July 6th - Blenheim Palace & Cotswolds
Hiya!
Today we visited Blenheim Palace along with a few villages around the Cotswolds region of England.
When we arrived at the palace, we picked up our wristbands and started exploring the grounds. We began with the beautiful gardens, including the so-called “Secret Garden,” the Walled Garden, and the broader palace gardens.
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| You can see the village of Woodstock on the right in this image |
Then we found a hedge maze and decided to race each other to see who could get through it the fastest. I managed to get second place! After that, we wandered into the butterfly sanctuary and enjoyed watching all the butterflies flutter around us.
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| Connor and Piper in the maze |
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| Butterfly on Connor's shoulder |
Once we’d finished exploring outside, we went back to the main palace area for lunch. I tried the Cotswold Pie of the Day, which was filled with chicken, ham, and leek. It was very flaky and delicious.
After lunch, I decided to explore the inside of the palace. It was beautiful and I had to make sure I was careful that I didn't bump into any expensive artifacts since there really weren't any ropes blocking them off. This is because the palace is an active residence of the Duke of Marlborough. I also walked through an exhibition on Winston Churchill’s life, since he was born and raised there, and explored the old servants’ quarters underneath the palace.
Before we got back on the coach, we took a little time to admire the many ducks around the palace grounds. Then it was off to our next stop: the Cotswold Wildlife Park & Gardens.
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| Sooo many ducks |
The wildlife park was great. We started by riding a small train around the grounds, then split off into our own groups to explore. I saw a wide variety of animals (and even more ducks).
The next stop was the village of Burford. When we got off the bus, I immediately went up "the hill" (the main street) and into an antique shop where they had three floors of cool antique glass pieces, books, furniture, coins, and other treasures. After that, I wandered back down the road, crossed the bridge, and found an old church along with a boarding and day school.
Our final stop before returning to Oxford was the tiny village of Wolvercote, where we had dinner reservations at The Trout Inn. Since we had some time to spare, we walked down the road to see Godstow Abbey, the ruins of a 12th-century nunnery. While there, we spotted cows in the fields and even chatted with a band that was filming a music video.
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| Their band name was Pet Twin. They were super nice! |
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| The Trout overlooking the river |
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| Nunnery |
After that, we went back to the restaurant where I ordered an Aperol Spritz and admired the view of the river from the restaurant’s terrace. Then, I went to my table, and started working on the appetizer: fresh bread, baked Camembert, a sweet and sour chili sauce, a tomato sauce, pesto, butter, nocellara olives, and padron peppers. It was very nice! I had the idea of making a little "pizza" with the melty Camembert and tomato sauce, and it did not disappoint. The main course was a Sunday roast: roasted beef sirloin with Yorkshire pudding, roasted potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and rich gravy. It was spectacular, and the Yorkshire pudding was so light and crispy, perfect for soaking up the gravy. Dessert was a dark chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream: a very rich and chocolatey dessert and the perfect way to end a great dinner!
That's all for today! See ya!
