Frank's travels around Britain.
Oxford & the
Cotswolds.
A
truly stunning area. England at its finest. Every turn is beautiful. Just like
Rye, all the towns & villages are full of shops selling you expensive stuff that
you didn't know you needed and great places to eat. I was a little disappointed
with Oxford's old buildings being used as W.H. Smith or Virgin Records.
It is, of course, home to the University
of Oxford, the oldest university in the English-speaking world. It is known as
the "city of dreaming spires", a term coined by Matthew Arnold in reference to
the harmonious architecture of the university buildings. The River Thames runs
through Oxford, where for a distance of some 10 miles it is known as the Isis.
With
hindsight, I think I should have taken a tourists bus ride to see it properly.
They certainly don't encourage parking in the city.
I took an evening stroll by Godstow Locks and the Oxford Union canal. There was a ruin of the nunnery, this abbey became the final burial place of the famed beauty Rosamund Clifford (died circa 1176), a long-time mistress of Henry II. There were birds coming home to roost and it was all lit by a red summer sunset. The country pubs teeming with people, it certainly looked like a rich persons playground.
The highlight of the area were
the villages of Burford, Stow-on-the-Wold, Moreton-in-Marsh and
Bourton-on-the-water. The A429 is the Fosse Way, a very famous Roman Road,
that linked
Exeter (Isca
Dumnoniorum) in
South West England to
Lincoln (Lindum
Colonia). It is remarkable for its extremely direct route: from
Lincoln to Ilchester in Somerset, a distance of 182 miles, it is never more than
six miles from a straight line. Picture perfect places that must provide film
processors with so much work.
The stone cottages, the pretty streams & rivers ooze the expense it must cost to live there or even just to rent a holiday cottage. The whole area must be full of Grade 1 or 2 listed buildings. It was perfect to sit in the sunshine and indulge in a cream tea. There is nothing like fish & chips out of the paper in Lancashire ... well clotted cream, red jam & a fresh scone, washed down with a cup of tea all made in the West Country, just quintessentially English!
Bourton-on-the-Water
straddles the river Windrush with its series of elegant low bridges beside neat
tree-shaded greens and tidy stone banks. Standing back from the river are
traditional Cotswolds buildings, many of which are now tourist shops for the
day-trippers and visitors. Bourton-on-the-Water has been described as the
'Little Venice' of the Cotswolds and is one of the most popular tourist spots in
the region being serviced by the many shops, cafes, and attractions, now that's
real ad-mans speak for very nice. There is one river, not a series of canals.
Its infested with coach loads of tourists (like me!) coming to sit on the banks
and cool their feet after tramping miles & miles of the Cotswolds. It is
stunning but I suspect that a spring or autumn evening would empty the village &
it would be the gem of an already stunning area.
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