First stop today was Winston Churchill’s grave in Bladen. A steep but short climb up the hill to the church and cemetery. Churchill died in 1965, at 91, on the anniversary of his father’s death, and is buried in the family plot, next to his wife, Clementine. Flowers often adorn his grave, and today one note tucked among recent posies left there said, “Thank you for all the years of peace in our time.”
Then off to Blenheim Palace, Churchill’s birthplace. The road in was lined with stately trees, just beginning to celebrate fall colors. The palace itself sports honey-colored rock tones. Our first activity there was a “buggy ride” around the grounds to get the lay of the land. Our guide was knowledgeable and entertaining. Our “buggy” was a 6-passenger seat golf cart.
We drove along acres of manicured grounds, across bridges and around lakes. Eleven gardeners tend these grounds. Gamekeepers manage the pheasants, which are raised for the big hunt after the first of the year. We saw a hen pheasant in the gardens and stopped to take her picture.
The palace was awarded by Queen Anne to the 1st Duke of Marlborough in 1704 after a decisive victory. It still has the original oak floors, and everything used to build the palace came from local sources except the marble. The first Duke, John Churchill, had a Victory Column erected across from the palace by his wife so the people would ever forget what he did for them. Sheep graze around the column now as then.
You can buy a fishing permit to fish the lake, and a boat comes with the rental, as fishing from the bank is not permitted. Water from the nearby springs is filtered, tested and bottled under the Blenheim label. Nine miles of stone fence surrounds the palace and main estate, including stables. One fence gate is the Woodstock gate, and a tiny window above the arch was the only view for the gatekeeper.
The 11th Duke of Marlborough now lives in a 13-room apartment in one wing of the main house. He only uses the palace area one day a year, to host Christmas dinner for family and friends. The table seats 40.
Upstairs in the palace was an interactive kind of exhibit. Animated mannequins and holographs, videos and even ceiling projections told the history of the Churchills. A maid from the 1700s took us through room after room, generation after generation. The amount of detail in each scene was amazing, like Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean. Great way to learn while being entertained!
After these two tours, went for lunch in the garden. Had a salmon and lobster sandwich on yummy birdseed bread and a diet Coke. Fountains, maze hedges, rose gardens, cement ponds, and in the distance, a fishing skiff on the lake. Fabulous blue sky over all!
The Cotswolds… Cots means a stone sheep shelter, and Walds are rolling hills. Hence, Cotswolds are sheltered little cottage towns among the rolling hills. Wide center streets are “Drove Roads” where the shepherds drove their flocks to market. Shrouds of wool were mandatory when someone died, thus enhancing the woolen production market.
Miles upon miles of golden arches (no, not McDonalds) lined the roadways, the leaves becoming brilliant as autumn arrives. Mother would have loved this, as she was always drawn to jigsaw puzzles of the English countryside in the fall.
We took a short wander in Broadway, a village of 16th and 17th century buildings. Like most villages in The Cotswolds, one main street is about all there is to it. Walk up one side and down the other, then off to “Cream Tea” at Broadway Tower.
NEWSFLASH! Clotted cream, by any other name is just butter! We had scones, this clotted substance, jam and tea with milk. Cross another thing off my “must do” list!
Then I hiked to the tower, but chose not to pay 4.50 pounds to climb the stairs to the top. The view was fine enough from where I stood. Could see all the way to Wales. Also saw some red deer, big as elk, but with red hides, white butts, and reindeer-like antlers. When they bugled, or bellowed, it was more like suffering cows than elk. An odd mooing sound, quite eerie and unsettling, I imagine it being even scarier in the fog…
Back to the hotel for an “order in” of fish and chips eaten in the lobby, much to our delight and the hotel managers dismay!