To celebrate the prettiness that is England in the springtime, it was only right that a small Easter excursion was planned to see (arguably) one of the prettiest regions of them all - the Cotswolds. Jeff, Sara and I hired a car and used Oxford as a base to head out into the myriad of impossibly cute villages and windy country roads that make up the Cotswolds.
It's basically an amalagam of Oxford and Gloucestershire with bits of Warwickshire and other counties thrown in for good measure. It's been designated as an 'area of outstanding natural beauty' and I'd definitely agree having seen it!
We started off with a trip to Minster Lovell via Woodstock to see the ruins of Minster Lovell hall, the still existing church and old dovecote. There's a rather eerie story about the last Lord Lovell hiding in a secret passage but no-one ever finding him and his skeleton only being discovered years later... After that we went to the picture postcard Slaughters (Lower Slaughter being especially cute with all the daffodils, lambs, river, working water mill etc.) and Chipping Campden which had a very lovely main street with lots of shops and places to have a Pimms and cream tea! I even found a brand new board game at the local op-shop for only £3 which has got to be a good end to any day!
Day two was spent mostly at Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire which has had a very fascinating pedigree, particularly when Robert Dudley owned the castle and hosted several elaborate festivities for Elizabeth I in the late 1500s (said to be the inspiration for 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' even). There was a great amalgam of styles as the castle was built over several centuries and they're building a new Elizabethan garden too.
I got completely sucked in by the tasting of all the jams and things and came away with some lemon honey, gooseberry and elderflower jam, and honey mead! Mmmm... We also had great fun listening to the audio guide's medieval dance music, jigging our way across the castle and dressing up in the old clothes!
After Kenilworth we popped into Stratford-upon-Avon briefly, visiting the (outside of) Shakespeare's birthplace and having a drink by the river. Not much really to report from there other than that it was full of people and a nightmare finding a park! Oh, no, the church was pretty stunning but unfortunately closed... Stratford was a brief stop because we were on the way to the PUDDING CLUB! More on that in a later post...
Day three was all about getting out and about into the fresh air (and to work of the massive amount of pudding just consumed). We had lunch at a great old pub called the Falkland Arms in Great Tew and then joined in the great British tradition of going for a ramble across the bridle paths and fields, getting in tune with nature. We passed a great church there as well which had some brass pictures from 1410, pretty impressive! We rounded off the afternoon by going to see the White Horse in Uffington, south of Oxford and hanging out with some very non-plussed sheep. You can't see it fully from the ground which makes its original meaning all the more interesting, with theories ranging from an offering to the gods or a picture drawn by aliens!
The last day of Easter was spent in Oxford, visiting the hall at Christ Church (the inspiration for the hall in the Harry Potter movies), the annual literary festival, and getting an extensive tour around Oxford cathedral (also the college chapel at Christ Church) by an expat New Zealander who could definitely talk the hind legs off any animal of your choosing!
All in all, a great Easter weekend with big ups to Jeff and Sara for organising everything! Check out the rest of the photos here.
There are loads of spring babies in my class here at Oxford so we've been having birthday bbqs/drinks/picnics/lunches out galore. It's been a great excuse for enjoying the fact that there are actually four very defined seasons in this country - and spring is arguably the prettiest of them all!
I've also been snapping a few pictures here and there which are a bit disconnected so I've whacked them all into the one album for your viewing pleasure.
Check them out here!
One tradition that any self-respecting Oxford student would never miss is the 'boat race'. What is this mythical boat race you ask? Particularly considering that the sea is approximately 60 miles away from here! Well, it all becomes clear when you understand the absolute mania for rowing here - which renders all other forms of 'boats' irrelevant!
So, the 'boat race' is the annual race between Oxford and Cambridge along the Thames in London. The calibre of the rowers is insane - lots of Olympians and world champions who are taking a year out from rowing full time to get some qualifications but who are also able to keep up a really high standard of racing. Not only is it a huge deal for the two universities involved, but is also a great day out for people in London because the whole place has this big party atmosphere - even though the whole thing is over in a matter of minutes! Kind of like waiting for the Tour de France to pass by in about 20 seconds after having waited for five hours...
I headed down with some friends from uni and met up with some other London-based friends who managed to brave the crowds and push through to the front where we had been patiently staking out our place for hours. But, the numb behinds from the cold wall were well worth it when we were on the front row with about 12 people deep behind us!
There are two races on the day, the first is between Isis (Oxford 2nds) and Goldie (Cambridge 2nds) which we won by miles. We were sitting at the Hammersmith Bend (at the top of this map, in front of the Dove and Old Ship pubs) which meant we had a great view of the two boats coming around the corner and then heading towards the finish. Isis were leading the whole time in their race, but in the firsts race between the Oxford 'Dark Blues' and the Cambridge 'Light Blues' it was much more neck and neck as they came around the bend. But, then apparently they clashed blades and Oxford pulled away, eventually winning by three boat lengths in a stylish time of 17 minutes flat! Go Oxford!!!!
If you're keen to watch it next year, keep the afternoon of the 3rd of April 2010 free! Lots of photos here.
What is a reading society I hear you ask? (I have supersonic hearing obviously). Well, because when you go to uni here you ‘read’ Geography (or whatever else it is that you study), when you go out in the field you go on reading parties (because we’re in groups and because it’s all a whole lot of fun). The geography society at St John’s is called the Martin Society and this year’s reading party was to Norfolk. We stayed in the most charming hotel in King’s Lynn’s industrial estate, just on the edge of the motorway. Very conducive towards convening with nature I’m sure. ..
The group consisted of 9 undergrads, 5 of us postgrads and 3 staff. We spent the first half day hearing about everyone’s research (mine is currently tentatively titled ‘Biofuels backlash? Evidence, politics and the EU Renewable Energy Directive’ - catchy eh...) and continued it on the morning of the third day. But, on the far more interesting second day we went out exploring and managed to cover most of Norfolk, as well as taking a look at parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. Our two main destinations were the north Norfolk coast (with some incredibly (read, aggressive) ducks who ate biscuits out of my hand) and Wicken Fen. The fens are drained marshlands which contain 50% of the grade A1 soil in the UK over a comparatively pretty small area. Wicken Fen is a nature reserve that preserves the fens as they would have looked in medieval times, replete with reeds, lots of mud, and all sorts of birds. Having gone to an extra special effort to make sure I remembered to get my gumboots (or wellingtons as I should call them here) up to Norfolk, the joy in being able to sink down into all the lovely squelchy mud was brilliant!
Overall a very successful trip, particularly considering I could pack two visits to London around it (all the trains and motorway systems here fan out from London as a central radius, there’s pretty much no way to easily go across the country). I’ve got more photos here.
From snow to sunshine! We've had the most glorious weather here over the last week, although it's starting to get a bit cloudier and cooler again now - it doesn't want to trick us into thinking that we'll actually get a summer... But, while all the blossoms started appearing it was absolutely magnificent. I can't get over how it all suddenly bursts into life at exactly the same time! The clumps of daffodils everywhere are stunning, as are all the trees completely covered in flowers. We just don't have anything like it at home!
We finally discovered University Parks the other day too, making the most of the sunshine. It's a big sports fields/park/river area really close to the science part of the university where I spend my days. Here are the rest of the photos.
