Blogs from Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe

What a stressful start to the adventure . Who was to know when you book a seat with BA that you can be put on standby , not a care in the world that you have a connection…. Thank goodness some passengers didn’t make it so we were able to get on the flight ! ... read more

After our usual lovely breakfast (yes, Heinz beans again), we hopped in the car and headed south to Bletchley Park. Unfortunately, almost 2 hours into the drive, I realized I left myKindle behind! This led to a mad scramble to contact the castle to make no arrangements to have it posted to us at our last stop in London. It should all work out - fingers crossed! Having read about Bletchley Park (on the aforementioned Kindle), this was a highlight of our trip for me. I was looking forward to seeing where the code breaking all took place and where women were able to play such an important role in the war effort. It did not disappoint. Not only did the historical society do a great job with the restoration and displayed, the site itself was ... read more

8 September 2019, Sunday The photos are back so we have revised and edited this post. A rest day and visit to Oxford. No walking on Thames Path today. Day 23 of travel. Our breakfast at Lakeside Guest House features fresh fruit with granola and yogurt. We plan our day to explore the colleges and see downtown Oxford. Here is Karen's narrative of our day. Sunday - A day amongst the 'dreaming spires of Oxford.' We have a lovely breakfast in a sunny dining area and then are off to see the town. - According to a 2017 census the population of Oxford is 154,600 people. This is misleading as the traditional, 'old' part of the city where the university is located, is very compact. We have signed up for one of those 'pay what you ... read more

A glimpse into the life of Lord & Lady Nuffield & a look around this millionaires modest abode - we certainly walked into a time capsule. William Morris (not the William Morris of Arts & Crafts fame) this William Morris, later known as Lord Nuffield was one of the world's greatest philanthropist of the 20th century. He brought cheap motoring to Britain, by introducing mass production processes in 1912 he registered WRM Motors Ltd for the manufacture of cars. Lord Nuffield was never extravagant with his money and gave much away to good causes. In 1927 he started to give large sums to hospitals particularly in areas where he had car manufacturing factories. His name is familiar in regard to many aspects of medicine Nuffield Orthopaedic centre, Nuffield Institute for Medical Research to name just a ... read more

A second day of exploring the city of oxford today. We decided to go back to some of the places we saw on the walking tour, and perhaps go inside if we were able. Christ Church is closest to our hotel so we started there. We did a self guided tour of the college. It is big, and I think pretty wealthy! They wanted to use the dining room to shoot the Harry Potter films, but the college didn’t feel they could feed their students elsewhere, and it was also not wide enough for four tables across (there are three rows of tables across the hall at present), so Warner brothers made a copy of the hall in their studios instead. Some of the shooting was done in the college though. The staircase was one area ... read more