The Cotswolds
We have just returned home from a mid-week break to the Cotswolds with our close friends Peter and Geri.
Our base for this short break was the 16th century ‘White Hart Royal hotel’ situated in the small market town of Moreton in Marsh, in Oxfordshire. Itq was a lovely hotel full of charm, character, and history, renowned for hosting King Charles I when he chose to visit back in 1645, the day before the famous battle of Naseby. We arrived on Tuesday lunchtime which enabled us to have a good browse around the bustling weekly market though it did make parking a bit of a problem but once the market had finished trading around 4pm everything reverted back to normal. After a lovely evening meal in the hotel and a comfortable night’s sleep, the following morning we drove to Woodstock to have a look around Blenheim Palace, the home of the 12th Duke of Marlborough, and birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. It was just a thirty-minute drive from our hotel to Woodstock and Blenheim Palace. Unfortunately, the house was currently in the middle of a £12 million roof restoration project thus it was covered in scaffolding.
I had not realised until we started looking round the magnificent state rooms that the architect for building the palace back in the early 1700’s was the playwright and architect Sir John Vanbrugh, the same architect that designed Castle Howard at around the same time, it was interesting seeing a lot of similarities between the two stately houses.
As well as the Palace being shrouded in scaffolding, this coming weekend a huge ‘Nocturn 2025’ open air music festival was being held with stars including Richard Ashcroft, Gary Barlow, The Corrs, and Nile Rodgers, it was fascinating watching the ground crews at work setting everything up. After our browse around the inside of the palace we had a good walk around the formal gardens surrounding the house, before the drive back to the hotel. The following morning was another warm, dry, and sunny day, so rather than drive straight home we drove down to the picturesque village of Bourton on the Water, for a coffee before the journey home. What a lovely village with the River Windrush flowing through the centre. The Jacobean and Georgian houses added plenty of character, the locals and visitors alike were picnicking on the village green alongside the river, parents, children, and dogs were having a paddle in the very shallow river making the most of the warm and sunny weather. After our walk round and brunch we headed back to the hotel and after saying our good byes to our friends we headed for home after a lovely mid-week holiday in the Cotswolds.
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