My holiday in and around Oxford

Yet another coach trip, this time to Oxford. I can't get enough of these coach trips. Everything is laid on for you, you just have to enjoy. The only problem is that I get sleepy on coaches and miss some of the scenery, but I'm wide awake when we get to a destination and really enjoy the places chosen by the coach driver. So sit back and follow my latest adventure in Britain.

On the way up to Oxford we stopped off at Bath to have a look around and stretch our legs. That's another advantage of a coach holiday, the driver always knows the best places to stop. If you were in your car you would be searching for a car park and stressed by the driving. In the coach park we met a lady who was a bit confused about life in general. We wondered afterwards if she managed to catch her bus home, we weren't even sure she was in the right place as we were in a coach park and she needed the bus station.

We traveled on and arrived in Abingdon at a very nice hotel. We had a lovely room and everything was very comfortable.We had dinner and settled down to a good read. Rachel was reading the latest Harry Potter and also spent most of her time on the coach reading it. We were not very sociable but you can go to the lounge and get to know your fellow holiday makers if that is what you enjoy. Lasting friendships have been made this way.

We settled down to a good night's sleep in readiness for the next day's trip.

On the first day we went to the charming Cotswold village of Bourton - on - the - water. We enjoyed a pleasant wander by the stream and then bought handbags, something we women always like to do. Next we traveled on to Blenheim Palace. This was the home of Sir Winston Churchill and his forebears. As you see it is very grand. Normally you would pay to get in here, but for us it was a part of our trip and included in the cost. We didn't go inside but instead enjoyed the outdoor landscape. We enjoyed the formal gardens, the fountains and the rose garden.

Grand and imposing,

Home of a soldier.

Built to impress

Set in grounds to match.

Grounds landscaped by Capability Brown,

House designed by Vanbrugh.

Nothing but the best for the Marlboroughs.

But not without problems in building.

For more information visit this website

www.blenheimpalace.com

Bonny heads

Rising to the sun.

Sweet rose you brighten our day.

Red and white

Enfolded in light,

Your perfume

Sweetens our way.

Water cascading,

Full of purity and light.

Crashing over rocks

To join the waters below.

You thunder forth

In glorious noise

White and bright.

The second full day we spent in Oxford itself. There they provide a bus to tour the city with a guide, so that is what we did first. We saw the colleges and other spectacular buildings, including the famous Bodleian Library.This is a working library and also houses exhibitions. You can find the current exhibition in the link below.

I was interested to see All Soul's College as my mother had been a cook there many years ago. My mother met an undergraduate in Oxford and they fell in love and became engaged. Unfortunately he had a bad heart and died before they could be married. This sad connection was one of my reasons for wanting to visit Oxford. Such a sad tale, but so romantic. Once we had finished the bus tour we explored on foot. We walked under the Bridge of Sighs which passes over the road to join two parts of Hertford College. It is nothing like The Bridge of Sighs in Venice, but bears some resemblance to the Rialto bridge.

We went up the Carfax tower from where I took photos of the surrounding "dreaming spires."

Oxford is a university town. We went there while the colleges were on vacation so we didn't see it crawling with students with their bicycles.

The next day we went to Windsor. I was amazed when I saw the length and size of the castle from the river. I had only seen photos of small chunks of the castle, as in mine above. A close-up photo can give no impression of the true vastness of this castle; apparently there are five miles of corridors inside it.

We enjoyed taking a boat trip down the river. On our return we had lunch and wandered about the town and then settled down to read in the park. Then back to our hotel at Abingdon for dinner and then packing for our departure the next day.

On our final day we stopped off at Malborough for lunch and then sat by the river. By this time Rachel had finished "Harry Potter" and handed him over to me. The weather had been kind to us all week.

But the holiday was not over, our next stop was a real treat, being Avebury where we walked around the stone circle. Some of the stones looked like fat ladies in long nightgowns going for a midnight run through the field. These places are fascinating, not least because no one seems to know how they were built or what they were for.

We arrived home at five and had a quiet evening ahead of us in which to settle down at home and prepare ourselves for the weekend. Another coach holiday enjoyed and completed and Oxford to tick off our list