With John back in Cambridge I'm on my own for a short while until Jenny comes across for the weekend. I do some washing and run the engine for a while to test the battery charge.
Jenny comes via dreadful traffic and local floods (Didcot station just the other side of Oxford is flooded and impassable) though there's no problem here, just 15 miles north. She is armed with spare clothes and good food so after lunch we stroll around Lower Heyford (pleasant, though it doesn't take long), afternoon tea at Kizzie's café on the wharf and a supper on the boat followed by an evening drink at The Bell.
Next day, Saturday, we work out the train times and set off to walk past Lower Heyford station to the next one down, Tackley, which is 5 miles south on a pretty good towpath.
At Tackley we catch the train to Oxford and wander the streets of the dreaming spires with more than an hour at the Ashmolean which has been recently revamped and is very accessible. Some excellent pre-Raphaelite paintings high upstairs and all manner of ancient pieces and fine work.
Back in Heyford Jenny remembers a local pub which she visited a while ago while on a cycling holiday and she drives us to The Red Lion at Steeple Aston for a very good evening meal of sea bream (Jenny) and an enormous pizza (me). The pub / restaurant also has a surprisingly good second-hand bookshop with profits going to local charities. Worth a look!
On Sunday we visited Rousham House and gardens, an easy stroll from the wharf and on a beautiful day it was a pleasure to browse the gardens. They are well kept but not pretentious and not manicured like some National Trust places. The house is open only to pre-booked parties, but the grounds are open for anyone except children and dogs. Also a pleasant change - there is no shop, no cafeteria, and they encourage you to bring your own picnic and stay as long as you like. We had a wonderful morning and would have stayed longer if we'd remembered a picnic ....
The photos show the gardens, dovecote and chapel at Rousham.
If you are in need of a meal you should visit The Red Lion, or for afternoon tea go to Kizzies (see above).
In the afternoon we collected the last of the blackberries (lots in number but small in size at this late stage in September).
Finally hello to John who has returned from the Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire's Garden Party, goodbye to Jenny who is driving home, and I knock up a stir fry with ingredients bought in Oxford.
After a delightfully relaxed and leisurely weekend tomorrow we are back on the water and ready to start for home. All change!
Jenny comes via dreadful traffic and local floods (Didcot station just the other side of Oxford is flooded and impassable) though there's no problem here, just 15 miles north. She is armed with spare clothes and good food so after lunch we stroll around Lower Heyford (pleasant, though it doesn't take long), afternoon tea at Kizzie's café on the wharf and a supper on the boat followed by an evening drink at The Bell.
Next day, Saturday, we work out the train times and set off to walk past Lower Heyford station to the next one down, Tackley, which is 5 miles south on a pretty good towpath.
At Tackley we catch the train to Oxford and wander the streets of the dreaming spires with more than an hour at the Ashmolean which has been recently revamped and is very accessible. Some excellent pre-Raphaelite paintings high upstairs and all manner of ancient pieces and fine work.
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| The Radcliffe Camera |
Back in Heyford Jenny remembers a local pub which she visited a while ago while on a cycling holiday and she drives us to The Red Lion at Steeple Aston for a very good evening meal of sea bream (Jenny) and an enormous pizza (me). The pub / restaurant also has a surprisingly good second-hand bookshop with profits going to local charities. Worth a look!
On Sunday we visited Rousham House and gardens, an easy stroll from the wharf and on a beautiful day it was a pleasure to browse the gardens. They are well kept but not pretentious and not manicured like some National Trust places. The house is open only to pre-booked parties, but the grounds are open for anyone except children and dogs. Also a pleasant change - there is no shop, no cafeteria, and they encourage you to bring your own picnic and stay as long as you like. We had a wonderful morning and would have stayed longer if we'd remembered a picnic ....
The photos show the gardens, dovecote and chapel at Rousham.
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In the afternoon we collected the last of the blackberries (lots in number but small in size at this late stage in September).
Finally hello to John who has returned from the Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire's Garden Party, goodbye to Jenny who is driving home, and I knock up a stir fry with ingredients bought in Oxford.
After a delightfully relaxed and leisurely weekend tomorrow we are back on the water and ready to start for home. All change!
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