Gardens and Country Houses – 17 June 2012

Banbury is an hour away, and the start of our circular drive. After driving through Banbury, we stopped in nearby Wroxton, where Wroxton Abbey, once the country home of Lord North who was Prime Minister at the time of the American War of Independence, is now an American University. They allow the public to wander in the grounds, so we enjoyed walking around the immaculate grounds, surrounding the typical Elizabethan E shaped house, detouring to the Dovecote and Obelisk.

From here the next stop was Broughton Grange Gardens. We last visited in 2006, and were so impressed, another visit before we leave the UK was the focus of the day. The owners have been there since 1992, and developed the gardens with the help of Tom Smith, in 2000.

Since then, Tom has gone on the win a gold prize at the Chelsea Flower Show six times. The whole look is like a giant Chelsea Flower Show garden. We were just as impressed as when we first visited. It's the sort of place to inspire anybody thinking of creating a garden.

Nearby is Broughton Castle, and as it did not open until 2pm, we were forced to retrace our route back to the attractive nearby town of North Newington. The pub there is old and quaint, as are the staff. We enjoyed a leisurely Ploughman's lunch, before heading back to the Castle.

This castle is amazing to visit. Not only do they allow photographs inside, you feel as you are a guest with the run of the whole house, from the Great Hall where we entered, to the roof, where we could wander freely over part of the lead roof.

The house has not been spoilt and 'modernised' in the Victorian era, instead the modernisation happened in the 16th century and since then has remained largely unaltered. This means wonderful Jacobean ceilings and a truly castle-like feel.

The garden is lovely too, the sort of place to sit for a while, and we met the helpful, friendly owner too, out working in the garden.

From here, we drove via the Tyso villages, to Upton House. This National Trust property was set up for a 1930's weekend away. A video made at an actual house party, set the scene, along with the odd fur stole draped over chairs, snooker available to play on the full-size billiard table, and easy chairs to relax in while reading books in the library.

Nearby is the Edgehill cliff-top castle Pub, dating from the 18th century, commemorating the battle between Charles I and the Roundheads in 1642. The perfect place to stop for coffee. The road descends rapidly to the village of Radway, where the battle actually took place. It's quite a different feel in this tranquil village today.

From here we crossed the M40 and climbed uphill to a really magical place – Burton Dassett. After crossing a cattle-stop at the top of the hill, an open area with a grassed over 'craters of the moon' look, is ideal for private picnics. The old grassed over iron quarry has an unreal feel. Cars seem to be free to drive off road to park in amongst the grassy hillocks, people had picnics set up around every corner. The church is also very different The floor seems to follow the contour of the hill, and definitely has a decided slope. Large windows with clear glass and the plain walls, give a very open, European feel.

The day was nearly over, but we had time for one more stop, the village of Cropredy was also part of the 17th century battlefield. Charles and the Roundheads were based each side of the river Cherwell.

Village Jubilee – 4 June 2012

Having participated in some of the Jubilee celebrations in London, we set out to visit a small town, where they were also celebrating in small town fashion.

 Kathy Brown's Garden is open several times a year, and it opened this weekend to coincide with the Jubilee Weekend. The village was decorated with bunting, and to mark the occasion, they had a village well dressing.

 The well was a place of pilgrimage in medieval times; as the well beneath the church, which attracted pilgrims in the Middle Ages. John Bunyan also used the well as the place where Christain's burden fell away. This scene was depicted in the well dressing picture.

 We finished our small village celebration, with Victoria Sponge & tea in the village hall, having enjoyed the gardens and the well dressing.

Standing Stones - 27 May 2012

On Sunday we continued the Shaftesbury tour. Two towns in particular were highlights, Blandford Forum is a sizeable market town, which owes its uniform Georgian good looks to two local builders who rebuilt the town in brick, after a fire raised the town in 1731.

Our other favourite spot was the tiny, remote hamlet of Ashmore – the highest village in Dorset, built around the duck pond.

After completing the tour, we were not far from Avebury, one of the prehistoric henge sites in Britain, and now a World Heritage site.

The BBC ran a series 'The Manor Reborn', where they followed the restoration of the Avebury Manor. As the house had had so many owners, and no real record of what it looked like, the restoration team had a free hand. 

The result now is a mixture of eras, reflecting significant periods for different owners and apart from the hand painted Chinese wallpaper, visitors are allowed to touch anything, sit in the chairs, play billiards or the piano. Quite different to the usual 'look but don't touch' museum piece type of property.

The library is now a lovely tearooms, with bone china tea-service and great cakes. A very nice touch.

Much of the village of Avebury (including the Manor) was probably built with some of the Standing Stones, before they were discovered by the outside world. Despite this, many of the stones still remain in their original locations, and are an impressive sight.

A real Corker of a day - 26 May 2012

This was the first weekend of summer weather, after all the cold and rain (we had been told it was, up to this week, the coldest May for 400 years). So we, and probably half of London, headed for the coast.

The particular place on the coast we planned to visit, was Abbotsbury, the only place in the world where you can walk amongst a colony of nesting mute swans. Originally an abbey, the swans were used for food but are, apparently, very unappetizing as they taste like mud. Today it is the only privately owned herd of swans in the country and the moulted feathers are sold to Lloyds of London to be made into quills for recording events in the Casualty Book of vessels that become total losses.

Between mid May and mid June, the signets are hatching, so it was the perfect time to visit. We hoped to be there for feeding time at mid-day, and timed it perfectly, despite taking the scenic route, which was half of two different circular tours.

The first tour was based around Shaftesbury, starting for us at Fonthill Bishop. The fascination of this part of the drive, is the gatehouse. This is a massive Gothic arch across the road, which is all that remains of a huge Gothic palace, built by William Beckford, who inherited his fortune age 10. He was too impatient to wait for his palace so corners were cut, and the lack of proper foundations caused the house to collapse (rather like a certain parable!).

Shaftesbury was the perfect morning tea stop, with lovely Tudor tearooms, abbey ruins, and picturesque cobbled Gold Hill.

We left this tour here, and travelled a few miles west to pick up another scenic tour based around Sherborne. We had visited this stunning town some years ago, but it is definitely worth another visit.

From here we went straight to the swannery, in time for feeding. There were lots of swans sitting on nests and family groups with plenty of newly hatched signets.

First stop on the new tour was Cerne Abbas. This is the second giant figure cut in a hill side near the south coast. Last year we visited the Long Man at Wilmington, about 120 miles (by road) east of here.

Just north of here was Mintern Gardens, worth a visit, as the rhododendrons were still looking good.

An amazing route along a collection of minor back country roads took us to another stunning stone house at Montacute. En route, we visited a castle-like church at Bradford Abbas, and the absolutely fabulous village of East Corker.

Montacute is also a lovely village, and the House was almost empty of visitors, they were obviously still at the coast! This Tudor house is wonderful, as are the large formal gardens.

It was time to enjoy the highlight of the tour, and visit Sherborne. We enjoyed walking around, and looking out unsuccessfully for a hotel with an available room. It was several villages later, before we found a hotel to stay in. The choice was good, The Talbot in Iwerne Minster had a comfortable room, and we enjoyed an excellent feast of tapas for dinner.

Weekend walks – 19 & 20 May

Despite the dull, cold weekend, we made the most of the days and walked to points of interest in the Chilterns.

 Saturday was spent walking around Great & Little Hampden, enjoying the woods, wildlife and wild flowers.

 On Sunday we went further west to the area around Hambledon. This is one of the small gems scattered across the Chilterns. With a beautiful church (surprisingly large for the size of the village), and an appealing collection of houses.

 Nearby is Greys Court, which we visited to see their 120 year old wisteria vines in flower. Sadly, due to the cold, heavy rain and hail, the plants are looking their age, and very few flowers have survived. 

After discovering the remote woodland reserve at the end of a narrow road, the Warburg manned Visitor centre comes as rather a surprise. Here too the bluebells, were rather a poor showing, I think all the flowers are suffering.

 A mile away from here in a very remote feeling valley, is Stonor House. This house, less than an hour from central London, seems very peaceful, and a complete escape from modern life.