We made the most of our last day together by visiting Blenheim Palace on our way back to Oxford (well the grounds anyway) .
These were very impressive,.
- The highlights were the tall Victory column that towers up on the hill
- The view when you turn around from the column - all the way to the palace across the bridge
- The fancy palace
- the ancient yew tree (the only one left like the Whomping Willow in Harry Potter
- The vista of the bridge, island and palace across the lake.
We took Thom and Laura home to Oxford and spent a couple more hours with them (and one last walk in Oxford to get lunch and coffee)
Just one more family photo while we were all together (this one staged with the camera on a timer looking out of their window into the central lawns of Frewin Annexe.
Then the usual sad farewell with long hug and some tears.
A drive to the hotel near Heathrow to drop off bags, and then to the Hertz rental depot to return our Audi A3, before a bus ride on the free bus back to our hotel.
Dinner with Ben in the hotel restaurant before we all dropped into bed after saying goodbye to each other (we were having different flights from different terminals in the morning.)
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| first views across the lake to Blenheim Palace. |
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| beautiful wide drives |
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| An excellent stile - easy to use. |
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| Column of victory (41 metres tall) commissioned by Sarah (the Duchess) to remember her husband - the first Duke of Marlborough |
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| The view from the column of Victory to the palace. |
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| So British... A gate which must be closed, even though it is not fitted in to a fence. |
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| Lovely wicker fence |
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| The Whomping Willow tree. A team of tree experts have worked to support this tree so that it does not collapse and die also. |
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| Apparently this grand bridge has many rooms which have been flooded. There is a project underway to drain and save the rooms. |
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| Impressive gates (no other fence) |
Smiles before the tears. - our latest family photo.
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