Week ending April 6th
A quiet Monday much of which was spent assembling an Ikea double bed which had apparently been cursed by some Viking god. Also we joined the local library.
Tuesday. We are now on the telephone, courtesy of British Telecom. Enjoyed coffee with one of our neighbours, a retired aviation engineer named Robin, who filled us in on people and places to visit in the area. We drove over to a town called Witney to do some shopping. The age of places just blows us away still. The church in Witney was rebuilt, (that’s rebuilt) in 1243. We’ve been boning up on the history of the Wychwoods, (there are three...Ascott under, Shipton under, and Milton under..) and they are in the doomsday book. Went to the local pub, the Swan for a pint of beer, and learned that it too is old (400 years). On the walk back, Barbara took the path across the churchyard, (the church dates back to 12th century) Along the way she picked a few daffodils which grow around the place. She’s done this a few times, but on this occasion a woman suddenly appeared in the doorway of her nearby house and shouted at her, that she shouldn’t pinch the flowers. Barb shouted back “Why?, and the woman rudely replied, Ït’s illegal, they’re wildflowers”. Barb took the daffs she’d picked and retired, having now identified the village busybody.
Wednesday: Today we drove to the town of Warwick about an hour and a half away. We spent the afternoon exploring a magnificent old castle known appropriately enough as Warwick Castle. The oldest part of it was built on the orders of William the Conqueror in the 11th century.
It has dungeons and ramparts and turrets, and an enormous history of bloodshed and intrigue involving plots to assassinate Henry the eighth. One section is described as a weekend with the Prince of Wales and is part of the more modern rooms which have been restored as if for a country weekend with royalty. You walk into the library and there are wax figures of the guests, among them, Edward the Seventh, a young Winston Churchill. Dame Clara Butt is singing in the drawing room, and there’s some retired Field Marshall dressing for dinner in the bedroom. Next door, a Victorian maid is running a bath for her mistress.

Meanwhile, in the lower reaches of the castle you can see Tudor knights gearing p for battle with lots of gleaming armour and clanging of swords and halberds.
And even deeper into the dungeons you can see the remains of some poor wretch who has been starved to death in an iron cage. All very grim.
On the way home I took our car onto the motorway for the first time. It cut the travel time down considerably and the car ran well but you have to sit on 70mph all the time or you are likely to get run off the road by a lorry.
Thursday: A very quiet day. Walked for several miles along the local river, Evenlode, then across open green fields with old stone farmhouses in the distance, then past a huge farm manor house with beautiful lawns and hundred and hundreds of daffodils of every kind.
Friday: We set out for Woburn Abbey in Bedforshire but realised it was too far away, so changed direction and headed for Cheltenham. The drive took us along winding lanes, some thickly wooded with the occasional pheasant crossing our path. Then villages with names like Little Barrington, Great Barrington, Wick Rissington and Lower Slaughter. We had lunch in the spa town of Cheltenham which featured lovely crescent streets of Regency style terraces. We only had time to visit the museum which had a collection of exhibits of incredible age, swords from the bronze and iron age, Roman pottery, medieval relics, and seventeenth and eighteenth century artifacts and much more. We will go back again to visit the spas and the grand houses.
Saturday April 5th; Sunny day but cold. Went shopping, then across to The Swan in the cosy bar to write emails.
Sunday April 6th

Awoke this morning to a totally white landscape. It had snowed overnight and left a carpet of soft powdery snow blanketing everything. We got up and dressed very quickly, before taking the camera and going outside.

The sky was mostly bright blue, but the air was freezing, as we hurried around the village taking pictures and then plunging our hands back into our pockets. I’ve added a few of those pics, here. After breakfast Barbara walked across the graveyard to attend the C of E service at Holy Trinity while I cleaned up and finished this blog. This afternoon we’ll drive around the countryside, get some more snaps and perhaps enjoy a cosy pint at the Swan. More next week.