A weekend in the Cotswolds

Trip Start Nov 28, 2010

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121

Trip End Sep 29, 2011

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Flag of United Kingdom Bibury, England, United Kingdom
Tuesday, August 30, 2011

After London we spent a few days in the Cotswolds – a range of hills north of London dotted with beautiful villages and graced with England's greatest countryside palace, Blenheim (BLEN-em). And as a bonus my dad joined us, so we ditched the van again at a campsite and relocated to a hotel in one of the many lovely villages. We got very lucky with the weather and spent two days driving around lovely countryside in sun and blue skies. Among the highlights were Blenheim, which is a beautiful palace with gorgeous and enormous grounds. It is the home of the Duke of Marlborough and it’s the largest home in England. We took a tour of the grounds by golf cart and I wished we had brought a picnic to enjoy in the Duke’s spectacular back yard. For Harry Potter fans we also saw the tree that was used as the Whomping Willow in the films, with a little computer-generated help.

During our weekend we had several cream teas – a British tradition, it’s tea served with scones, clotted cream and jam. The boys both had their first taste of tea and Leonardo became our server, wanting to pour tea every chance he got. And in another food-related highlight, Stefano tried black pudding during breakfast at the hotel. Amazingly, once we informed him that he had just eaten dried blood he went ahead and finished it off anyway

All in all we had a very nice weekend and the boys loved spending time with their Nonno. On Monday morning he set off for the airport and we set off for Wales.

Slideshow

Pictures

Bedroom Picture #235	Waiting for Nonno	Boys jump in the car with Nonno	Hugs
Stefano closes the gate	Leo needs a nap	Hotel courtyard	Our hotel
Bridge, stream and signpost	Willow	Black swan building nest	Nonno and boys watching the birds
Cotswold house with pear tree Comments!	Approaching swans	Boys and the black swan	Flowers, berries and houses Comments!
Heather eating a flower Comments!	Wispy	Walking down a Cotswold lane	Our hotel from a distance
Leo pours tea	Cute swan	Another nice view of the hotel	Nonno and Stefano at dinner
Cotswold countryside	Strolling in the village of Lower Slaughter	Could be difficult to enforce this	Water wheel
Lower Slaughter houses	Stefano sitting on a bridge	Lunch in Stow-on-the-Wold	Between two Yew trees
Roof and hedges	Heather's new diet Comments!	Looks painful	Try driving past this in a campervan Comments!
More Cotswold countryside	Gardens of a hotel on a cream tea stop	Leonardo's first tea Comments!	And Stefano's
Off to play in the woods	Stefano eating black pudding	Boys and Nonno at breakfast	Arriving at Blenheim Palace
Leo in front of the palace	Leo and Nonno at the entrance	"No, the entrance is clearly that way"	Obelisk in the garden
Off on a golf cart tour of the grounds Comments!	Nice pond	Driveway to the house	Whomping Willow
Boys in front of the Duke's pond and bridge	Boys getting exercise on his Dukeship's lawn	Our puppy enjoys the ride	Signpost
Boys, Nonno and Sudoku	Nice trees	Nonno enjoying his scone Comments!	Bedroom Picture #236
Not what you want to see in a campervan	Ooh, weak AND narrow. Excellent.	Driving past a village cricket match in Wales	Welsh countryside and dark clouds Comments!