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Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 ENGLAND: LONDON
AND THE COTSWOLDS OXFORD
Monday, May 16.
This
was the first day of the five-day
excursion we had arranged so that
Andy and Liz would have a break from our
visit. It would be spent mostly in
the Cotswolds, a picturesque area
roughly 25 miles wide and 90 miles
long, stretching between
Stratford-upon-Avon in the north
and Bath in the south. It is noted
for the distinctive golden-colored
limestone that is, by law, the
predominant exterior building
material in the area.
Ominously, I experienced the vertigo (BPPV) again when I got up at 7:00. I could only hope that it would disappear before Oxford, the first stop of our tour. In the meantime, I had to be very careful moving around, constantly leaning on walls or other solid objects.
Lee, our driver,
guide and owner of Kooky Cotswold
Tours, showed up promptly at 9:00
as scheduled. Fortunately, my
vertigo mostly wore off during the
one hour drive to Oxford. We
spent a little time in the town
before proceeding to the
University.
At our first stop we walked down a series of narrow outdoor passageways to the Turf Tavern, dating to the 13th century. In one of its courtyards we sat at the table famous as the place where Bill Clinton "did not inhale" while a student there. Masterpiece Theater's Inspector Morse was another famous (though fictional) patron.
It was only a short walk to the University’s beautiful Bridge of Sighs (not really a replica of the one in Venice). Then we stopped briefly at the Bodleian Library (1602), the University's main research library and one of the oldest libraries in Europe. We also passed a very different library, the Radcliffe Camera (1748), originally a science library.
From the square there we had a
good view of the Oxford
Cathedral. Uniquely, it serves
as both the chapel of Christ
Church College and the
cathedral church for the
Diocese of Oxford.
I should
point out here that the University
is not a single educational
institution but a federation made
up of dozens of self-governing
colleges. Also, it does not have a
separate campus, but is scattered
throughout the center of the city
of Oxford. While it is possible to
stroll freely among most of these
buildings, an admission fee is
charged to enter some of them. Our
tour included tickets to enter
buildings in Christ Church
College. Christ Church, under that name, was founded by Henry VIII in 1546, but Cardinal Woolsey had started building it in 1520, and there had been a priory (monastery) on the site since 1122 (some of which is incorporated into the present cathedral). We were leisurely browsing around in the general direction of the cathedral when various people told us that we had to rush to see "The Hall" because it was about to close to the public while lunch was served. (It was 11:40.) We rushed in the direction they indicated, up a flight of steps and into the hall. It was truly impressive, but also somewhat familiar. This hall was part of Cardinal Wolsey's construction (1520), but a replica was used as the dining hall at Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies.
Descending the stairs, we found
ourselves in the southeast corner
of Tom’s Quad, part of Christ
Church College and the largest
college quad in Oxford. It take’s
its name from Tom's Tower (1682)
which takes its name from its
bell, Great Tom. We had proceeded
only about half the length of the
quad when attendants turned us
back, saying only students and
faculty could go further. We had just passed the
entrance to the Cathedral, so we
turned in there.
The
cathedral was originally the
church of St Frideswide's Priory,
dating back at least to the
twelfth century. The nave, choir,
main tower and transepts are said
to date from Norman times, but
that is not apparent to the
untrained eye (if to any). But it
is a beautiful church.
Our tickets included the Christ Church Picture Gallery. Checking our map, it seemed to only way to get there was through the part of Tom's Quad we had been turned back from entering. So we went back there and, after showing out tickets, were allowed to walk the full length of the Quad. As we turned right at the end, we entered Peckwater Quad. Named after the owner of a tavern that once stood there. We found the Gallery a short distance beyond that.
The gallery boasted about 300
paintings by "old masters" and
many more old drawings. They were
arranged chronologically, and it
was interesting to follow the
development of styles. But we were
not inclined to spend our time in
an art museums and moved through
it quickly. We were pretty much
lost when we emerged but, after
wandering through some picturesque
lanes and alleys, we reached High
Street. It was already 13:15 so we
called Lee, giving him our
location so he could pick us up.
In the meantime, though, we could not resist going into the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin, right across the street. The church dates from the 13th century and played an important role in the early days of the University. It was substantially rebuilt around 1500. We did not have time to climb the tower for its reportedly splendid view, and I doubt we would have tackled it even if we had time. Lee picked us up about 13:30 and we headed west into the Cotswolds. Our first stop, about 14:20, was at the village of Swinbrook to see the wisteria-covered Swan Inn, a short distance off the main road.. It had been used in an episode of Downton Abbey, when Tom, the chauffeur and Sybil, the youngest daughter, eloped and spent the night there. Lee then followed the narrow country road through Fulbrook to Burford, a small town on the River Windrush. As was the case throughout the Cotswolds, it seemed that every building was built of the characteristic golden limestone, although a few of them were stuccoed over. We also got our first close up look at the ubiquitous low walls made from the same stone.
It was going to 15:00 when we finally stopped for lunch. We ate at Huffkin’s' on High Street. This was the original establishment of a small chain of "bakery and tea rooms." The food was very good, but the meat pies we ordered turned out to be dinner-size portions, way too much for lunch. Of course, that did not stop us from eating them. From Burford Lee drove us to our final destination for the day, Chipping Campden, about half an hour away. Sometimes called the Jewel of the North Cotswolds, this small market town is one of the most popular in the Cotswolds and is noted for the 14th-17th century houses on High Street. We got to the Cotswold House Hotel there at 16:15. After checking us in, Lee left for the day. This very contemporary hotel occupies three converted town houses (1815) right in the center of town. As is often the case when separate buildings have been connected, the inside of the hotel was somewhat of a warren. But everything was very modern and our room was excellent. We were still feeling stuffed from our heavy lunch, so we decided to walk some of it off by exploring High Street. Right in the middle of the town, just a few steps from the hotel, we found the old Market Hall (1627).
High Street also had many shops, tea rooms and other commercial buildings among the residences, but most of them were closed. (It was going to 18:00.) We passed several residences that had names instead of addresses (e.g., Molly'' Cottage). We walked as far as St. Catherine's Catholic Church, then went back to the hotel. They had a nice menu at the hotel bar (choose two out of three courses) so we went down about 19:15 and ate there. Then it was early to bed. |
