Leaving Cotswold to Oxford with Dennis

So, our last day in the very attractive Cotswold villages. I think we chose a good route.
The first stop was Bibury, which we didn’t expect to be very busy, but then as we desperately searched for a car park, we could see the attraction of this little village with its famous Arlington Row, such a picturesque row of little houses, built way back in the thirteenth century as monastic wool stores and then converted into weavers rooms before becoming homes. Bibury has often been described as one of the most beautiful villages in England and thus is definitely one of the most photographed!
So unbelievably charming, but who on earth would wish to live there with so many rowdy tour bus groups, not to mention all the other hundreds of tourists. Taking a photo without a dancing Asian tourist in front of the camera was really difficult and required great patience.
There was a field of Belted Galloway, which amazingly, the man working in the ice cream shop beside didn’t know the name of the breed of.
It’s a very tranquil place to spend an hour or so, once you get away from the crowds.
Our lunch stop was another very pretty town, Burford. It wasn’t a tourist trap, but was a bustling place with terrible traffic jams, which we more or less avoided. There seemed to be constant police cars tearing through the main road.
Amazing wisteria covered many buildings.
We bought our picnic lunch and enjoyed a very pleasant, quiet hour in the very well cared for churchyard.
Before visiting the lovely church with its hundreds of tapestried cushions.
Beautiful place.
I loved some of these signs - good old English humour.
Between Burford and Oxford lies a place well worth exploring, Minster Lovell Hall, next to St Kenelm’s church. This lovely church was built in 1450, commissioned by Baron William Lovell.
Minster Lovell was the centre of the Lovell Estate already in 12 th century, but this once splendid manor house was commissioned by William Lovell in mid 15 th century, and it remained a family home till 18 th century. It’s amazing that you can just wander amongst the ruins, no entry charges, no graffiti, no guards!
It must have been such a grand place 
And it’s beautifully situated next to the Windrush river.
Minster Lovell is a lesser known tourist spot and yet to my mind it was so picturesque, with many thatched cottages as well as the medieval ruins and church.
It was our last stop before Oxford. Here, Dennis with our rental car, fondly known as ‘the spaceship’ because of its complex starting mechanism.
We stayed in a funny bed and breakfast, well situated to get into town, but run by a rather chaotic dog-loving lady. Her happy, snappy  dogs were not very welcoming and I must say, the house didn’t smell so good downstairs! We more or less dumped our luggage and took the towpath to Oxford. It was a lovely walk past the many rowing clubs. There were plenty out practising on that wonderful evening.
What a gorgeous place for a pint!
Christchurch College gardens were magnificent in the early evening light 
And our Thai meal very tasty. 


 

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