CITY OF DREAMING SPIRES....AND COTSWOLD STONE..

Just before I tell you about our first travels of 2012 I want to express mine and my family's heartfelt thanks to every one who has contacted me here, via twitter and direct with their well wishes for my sister. She is making steady progress and though its going to be a long battle I know her positive attitude will help her and we are all praying for her. Thank you so much, your thoughts and prayers are really appreciated.

Our first outing of the year was a super long weekend away in Wiltshire. We were based in a spa hotel just outside Swindon, very nice I must say, with a view to visiting some of the beautiful surrounding villages and of course Oxford.

Well now as Matthew Arnold dubbed it, Oxford really is the city of dreaming spires, but I have to admit not quite as I had imagined it. Being a big fan of Morse and more recently Lewis, I somehow expected everything to be clustered together in the city not spread out so far. I still found it a beautiful place, the architecture is stunning, but not at all as I had pictured it....

I was rather relieved there was a tour bus or I don't think our ageing legs would have shown us all the delights there were to see..

Apparently Hitler was going to use Oxford as his capitol if he invaded which is why it was not bombed. There are few things to be thankful to him for, but I suppose this is one!

Of course I couldn't visit Oxford without paying homage to 'Alice'. I am still fascinated by the books but am not too sure about the 2010 Tim Burton film. Bit too weird for my liking..perhaps I am too traditional. However as a sewer I have to say the costumes were superb.

Some of the prettiest places were hidden away.....

and this really sums up the city for me....and of course now I know why they need them..........

On our final day before heading home we stopped off at Lacock the National Trust village. So very beautiful. It was bitterly cold and a bit misty, but still a delight to see. There was the Abbey, a pub, several shops and a super Antique shop where I could have spent a fortune, but I did resist on this occasion as I had already acquired some vintage fabric and a couple of  pieces of Rosedawn pottery!.....

The village is now run in its entirety by the National Trust and has been used for several film and television series amongst which are the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice and the 2007 BBC production of Cranford. It was also featured briefly in a couple of the Harry Potter films.

We had a wonderful weekend and look forward to some more during the year. Of course we wont be going far if this snow hangs about for too long.
Hope you are all snuggling down and keeping warm, I'm just off to fill my water bottle and make some hot chocolate...with a little nip of something to keep the cold out.

TTFN

Jenny xx