My first day out of London was for a combination guided tour of Oxford and the Cotswolds, which meant exploring the English countryside and purchasing some Oxford classics straight from the source.
First we ventured into the Cotswolds, which is part of the the English countryside – pastures and farmlands and whatnot. It is so pretty! We stopped in a tiny little town, which I can’t remember the name of, and all the houses there were beautiful country cottages with thatched or tiled roofs and amazing flower gardens. There were flowers everywhere! It was my kind of place. Most of the cottages were named after flowers as well – Rose Cottage, Lavender Cottage, etc. Just my cup of tea. It was all so quaint and delightful.
One house had the most hilarious chickens I’ve ever seen. First of all, they were tiny. And very round. They were like little floofs of feather. But best of all their feathers went all the way down their legs, cut off just at the feet so it looked like they were wearing pants. MC Hammer pants. Oh it was hilarious. MC Hammer chickens.
We walked over to an old manor house ruin, called Minster Lovell Hall. It was built back in the 15th century. The church next to it was rebuilt in the 15th century as well, but it used the stones from the original structure, which date back to the 12th century. That’s insane to me! You never find cool ancient things where I live. That’s why I love Europe. There’s so much of the past there! It was really cool walking among the ruins of this place.
We then went to another town that was a little bigger than the first, which again, I unfortunately can’t remember the name of. We had an hour of free time there, for lunch and exploring and whatever else we wanted. After eating, I wondered around the town a bit and went to see the cemetery behind the church where the guide said there were some really old graves.
Then it was off to Oxford! Oxford is a very neat city. England’s first official university was Oxford. Our guide went into explaining the education system and how it all worked for Oxford and dang, I thought my university life was stressful! Props to anyone who goes to Oxford, you guys are major troopers.
Oxford is full of wonderful, interesting architecture. And perfectly manicured lawns.
We went into one of the colleges that makes up Oxford University, and then we were given some free time to do some exploration of our own. I booked it (heh heh, no pun intended) to the Oxford bookstore and checked off a life goal. I bought Oxford Classics from Oxford. Win. I got Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and a collection of fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen.
And that was pretty much it for my day. I took the train back into London, happy and content and ready for the next adventure, which would come the next day and also be a day trip out of London, this time to Bath!
Signing off now travel bugs – don’t stop travelling! ♥
violetsams 