Oxford

An easy drive today to Oxford where we said goodbye to the car after 6 weeks of driving around the UK. We caught a cab to our accommodation The Buttery on Broad Street which is the main street in Oxford.

Although it was early we were able to check in and leave our luggage. It was in one of the oldest streets and one of the oldest buildings in Oxford and it showed but at least we had a place to stay. We did a bit of information gathering and decided we would go to Blenheim Palace even though it was after 12. 

We caught the bus there and after about 30 minutes arrived and made our way up the long drive. As we walked through the entrance and into the great court we were gobsmacked by the size of the place. As usual Peter did his thing and I did mine. 

The drive up to the entrance of Blenheim Palace

The palace is a World Heritage Site and was a gift of Queen Anne to the first Duke of Marlborough after his victory at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. Through successive generations the family has managed to hold onto the palace even though at times there had been dukes who had been less than careful with money and at one time Blenheim Palace was almost left to ruin but with determination it became a place where the public could visit and enjoy. 

The family name is Churchill and the famous Winston Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace but due to the way family legacies work in the UK he never became a duke but certainly an icon in British history. There is a Winston Churchill exhibition that we walked through  before you arrive at the guided tour point. Peter is especially interested in this so as the tour is about to begin I leave him and make my way to the meeting point. As part of that exhibition you can see the actual room where Winston Churchill was born, as he was born prematurely when his mother was visiting Blenheim Palace. In the exhibition there is a quote from Churchill saying “At Blenheim I took two very important decisions: to be born and to marry. I am happily content with the decisions I took on both those occasions”

The bedroom where Winston Churchill was born

The velvet siren suit and monogrammed slippers he wore during the long nights on duty during WWII

The tour started in the west and south corridors which are off the Great Hall with portraits of a number of the Duchess’ of Marlborough and moved through to show off collections of ceramics which had been given to one of the Duke of Marlboroughs by a priest who had collected them from his travels in China. There were more ceramics that the family had collected, some with very eclectic designs.

The Great Hall has a beautiful painting on the ceiling which at the time we visited was accentuated by a magnificent chandelier which was part of an art installation by a Chinese artist. Throughout the rest of the tour there were further installations in each room some of them distracting from the nature of the room itself.

The beautiful painted ceiling in the Great Hall

 

Each of the rooms had a number of portraits of the inhabitants of Blenheim Palace and paintings but most impressive of all were the tapestries depicting scenes from the Duke of Marlborough’s victory at the Battle of Blenheim. They have hung in the palace for hundreds of years are quite large. Very difficult to photograph and fit them in one picture and to do them justice. The saloon is one room that the family use every Christmas Day for lunch and I can imagine what the table would look like when set for a lavish meal. This setting is quite sedate apparently.

The saloon

The rooms are lavishly decorated with various objects from all over the world. It would be difficult to describe each one in detail.  One of the largest rooms is the Long Library which is a gallery 56 metres long and 10 metres high. It features beautifully stuccoed ceilings which are just fantastic.

The Long Library

Queen Anne statue

At one end is a large statue of Queen Anne who originally gave the palace to the 1st Duke of Marlborough was very imposing. 

As the tour finished I met Peter outside and then it was time to go as it was getting late. I didn’t get to see as much as I would have liked of the grounds as they are quite extensive but at least got to see part of the palace.  Back on the bus and off to dinner and bed.

Day 2
 We started today with a walk to the railway station to see how we would fare getting all our bags there if we walked as the next leg of our journey is by train into London. It was not far but we would be battling Monday morning crowds with our bags so decided we would take a cab. The streets were deserted which was very pleasant as yesterday we found that Oxford seemed a bit crowded.

As we walked around we came upon Oxford Castle so had a look around the exterior and took a couple of photos and moved on. We walked some more and coffee in a cafe at the Church of St Mary the Virgin. This church has been on the same site for 1000 years. While we didn’t go inside we did enjoy some coffee and cake before we made our way back to Broad Street to meet our walking tour guide.

Oxford Castle

Radcliffe Camera which houses the Radcliffe Library

As we waited we watched the passing parade of people which was very interesting even for a Sunday. 

We met our guide Simon and we were thinking ok what is this guy going to be like because at first he seemed a little bit strange. In fact he was very good, all that stuff about a not judging a book by it’s cover came to mind. 

In fact he was an excellent and very knowledgeable, far too many facts to remember them all but one that stuck was the All Saints College.

The spires were designed to commemorate the architect Christopher Wren. They are shaped like telescopes, (another fact that we were not aware of is that Christopher Wren was was actually an Astronomer by training). They are also arranged such that if you draw a line from peak to peak it forms a “W” for Wren.

All Saints College and the spires

We walked past all of the major colleges including the one where J.R.R Tolkein was a Don and the Bodelian Library, and learnt a little about each. The Bodelian Library courtyard was a perfect square and when you looked at it it looked exactly right. We took a couple of photos underneath the discipline which we thought was most like us or what we would have studied even though when first set up you had to do all the disciplines. Such a wealth of knowledge. Simon was also very good at nominating additional activities and places for us to visit in the afternoon, which we dually did.

 

One of the attractions Simon pointed out was the Turf Inn, famous for Bob Hawke breaking the record for downing a yard of ale in under 11secs. We had a few pints under the sign commemorating his feat, very enjoyable. We would never had known about this as it is down a narrow alleyway and then hidden further down another one. 

 

On a Sunday a lot of the colleges are open to the public for a fee as paid admission helps provide funds for them. There were a couple with lines out the door so obviously some people were interested but we weren’t. 

Off to forage for dinner which was at the King’s Arms which has stood on the same corner for 400 years. Home again to get ready for another day of travel this time by train.