Cotswolds

Today I took Grayline’s tour number 16: Best of the Cotswolds with Cream Tea. Grayline again picked me up from my hotel. I don’t know what the weather was like in London yesterday as I was in Brussels, but today it was very hot––just blazing sun and no cloud cover or drizzle. The heat wave was on for all of the next eight days that I was here. Have you ever heard of getting a suntan in England? I got one. I didn’t expect England to be this hot and it usually isn’t, but I was told that this was the second heat wave they have had this summer. Our tour guide was very thoughtful and brought along bottles of cold water which we could buy from her for 50 pence each. The Cotswolds is a 25 mile by 90 mile area northeast of London. This photo shows the Cotswold countryside.

Cotswolds

Burford

The Cotswold area is known for its many villages dating back to the Middle Ages. They are gems. We only visited two of the many villages, but I wish we had visited many more. Almost of the places that I went to on day tours you can easily get to on your own from London, but the Cotswolds is one of the exceptions. The best way to travel from village to village is by car, but you may not want to brave driving on the left side of the road. Rick Steves’ Great Britain travel guide has a good map and descriptions of the Cotswold villages and also some ideas of how to visit this area if you don’t want to rent a car. The first Cotswold village that we visited was Burford.

Burford

Burford

Another view of the main street in Burford, which is on a slope.

Burford

Burford

Another view of the main street.

Burford

Burford

Direction sign to other Cotswold villages.

Burford

Burford

Famous Bacon Butties Served on Crusty Home–made Bread served here. I had already had a sandwich, but I wish that I had tried this.

Burford

Burford

Building in Burford.

Burford

Burford

House on the Windrush River in Burford.

Burford

Burford

Old car out for a Sunday drive. The bridge over the river is so narrow that only one direction of traffic can cross at one time. The light is just changing to allow traffic from the opposite direction to cross the bridge.

Burford

Burford

Steeple of the Burford parish church. The British flag is flying at half–mast.

Burford

Burford

Another view of the parish church.

Burford

Burford

Homes in Burford.

Burford

Bourton-on-the-Water

We left Burford and traveled to Bourton–on–the–Water, which is called the Venice of the Cotswolds because of its canals. There was an extralarge crowd today because of the town’s Commemoration Day celebration, which was going on when we arrived. Band music was part of the celebration. I put two movie clips on this site of music played by the band: The first is “Onward Christian Soldiers,” which I thought perhaps to be a poor choice, in view of recent events, of a music selection. The sound of this band reminded me of the Salvation Army bands that play on street corners during the Christmas season. I walked away from where the band was playing, but really “stopped in my tracks” when I heard the next selection: “The Star Spangled Banner.” Hearing your national anthem played when you are far away from home can give you a good case of goosebumps and also a very proud feeling. For the movies, go to Movies, Western Europe, England, “Onward Christian Soldiers” and “Star Spangled Banner.”

Bourton-on-the-Water

Bourton-on-the-Water

A view of the town.

Bourton-on-the-Water

Bourton-on-the-Water

Another view of the canal.

Bourton-on-the-Water

Bourton-on-the-Water

Another view of houses in Bourton–on–the–Water.

Bourton-on-the-Water

Bourton-on-the-Water

More of the village.

Bourton-on-the-Water

Bourton-on-the-Water

And more of the village.

Bourton-on-the-Water

Bourton-on-the-Water

Another view of the canal.

Bourton-on-the-Water

Bourton-on-the-Water

There was a branch of the Edinburgh Woollen Mill store here. I saw a cotton sweater in the window, on sale, that I wanted to look at, but it was time to get back to the bus. This company has stores all over England, but none of the times that I saw one of the stores did I have time to shop in it. But I was successful finally in Scotland and did buy the sweater in a couple of colors at the July sale price. I found it amusing that I was following that sweater all around England and finally bought it in Scotland.

Bourton-on-the-Water

Cotswolds

A Cotswold village that we drove through. The photo was taken from the bus.

Cotswolds

Cotswolds

Another Cotswold village––photo also taken from the bus.

Cotswolds

Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace is also in the Cotswold area. The first Duke of Marlborough, John Churchill, led an army that defeated the French at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. In appreciation, Queen Anne gave him both land and the money to build Blenheim Palace. The present Duke of Marlborough still lives here in apartments in the part of the palace that is on the left of the photo.

Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace

You can take a tour of the inside of the palace and see the bed where Winston Churchill was born in in 1874. Another view of the palace.

Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace

Another view of the palace. This is the largest palace in England.

Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace

And another view.

Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace

View of the gardens from another side of the palace. Some people compare these gardens to the ones at Versailles.

Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace

Another view of the gardens.

Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace

The lower garden. You can see part of the palace’s lake in the photo. I walked back to the palace to have cream tea in the palace’s cafeteria (coffee and scone with jam and cream). I didn’t find it any more interesting than the cream tea that we had on a tour I had already taken.

Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace

Our tour guide told us that we had time only to either take a quick tour of the inside of the palace or one of the gardens and the lake. I chose to stay outside as here I could take photos––no photos allowed inside the palace. But the walk around the lake was so long that I regreted my decision. Anyway, I was glad to be able to take this photo. It is the Temple of Diana and this is where Winston Churchill proposed to his Clementine.

Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace

Palace rose garden.

Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace

Waterfall near the lake.

Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace

View of the lake.

Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace

Water lilies on the lake. We left Blenheim Palace and traveled back to London. I again got off the bus at Hyde Park Corner and found an Italian restaurant nearby the eat dinner at, then took the bus back to my hotel.

Blenheim Palace