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Arriving early into London we picked up our car and headed straight out to Oxford for Breakfast and a bit of orientation. Wandering around the University district was great and we enjoyed the history of all the Academia around us and the History oozing out of every stone.
The quaintness of the Cotswold villages is picture book pretty we enjoyed lunch at Buford and then arriving at Burton on water it was no exception. We stayed at the Chestnuts B&B right in the centre of town and explored the lanes and walkways around the fields in the early mornings as we adjusted to the time zone.
We drove around many of the villages on our way to Cheltenham where we had breakfast one day stopping at Stow on the wold and lower slaughter. We lunched at Tewksbury on the river Severn visiting the local Abbey and mill
Warwick castle was really well set up for tourists and apart from the traditional castle stuff the gardens were stunning .
nothing like a fabulous Cotswolds rural vista on the way back to London.
the back lanes of old town warwick were straight out of Shakespeare’s times
Our time at Blenhiem palace was well spent exploring not only the extensive interiors of Winston Churchill family home but the massive gardens designed by Indigo Jones as well.
the local town of Woodstock was a beautiful village where we enjoyed both breakfast and lunch.
back in London and a visit to the British Museum was a real highlight as well as copious amounts of wanderings, too much to see and not enough time so i will return. we caught up with Shelley Gardiner in Maidervale for lunch and also with Beth Beamer and Husband Thomas for a lovely Indian meal near Russell square.
It was then off to Switzerland via Geneva to pick up the rental car and then onto visit Paul, Valerie and Theo. Their home is near Lake Limon ( lake Geneva) in a village called Aubonne and is set within the vineyards and enjoys stunning views towards the Alps and Mont Blanc. We went down to the lake to the family shack where Paul has his boat and while Paul mucked about securing the boat we wandered around the fields on the shoreline
The larger Local town is Morges which was not far away so we went in to see it with Valerie and Theo while Paul was at work . We spent three nights at their home and visited Lausanne on another day before setting off to Italy.
we went along the lake via Montreaux where the famous Jazz festival is held and where Freddie Mercury lived. It was a nice town on the waterfront and just up the road is the wonderful Chateau de Chillon an old medieval castle it such perfect condition that allows full access to all areas. Next it was the Freeway to the Alps and onto Italy.
