I returned from Glastonbury at 4.30am on Monday and within hours we were on the road to Oxford. It took ages to get out of London and I must say Anne's map reading abilities are even worse than mine, which is saying a lot...
After driving around for a while we managed to find a bed for the night at the rather stunningly ordinary River Hotel, on the banks of the River Thames. Our hostess was most definately without the 'mostess'.
We carried out a thorough investigation of Oxford and found lots of university grounds closed but had a very nice stroll until we had an early dinner in an empty courtyard and returned to our delightful abode whereupon I fell asleep for 12 hours ...
The next day, well rested we enjoyed breakfast in the hotel until the fire alarm went off and all the other tourists cleared off and we stayed put finishing off our full english...
Next we drove off to Blenheim Palace (Anne would like to record that we didn't get lost going there) and were among the first to arrive and started off our visit with the new interactive tour with the ghost of Grace Ridley, the Duchess' maid. For more information follow this link http://www.blenheimpalace.com/news/blenheim.htm
We followed this tour with a stroll around the grounds, including the lovely rose gardens, where Anne is a bashful model.
We returned to the Palace for the tour of the state rooms which was accompanied by annoying Americans telling each other that but for Americans the Palace wouldn't exist...
We broke away from them and visited the front of the Palace to see the 'secret gardens' before heading off in search of the Cotswolds. From Witney we drove to Burford which I recognised from a previous visit several years ago. Unfortunately it was just before 5pm and most shops were closing, however, we did manage to do some shopping before stopping for cream teas followed by a stroll through the local graveyard.
We then got very lost trying to find our way to Bath. The upside was that Anne saw some lovely English countryside and pretty houses ... we eventually arrived in Bath and were promptly told to make our way to Bristol for accommodation as you have to book months in advance for beds in Bath.
So off to Bristol we went and proceeded to get incredibly lost trying to find the only hotel that seemed to have accommodation. We ended up picking up a local to navigate us to the Marriott - oh the shame!
Very nice beds so another good night's sleep before getting up earlish to head back to Bath and after enjoying an al fresco breakfast watching students enter the cathedral for graduation, we went on a free walking tour that took about two hours and was very informative and enjoyable. We then did a tour of the baths which were stunning, and nice and warm!
Following this tour we wandered around Bath, doing a bit more shopping and then trekked back to our car after asking directions from some policemen ... Then it was a very slow exit from Bath and a quick and wet drive straight to Brighton where we arrived amid a heavy downpour to find seafront accommodation (although we in the cheap room didn't get the view) for the night. Again an early start for a stroll down the pier (which was closed at that time of day). I looked sadly upon my friend, the helter skelter, before strolling along the beach front and back through the town checking out all the lovely shops before a return to London, via Ikea in Croydon.
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