| Day 9 - Oxfordshire and Stratford |
| At last the time had arrived to get in the car and see the countryside. We headed off to the nearby town of Woodstock which historically serviced Blenheim Palace, conveniently located next door. Woodstock is an excellent village to wander through. Of interest are the triumphal arch, the Oxfordshire County Museum, the punishment stocks and the Norman church. Blenheim Palace, the home of the Dukes of Marlborough and birthplace of Winston Churchill, is worthy of a two to three hour stay. The Palace is very imposing on a magnificent landscape - the gardens and grounds alone would be worth the visit - look for the Italian Garden, the Rose Garden, the Arboretum, the Maze, the Grand Bridge and the Temple of Diana. Inside the Palace, we were quite fond of the Long Library, the Saloon, the Great Hall, the Drawing Rooms and the State Rooms. The history of the palace goes back to a major victory by the Duke over the French in 1704 next to the Danube river near the town of Blenheim, which apparently spared Europe from having to learn French. A grateful Queen Anne gave the Duke the Royal Manor at Woodstock and promised to pay for a new palace to be built there. The Duke was never slothful and work started the next year. Somehow things didn't go quite to plan and the Duke ended up having to pay for most of the palace from his own funds. From here we drove into the northern end of the Cotswolds on our way to Stratford-on-Avon. Our route took us through Chipping Norton, Shipston-on-Stour and Halford until we arrived at Ann Hathaway's Cottage on the outskirts of Stratford (The Shottery). Stratford is a charming and busy place. Apart from various attractions to remind us that Shakespeare came from here, there are many things to see, for example Halls Croft, Holy Trinity Church, Nash's House, Clopton Bridge, Guild Chapel and Harvard House. Here you will see lots of Tudor and Elizabethan buildings, often looking very wonky as a result of movement over time. Bancroft Gardens next to the Avon River is especially attractive, with brightly painted Canal Boats, a lock, teeming bird life and a carnival atmosphere. Open top buses do the rounds but we opted for an open top horse drawn omnibus which clattered and shook its way around Stratford in style. Stratford's prosperity started when a bridge was first built over the wide and fast flowing river. This crossing soon established a market town which reached its economic high in the 1500's in time for Shakespeare to be born. It took about a 100 years or so after Shakespeare died in 1616 before the town started to be converted into a Shakespeare theme park which today is one of England's major tourist attractions. Our next stop was Wilmcote to visit the Mary Ardern (Shakespeare's mother) house. The buildings here are well preserved and delightfully wonky. The grounds and falcons are also worth a look. The fact that modern research has shown that Mary Ardern actually lived in the farm house next door has not deterred the local heritage authority, who points out that as a close neighbour, Mary would have had quite a few cups of tea in the heritage cottage. We passed through Alcester, Ragley Hall, Eversham and Broadway on our way back to Oxford. These places are all worthy of more attention but we just had no time left. |
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