Week ending March 30
March 24: We spent the morning trying to get the phone connected via our mobiles. British Telecom is as bad as Telstra and we kept losing the connection. Eventually we got it sorted and we’ll have a phone and broadband in a week’s time.
We met Glen and Oscar, the farm dogs. Glen is a border collie and he’s a working dog. Oscar is a sort of teddy bear on four legs and he’s the house dog – anybody’s house will do, and he just trotted into our house as if he owned it. Very cute!
We are getting to know a few people, who are very friendly. Chris and Janet Badger run Crown Farm where we live and are very nice. We met Robin who is one of our neighbours. Then there’s Alan who runs the local produce shop, and his wife Julie, both very friendly. Julie has offered to give us any furniture we might need. Her brother died s
ome months ago and she’s got a house full of stuff to dispose of.
This afternoon we walked a mile and three quarters past cottages and farmhouses, to the next village, Shipton under Wychwood. Around every bend we encountered green fields and vistas of daffodils. Spring is here but most of the big trees are still stark and bare against a mostly chilly grey sky. Tucked in every roll of the hills were more houses and cottages, until we reached our destination. We passed a few more substantial places, great manor houses surrounded by high sandstone walls; places with names like “The Grange” and “Mere Folly”.
Barb and I stopped off at a pub called the Shaven Crown, a fourteenth century pile with a monk’s head sign outside. We enjoyed a coffee and cheese and biscuits in front of the fire, while eavesdropping on the chat of a number of locals scoffing pints at the next table. We didn’t understand much through their strong burring Oxfordshire accents.
Then back along the road to Ascott and a pint at our own pub, the Swan.
Tomorrow we catch the one train which stops here daily for Oxford, and hopefully we’ll collect our car and take to the road.
Tuesday March 25th
We got up early this morning and waited on a chilly station for the 7.44 to Oxford. This is the only train which stops here and you have to flag the driver to stop. We arrived in Oxford and wandered around looking for a place for breakfast before taking a cab to the car yard out of town.
We stumbled across the local market and bought a week’s supply of meat for much more reasonable prices than in the supermarkets. Then we had a hearty breakfast in “Brown’s Cafe”, a slightly run down caf in the market. Sausages, baked beans, bacon eggs etc, washed down by what the Brits call coffee.
Then we took a cab out to collect our car. At last we can travel where we like. The car is a diesel VW estate van. So far it runs well and fuel, though expensive, is much more economic than standard petrol. With the help of “Geraldine” we drove through the Oxfordshire countryside, stopping at a supermarket to stock up. This was a Waitrose market which stocks just about everything and we spent about fifty quid. We even found Vegemite on the shelves so all is right with the world.
Once home we managed to bugger up the heating system and had to get someone in to get the gas boiler going again. We also now have TV thanks to Fritha and Anthony, although it’s not great reception. And the programmes are just as bad as at home.
Now we just need to get the phone on, and broadband and we can start planning trips and tours. Then I can put all this stuff on the blog. I’ll try and put the updates on once a week from then on.
Wednesday March 26th
Almost the last of our furniture arrived today, a sofa, a chest of drawers and two bedside tables. We just need a bed to replace the inflatable mattress and we’re set. This afternoon we drove over to Chipping Norton and shopped for cheap crockery and a few other bits and piece
s. I got a couple of pictures in a bric a brac shop and they make the lounge look more like home.
Walked a hundred yards over to The Swan for a couple of pints with the locals. We’ll both be sounding like Pam Ayres if this keeps up. Dinner, a bit of tele, then bed.
Thursday March 27th
Today we went to Stratford upon Avon, a drive through green patchwork fields and tiny villages, some with thatched roofs. Stratford itself is only thirty miles away and we arrived there in time for a lunch of sandwiches and fruit by the canal. The town is a strange mixture of trendy shops, takeaway food placesan
d sandwiched in between, very very old houses and inns.
We joined a two hour historic walk around the old parts of Stratford, along the river to Holy Trinity church where Shakespeare is buried, his birthplace, the fifteenth century Garrick Inn, the house where his daughter lived.
March 24: We spent the morning trying to get the phone connected via our mobiles. British Telecom is as bad as Telstra and we kept losing the connection. Eventually we got it sorted and we’ll have a phone and broadband in a week’s time.
We met Glen and Oscar, the farm dogs. Glen is a border collie and he’s a working dog. Oscar is a sort of teddy bear on four legs and he’s the house dog – anybody’s house will do, and he just trotted into our house as if he owned it. Very cute!
We are getting to know a few people, who are very friendly. Chris and Janet Badger run Crown Farm where we live and are very nice. We met Robin who is one of our neighbours. Then there’s Alan who runs the local produce shop, and his wife Julie, both very friendly. Julie has offered to give us any furniture we might need. Her brother died s
ome months ago and she’s got a house full of stuff to dispose of.This afternoon we walked a mile and three quarters past cottages and farmhouses, to the next village, Shipton under Wychwood. Around every bend we encountered green fields and vistas of daffodils. Spring is here but most of the big trees are still stark and bare against a mostly chilly grey sky. Tucked in every roll of the hills were more houses and cottages, until we reached our destination. We passed a few more substantial places, great manor houses surrounded by high sandstone walls; places with names like “The Grange” and “Mere Folly”.
Barb and I stopped off at a pub called the Shaven Crown, a fourteenth century pile with a monk’s head sign outside. We enjoyed a coffee and cheese and biscuits in front of the fire, while eavesdropping on the chat of a number of locals scoffing pints at the next table. We didn’t understand much through their strong burring Oxfordshire accents.
Then back along the road to Ascott and a pint at our own pub, the Swan.
Tomorrow we catch the one train which stops here daily for Oxford, and hopefully we’ll collect our car and take to the road.
Tuesday March 25th
We got up early this morning and waited on a chilly station for the 7.44 to Oxford. This is the only train which stops here and you have to flag the driver to stop. We arrived in Oxford and wandered around looking for a place for breakfast before taking a cab to the car yard out of town.
We stumbled across the local market and bought a week’s supply of meat for much more reasonable prices than in the supermarkets. Then we had a hearty breakfast in “Brown’s Cafe”, a slightly run down caf in the market. Sausages, baked beans, bacon eggs etc, washed down by what the Brits call coffee.
Then we took a cab out to collect our car. At last we can travel where we like. The car is a diesel VW estate van. So far it runs well and fuel, though expensive, is much more economic than standard petrol. With the help of “Geraldine” we drove through the Oxfordshire countryside, stopping at a supermarket to stock up. This was a Waitrose market which stocks just about everything and we spent about fifty quid. We even found Vegemite on the shelves so all is right with the world.
Once home we managed to bugger up the heating system and had to get someone in to get the gas boiler going again. We also now have TV thanks to Fritha and Anthony, although it’s not great reception. And the programmes are just as bad as at home.
Now we just need to get the phone on, and broadband and we can start planning trips and tours. Then I can put all this stuff on the blog. I’ll try and put the updates on once a week from then on.
Wednesday March 26th
Almost the last of our furniture arrived today, a sofa, a chest of drawers and two bedside tables. We just need a bed to replace the inflatable mattress and we’re set. This afternoon we drove over to Chipping Norton and shopped for cheap crockery and a few other bits and piece
s. I got a couple of pictures in a bric a brac shop and they make the lounge look more like home.Walked a hundred yards over to The Swan for a couple of pints with the locals. We’ll both be sounding like Pam Ayres if this keeps up. Dinner, a bit of tele, then bed.
Thursday March 27th
Today we went to Stratford upon Avon, a drive through green patchwork fields and tiny villages, some with thatched roofs. Stratford itself is only thirty miles away and we arrived there in time for a lunch of sandwiches and fruit by the canal. The town is a strange mixture of trendy shops, takeaway food placesan
d sandwiched in between, very very old houses and inns.We joined a two hour historic walk around the old parts of Stratford, along the river to Holy Trinity church where Shakespeare is buried, his birthplace, the fifteenth century Garrick Inn, the house where his daughter lived.
Our guide was a mine of interesting information and the two hours flew. I’m still coming to terms with British traffic rules and the way the roads and roundabouts work. The sat nav is a godsend. It’s raining steadily tonight. More tele! Bed!
Friday March 28th
More furniture arrived today; a very good sofa bed which won’t fit through the doorway so must stay in the lounge (sitting room). So we are going to sell the other one which we bought a few days ago. When our bed arrives on Monday we’ll be totally set up.
Saturday March 29th
I think we are being sucked into English country life. How does this sound. Bacon and eggs for breakfast, followed by Barb doing the ironing while I vacuumed the house. Then coffee at eleven and dozing off in front of the tele while watching replays of this week’s Coronation Street. Then shopping in the afternoon in the town of Witney. I found some nice pictures in an Oxfam opshop to go on out sitting room wall. Then over to The Swan for a couple of pints of “Hookey Norton Ale” and in the evening around to the local community hall “Tiddy Hall”for a folk singing night. Fritha and Anthony are coming tomorrow for lunch to bring us back to Aussie reality.
Sunday March 30th
What a great night we had at Tiddy Hall. We walked the few hundred yards to the venue, although it was wet and cold. Then inside to a crowded hall. I’m sure the entire village population had turned out and there was a great buzz of conversation, encouraged by pints of beer and cider on sale at the bar. Just like in all those Thomas Hardy novels except for the time difference, there were ruddy faces and country accents, men in corduroy and tweed, and women in sensible skirts and tops. Barbara stuck to orange juice but I tried a pint of cider which I nursed through most of the evening. The show started with a single folk singer who encouraged us to join in some very rustic songs about ploughmen and cart drivers and all sung in the distinctive Oxfordshire burr as in Änd they calls I, Buttercup Joe”.and “Moi horse is willin’ and “I be a jolly cart driver”.
This was followed by a solo singer unaccompanied who delivered his songs, some of them very earthy, in a powerful tenor. The main act was a group of players calling themselves “The Omega Three”. They played multiple instruments and specialised in comic songs. With a break half way through, the night ended at 11.30, pretty late as we changed to daylight saving overnight and we had to get up early this morning.
We drove across to a very pretty town called Burford, a few miles away, to Mass at the small Catholic church. The congregation seemed to be made up of elderly citizens, most of them in tweedy outfits, and most fitted also with hearing aids. Then back down country lanes past farms and fields of daffodils and little pubs, all under a perfect blue sky, to get ready for lunch.
Friday March 28th
More furniture arrived today; a very good sofa bed which won’t fit through the doorway so must stay in the lounge (sitting room). So we are going to sell the other one which we bought a few days ago. When our bed arrives on Monday we’ll be totally set up.
Saturday March 29th
I think we are being sucked into English country life. How does this sound. Bacon and eggs for breakfast, followed by Barb doing the ironing while I vacuumed the house. Then coffee at eleven and dozing off in front of the tele while watching replays of this week’s Coronation Street. Then shopping in the afternoon in the town of Witney. I found some nice pictures in an Oxfam opshop to go on out sitting room wall. Then over to The Swan for a couple of pints of “Hookey Norton Ale” and in the evening around to the local community hall “Tiddy Hall”for a folk singing night. Fritha and Anthony are coming tomorrow for lunch to bring us back to Aussie reality.
Sunday March 30th
What a great night we had at Tiddy Hall. We walked the few hundred yards to the venue, although it was wet and cold. Then inside to a crowded hall. I’m sure the entire village population had turned out and there was a great buzz of conversation, encouraged by pints of beer and cider on sale at the bar. Just like in all those Thomas Hardy novels except for the time difference, there were ruddy faces and country accents, men in corduroy and tweed, and women in sensible skirts and tops. Barbara stuck to orange juice but I tried a pint of cider which I nursed through most of the evening. The show started with a single folk singer who encouraged us to join in some very rustic songs about ploughmen and cart drivers and all sung in the distinctive Oxfordshire burr as in Änd they calls I, Buttercup Joe”.and “Moi horse is willin’ and “I be a jolly cart driver”.
This was followed by a solo singer unaccompanied who delivered his songs, some of them very earthy, in a powerful tenor. The main act was a group of players calling themselves “The Omega Three”. They played multiple instruments and specialised in comic songs. With a break half way through, the night ended at 11.30, pretty late as we changed to daylight saving overnight and we had to get up early this morning.
We drove across to a very pretty town called Burford, a few miles away, to Mass at the small Catholic church. The congregation seemed to be made up of elderly citizens, most of them in tweedy outfits, and most fitted also with hearing aids. Then back down country lanes past farms and fields of daffodils and little pubs, all under a perfect blue sky, to get ready for lunch.
Fritha and Anthony arrived and we shared a very pleasant lunch of fresh bread,thick slices of ham and a selection of cheeses with lime and chilli paste, along with an agreeable bottle of white wine.JPG)
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. We walked that off with a stroll around the village and finished up with a final pint at the Swan, before our guests had to head back to London.
This has been another lovely day, enhanced by near perfect weather.
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