Days 4 & 5: Hounds, Avery, Blenheim Place, Cotswolds
Day 4, Wednesday
That morning we said goodbye to Bath and left by coach for the Cotswolds. Before touring Avery stone circle, Roy had arranged for an extra treat. We meet Davey and about 20 one-year old hounds! He provided insight into the history of fox hunting and how it has changed today. We were free to roam around Avery stone circle, hedge, ditches and mounds that surrounds a small village. Then on to Blenheim Place where Winston Churchill was born. Look for Sir John’s Vanbrugh’s Grand Bridge. The grounds were designed by Capability Brown, a gardener and landscape designer (1716-1783). Lots of Bling! Queen Victoria, Blenheim Palace
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Davey with his hounds
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Face of Unconditional Love
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Avebury Stone Circle. You could touch the rocks!
Above: Blenheim Palace ceiling and grounds. Below Room in Blenheim Palace.
Scenes during Cotswold walk including kissing gate & voting station.
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Day 5, Thursday
I was learning how many activities could be packed into a RS tour day. That morning we toured Stanton, Stanway Manor house, Stanway Mill, had a cricket lesson from Roy, Liz and James, a guided Cotswold walk, fell in love with Sticky toffee pudding at the Pudding Club, and ended the day with a group dinner where we were entertained by local folk musicians. Above: Stanway mill workers, John our local Stanway guide.
Stanway Mill Flour, orange grinding gears St Michael Church, Stanton.
At St. Michael: plague remembering a 19-year-old daughter, stained glass windows
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James, Doug & Liz demonstrate cricket- Good enough to win the Ashes!
Local Folk musicians entertained to toe tapping music at Stow-on-the-Wold pub