he ended up with a secure retirement.

Ackislander

Next time, make sure you take your southern route out of Woodstock. Completely different. Both are good (there is not elusive "best") so both are worth seeing, though I would add Cirencester and Chedworth Roman Villa.

The last time I thought about Headington was in 1956 when a bunch of Teddy Boys ripped up the seats at when the local cinema showed of "Rock Around the Clock." Bill Haley and the Comets seemed to evoke this reaction all around England in those days, though they look like pretty lame stuff today. Hard to remember how repressed life was in those just post-rationing days.

Enjoying your report.

janisj

Sounds like you had a lovely time even w/ the weather.

"<i>We loved seeing the rainbow. It really was special. How do I attach a picture?</i>

You can't attach a photo to the forums . . . But you <i>can</i> show one on your profile. Even if for only temporary, you could load the rainbow shot on the profile page.

ElendilPickle

Sounds like a wonderful, if soggy, trip!

Besides your profile page, you can set up a free account on something like flickr.com or picasaweb.google.com, upload your pictures, and then post the link in your trip report.

Lee Ann

europeannovice

Okay--I will either upload a profile picture or the link. I have to work on that.

Obviously didn't see the Flannerpooch picture until now. It definitely was a white dog on a lead so glad I didn't approach the man. He would think I was bonkers.

The gardens at Blenheim are nice not spectacular but the roses were in full bloom and that made the rose garden very pretty. My favorite set of gardens so far are Butchart Gardens in Victoria Canada and the various gardens at the Huntington Library in Pasedena California. The fountains at Versailles are wonderful too when they are running.

I thought it funny how someone of Churchill's stature and his place in history was asking for money from his parents to sustain him. And things haven't changed much since the current owner of Blenheim charges a fee for us to visit so they can maintain the property.

Yes, besides being drenched a few times, and avoiding the downpours at other times, seeking indoor shelter, we had a great time.

We loved the Cotswolds and next time we will take the Southern route (We missed Burford, Bibury etc. this trip) but we had to find something son would enjoy too and he did like the falconry exhibit very much. More to follow.

europeannovice

We woke up to a spectacular breakfast at our B&B. The owners made a scrumptious banana and mango fruit smoothie, homemade yogurt, lemon drizzle cake and banana bread. Plus there was cereal if you wished. All this before the full English breakfast and if you so choose they would make you porridge. It was fantastic! Now beyond full, what to do today?

We managed to avoid some of the heavy downpours by being indoors during those times during the previous couple of days. However, on this day it could not be avoided as the rain was an all day affair and quite often heavy at times.

This was our Cotswolds day though so it put a damper on pleasant country walks which was on our original itinerary. Instead it was more a drive through the Cotswolds stopping at some points of interest.

We were also originally going to skip Stratford this trip and concentrate on less commercialized areas. However, we figured Stratford would have some indoor sights with which to seek shelter so off to Stratford we went.

Our first stop was Ann Hathaway's Cottage. A bus tour group came the same time we did and it was raining quite hard. The docent saw all of us standing in the rain so he tried to squeeze as many in the first room as he could and did a presentation in the room. Then we let the bus group go ahead of us and stayed in the first room a bit longer before moving along. We found the cottage rather interesting.

We next went over to Shakespeare's Birthplace and museum which we found to be nice.

We did not like the architectural design of the new Royal Shakespeare Theater. We thought it was too modern. I would have thought it would have resembled the Globe Theater in London and just be a bigger version of that. Boy was I wrong.

We didn't look at all the Shakespeare properties and it was getting late so we decided to leave Stratford and head toward our next stop and find a light lunch along the route. DH and I would have skipped lunch but son was getting hungry. We went to the King's Arm in Mickleton. I just had a bowl of soup. Both DH and DS ate more.

I think I forgot to mention the day before we went to Dover Hill and drove past the Lavendar fields (We did not go into the farm). The views were great. Today we were passing near the same area but the views were completely fog covered.

We went to Snowshill Manor House, the home of collector Charles Wade. It was an uphill walk from the parking lot and the rain was pretty heavy so the path was very muddy. I was so glad I packed those water proof shoes for all of us! Son really liked the Samurai armour collection and we spent a lot of time walking through the rooms. He certainly collected a lot of "stuff". We really enjoyed it.

I had read about Hailes Abbey so after Snowshill Manor we drove through Stanton (Stanway House was not open for the fountain) and found the Abbey. We also went into Hailes Church. The grounds were saturated but the Church was open and although small it was interesting.

We made a circle and went to Bourton on the Water but by the time we arrived, the model village was closed. That will have to wait for another time.

On the way back to Broadway we drove through lower and upper slaughter and Stow on the Wold. Stow on the Wold was a favorite. From what little I saw, I really liked Stow on the Wold.

I wish we had time to go out and walk a little of either the Cotswold Way or Fosse Way but the weather was not cooperating so we chose indoor type things for the most part instead. Snowshill was quite fascinating so I am glad we did that.

We realized on the way to The Swan for dinner in Broadway that we didn't get a chance to tour the artist galleries in Broadway. We used it as a base but did not explore it. I liked the High Street of Broadway.

I would say that of the towns and villages we saw, I liked Stow on the Wold and Broadway the best. I heard Burford is wonderful too but we didn't get there so can't comment.

We would love to go back to the Cotswolds and allocate more than a day and a half. It would be nice to pick a base and then go out on foot and explore.

Tomorrow Train to York.

europeannovice

Oh, and if you click on my profile, the rainbow picture is up. It is a double rainbow but one is very faint. Not the best rainbow picture in the world but there it is.

I have to work on learning how to upload pictures and attaching links to it. Eventually I'll get to it.

taconictraveler

You are NOT acring like a "novice!". You are doing a great job of this report, and getting up the rainbow photo! Well,, nice going! Thanks for a great report. Brings back many memories.