Blenheim Palace, Oxford, Stonehenge & Bath

My parents arrived from Perth on Friday morning so I met them at Paddington Station. We bumped into Yang on his way to the Canary Wharf tube station so he turned around and helped us with getting the luggage back to the apartment before we both headed to work. What's a friday without a drink?! So, after work we met Alli at Smollensky's Canary Wharf for a quick drink and also to pass her the photos Yang took at her wedding.

On Saturday, my parents, Sean, Yang and I rented a car and drove to Blenheim Palace, a World Heritage site and the home to the 11th Duke of Marlborough. The Dukedom of Marlborough has an interesting history: the 7th Duke of Marlborough was the paternal grandfather of the British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill. The Churchills married into the line of Earl Spencer (of which Princess Diana is a descendant) and then later into the Vanderbilt family (American property family). The palace also has an interesting history: it was a gift from Queen Anne to John Churchill for military triumph against the French, it was where Sir Winston Churchill was born (prematurely whilst his mother was visiting her cousin), it is one of few palaces in the English Baroque style, and it has been the setting for several movies including The Four Feathers, Entrapment, The Avengers, Hamlet, and the soon to be released Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. We joined a tour of the inside of the palace, walked around the gardens (huge…and really beautiful), took a train to the pleasure gardens where Yang, Mum and I raced to finish the second largest garden maze in the world (I won of course!), and then drove to Oxford.

Entrance to Blenheim Palace; Gardens

Train ride to Pleasure Gardens; In front of Yang & Mum in the Maze

After we arrived in Oxford, home to the Oxford University (the oldest university in the English speaking world) we had lunch at an English Pub (whilst Yang queued in the car park to park the car for an hour) before walking around the town centre. I didn’t have a town map, but luckily I remembered a few things from when I went there with Amit, Kelly and Mat over two years ago!

Our first stop was Christ Church College, with its famous Cathedral. The Dining room at Christ Church is where Harry Potter’s Dining Room scenes are filmed. Then we climbed up the stairs to the top of the Church of St Mary the Virgin for views of Oxford. Following this, we walked around the Radcliffe Camera, Bodleian Library (which holds a copy of all books copyrighted and therefore has been expanded several times), and Sheldonian Theatre (where graduation ceremonies are held). Then a quick coffee to rest our legs before we headed back to London. On the way back to Canary Wharf we dropped Sean off at his apartment so my parents could get a looksee…unfortunately Joe had no warning so the place was in a bit of a mess!

Radcliffe Camera; Bridge of Sighs; Sheldonian Theatre

We had another early start on Sunday to visit Stonehenge. There were lots of tourists but it was worth the visit. Quite sad that in years gone by they were still letting people take the rocks in the formation to use as building materials.




After Stonehenge, we headed to Bath where we had a quick lunch and then continued our sightseeing. We walked past the Jane Austen Centre (but 3 guys to 2 girls meant majority votes for not going in!) to the Circus and the Royal Crescent, did a tour of the Roman Baths (which is still fed by three hot springs from the naturally occurring thermal spa on which Bath was built – we also drank the water from the hot springs in the Pump Room after the tour…I would prefer Acqua Panna any day), admired the Bath Abbey and then had afternoon tea at Sally Lunn, famous for its buns. Initially I was sceptical about how good a bun could be and thought it was all tourist hype…but it was so yummy! I would recommend a visit there to anyone going to Bath.

Jane Austen Centre, The Royal Crescent

Roman Baths, Bath's Ponte Vecchio

After our very unhealthy afternoon tea of buns, clotted cream and strawberry jam, we walked along the river to have a look at Pulteney Bridge and then a quick stop at M&S before heading back to London. Unfortunately everyone else must have been heading back to London as the 2.5 hour drive took 4 hours in the end.