To and In Woodstock (near Blenheim Palace)

July 6th (Sun) – Today we had our long drive back into England from Wales. We had another nice breakfast (more fresh fruit salad) and with clean jeans in hand, we set out early. Our route took us through the heart of Snowdonia and we were treated to some great scenery. There was one mountain that looked like it was made of slate (and indeed it was) and the black, tumbling skree against the green of the meadows made quite a contrast in color and texture. Plus, the day was overcast with big gray clouds to match the skree and low lying fog that covered the mountain tops. And, yes, sheep. It was really something.

We had planned to stop in Shrewesbury (medieval home of the fictional Brother Cadfael and pronounced "shrowsbry") and so we did, but it really started to rain and as I hadn’t really researched what there was to look at it, our brief, wet foray into the main square yielded nothing other than I can say I stopped there (and crossed the River Severn several times because we were lost). After this, we hit some of the bigger highways, which always put Mike to sleep. His tummy and mine were both calling for tea and a scone, so we eventually got off the big highways onto smaller ones that we’d actually traveled before as we had to cross back through the Cotswolds to get to our destination near Oxford. We were thus able to stop in Moreton-in-Marsh for what was probably our last cream tea – at a tea shop called “The Marshmallow”. It seemed to me to be the most authentic of all the tea shops we’d been to so far, but what do I know. It actually served loose leaf tea, which I had always understood to be the English way, but which we hadn’t yet been served. The scones were also the best so far and it really hit the spot, especially as we’d hit a lot of rain on the way. I’m sure Mike was glad for the rest.

Our stop for the night was in Woodstock near Blenheim Palace, which was only 30 or so miles from where we had tea, and is about 7 miles from Oxford. The B&B is above a tea shop in a building that’s 200 years old and stands right near one of the palace gates. Our room is perfectly fine, although it doesn’t look 200 years old the way they’ve done it up (but I think the bathroom must once have been the closet). After checking in, we went for a stroll around the town intending to wind up at a pub that our proprietress had recommended for dinner. After our stroll, we went there only to discover that they had stopped serving a few minutes before. It was 4:30. We then discovered that on Sundays, places are either closed altogether or they serve an early dinner and usually stop serving by 5. Luckily we found one place that was serving food all day, so we ate there. Mike really enjoyed his food (some sort of salad with chicken and potatoes and an elderflower dressing). My food was just okay. We split a dessert which had 4 different kinds of chocolate things – just little tastes. We thought the little creme brulee was the best. After this, we headed home in the rain. We hadn’t brought our jackets, so we had to huddle under Mike’s little umbrella but there were nooks we could stop in when the rain got heavy. We got home just a little bit damp and spent the rest of the evening just hanging out in the room. For the first time, we fell asleep without the sound of seagulls.