Blenheim Palace

After a night of rain, we woke this morning to another lovely sunny day.  Bitterly cold but sunny.

Off to Blenheim Palace, best described by Christopher Winn in 'I never knew that about England' as 'the great baroque pile across the park'.  And what a 'pile'!   Opulent. Yes. Not quite the Palace of Versailles, but fairly close in style and grandeur.   And built in an era when a few people owned most of England.

The park was enormous of course, 2,000 acres of it.  It was designed by that great English garden designer, Capability Brown.  On the edge of the park lay the town of Woodstock, where Henry II built a tower for his mistress, the 'Fair Rosamund' and surrounded her with a maze.  But this was another story.

The Grand Bridge, which divided the lake in two.

As we walked towards the house we saw a giant pillar in the distance.  And yes it was a statue, of the first Duke of Marlborough, who named Blenheim House after his victory at Blenheim.  It was called the Column of Victory.

Now the first Duke of Marlborough started off as plain John Churchill.  He rose from being a commoner to a duke, due to royal connections, hard work and military leadership.  The land and money to build the house was given to him as a reward for his military triumphs against the French and Bavarians during the War of the Spanish Succession, culminating in 1704 in the Battle of Blenheim (Wikipedia).  The house was built between 1650 and 1722).

The grand entrance, with the Column of Victory in the distance.

Winston Churchill was born in Blenheim Palace, and lived there as a child, mostly being brought up by his nanny and grandmother, due to his parents being away a lot. They eventually divorced. Winston's grandfather was the Duke of Marlborough, but as Winston's father was the younger son he missed out on being a Duke.  The succession went through the eldest son.

Blenheim Palace, the home of the Duke of Marlborough, the current one being the 11th Duke.  It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. And according to Wikipedia is the only non-royal non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title of palace.

The palace opened to the public in 1950.  It was of course an expensive place to run, and a few of the earlier Dukes had very extravagant lifestyles, and there was much squandering of money and assets.  But much was saved during the last century when one of the Dukes married a rich American, whose father put an enormous sum of money into the palace and also gave the Duke and his wife substantial allowances.  All so his daughter could become a Duchess.  It saved the day, but was a very unhappy marriage and ended in divorce.

The photo below is taken from the formal gardens.

Once inside the building we first went upstairs and followed an interactive visual tour, which told the story about the building of the palace, and the life of the first Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, plus the continuing story of the development of the family over the centuries.  It was extremely well done.  Fascinating.

 The huge entrance hall with its massive chandelier.  Impressive.

On the second part of the visit we looked at the Churchill Exhibition, which provided an insight into his life.  It also showed the room where he was born.  We then went through into the state rooms.

 The dining roroom is currently used by the current Duke and his family for Christmas dinner each year.

One of the tapestries that portray the first Duke in battle.

Plastic crabs?  Hundreds of them.  They are in fact part of the Ai Weiwei exhibition.  He is a Chinese contemporary artist and activist, who is trying to bring to people's attention the inequalities and lack of personal freedom in China.  This piece of art represents the repression of the people in China. 

Another opulent room, a bit at odds with the concept of the ideas being represented with the pile of plastic crabs on the floor.  Or does it?

The Gallery, which is now used for concerts.

There was a magnificent view over the formal gardens, from the Windows in the Gallery.

At the end we caught a little train, which took us to the Pleasure Gardens, but by this time we were a little overdone.  I went for a walk in this maze, which is not the one that Henry II built around his mistress' bower.  But impressive all the same.  A small boy had to show me the way out of it when I became lost.

There was also a Butterfly House there, which was very hot and steamy inside, but full of beautiful butterflies and small birds.

 It was a wonderful visit, and very interesting.  We talked about it all the way back to the campsite.

Just as an aside.  We wondered if the province of Marlborough and its capital city of Blenheim was named after Blenheim Palace and the Dukes of Marlborough.  Sounded likely.

A visit to Hidcote

We woke this morning to a brilliant blue sky, and ice on the Heki rooflight. A heavy frost.  Still we were cosy in our caravan.  And the day held a promise of good weather.

 We set off early, via many very narrow lanes, and following the navigational system in the car.    Such picturesque countryside.  Eventually we arrived at some tall masts, with a narrow dirt track running beside them.  The back of Hidcote!   So after meandering through some more narrow lanes we finally arrived at the entrance to Hidcote.

The sittingroom or perhaps the study in the farmhouse at Hidcote.  A very comfortable and welcoming room.

A tantalising view of the gardens through the window.
Hidcote is now owned and managed by the National Trust.  It is described in the brochure as an 'Arts and Craft' garden in the North Cotswold.  it is also described as 'colourful and intricately designed outdoor rooms' with 'magnificent plants that burst with colour'.

But of course it is now early Spring, so we saw it in its 'bare bones' before the leaves appear and summer flowers have even come through the ground.  The evergreen hedges and topiary had also just been closely trimmed, which added to the starkness of the gardens.

The gardens were created by Major Lawrence Johnston after his mother purchased the property in 1907.  Major Johnston was the son of American parents.  He was born in Paris, went to Cambridge, became a British citizen, and fought in the Boer war and in the first world War.

 He obviously had plenty of money, as he spent his time on interests such as painting, music, travelling, entertaining and playing tennis. However he also devoted much time in planning and developing his garden.

The photograph below shows the huge heated greenhouse, full of tropical plants, plus cane chairs in which to sit and soak up the warmth.

 The huge kitchen garden, all ready to be planted out.  The rhubarb was just coming through and it put my little patch to shame.  The herbs were well developed too.

Walter standing under the bare arched lime trees, which will become a tunnel of green in the summer time.

 Major Johnston divided up the property into a series of 'outdoor rooms', which were divided by corridors and paved paths, and surrounded by evergreen oaks, and hedges of holly, yew, hornbeams and beech.

In the 'rooms' he planted flowers, shrubs and small trees, creating different themes and ideas.  He also brought back plants from his extensive world travels.

 It was very difficult to get a really good photo of these very tall yew trees, as there were quite a few of them. They were very impressive.

A very long vista.

 The hidden lawn. Out of bounds at the moment, due to lawn repairs.

 A beautiful clear pond, great reflections and two frogs mating on the bottom.  Well I presume that is what the frogs were doing. My knowledge of the mating habits of frogs is not that brilliant.

 A very comfortable area.  And a lovely mural on the wall.  My apologies as I am sure it had a name.  I must have been still thinking about the life cycle of frogs.

 These are impressive steps leading up to the topiary entrance to the next
'room'.

The wider view outside the gardens was pretty impressive too. A rolling green countryside with woolly sheep contentedly eating the rich green grass.

 

 After a lovely morning wandering around the gardens, we ate our packed lunch in our comfortable and warm car.  It had suddenly become very chilly.  so we needed to warm up before braving the cold outdoor cafe in order to drink our much needed cup of coffee.  With a large slice of cake of course.  

 

We were so pleased to have had the opportunity to visit these well known gardens.  Even though it was early spring and they were not at their best. 

A short trip to the Cotswolds

We are off on another trip, just for a few days.   Destination the Cotswolds.  The last time we seriously had a look around here was in1994. Since then we have driven through once, and visited Oxford once.  It is such a beautiful area too so I am not sure why we have left it so long.  

Yesterday Walter put some silicone in the small hole in the back corner of the caravan.  The hole being the result of the caravan hitting the edge of the building beside our storage area.  He then covered the repair with some white tape, in the hope it would be less noticeable.  At least the white tape matches the colour of the caravan.  A plaster always helps an injury.

 All hitched up and ready to go.  it was not raining either or bitterly cold.  Good weather does help.  And I think we have sorted out the electrical switches in the caravan. So complicated, and crucial to the life of the leisure battery. 

We had a really lovely trip, not too much traffic on the M25 or M40, and the drive past Oxford and through the subsequent countryside was very scenic.  And the sun was shining too.  Perfect.

We are now in a camping ground in Moreton-in-Marsh, and currently relaxing in our very comfortable caravan.  Unhitching and setting up was very easy.  I wish we could do it this well back in the storage area.  Apparently the potholes are being filled in this week.  Hopefully before we get back.

The site is very large, and mostly full of motorhomes and caravans.  Retirees, like us, out spending their pensions no doubt.  There are some very flash and expensive motorhomes around us. 

Tomorrow the gardens of Hidcote are high on our agenda plus a good look around the area.  Looking forward to it.

Spring is beginning. Exciting.

The weather has been warm, relatively speaking, and the garden has come alive.   There are signs of growth, everywhere.   

A brilliant patch of purple crocuses glowing brightly amongst the grasses.

The juicy red stalks and green leaves of the rhubarb are showing through.   And it looks like there will be a bumper crop this year.    Delicious rhubarb and orange jam, plus rhubarb sponge for pudding.   Looking forward to it.

New fake grass for the patio.   I love fake grass, always looks green, does not need mowing, and no mole hills.

  The warm weather has brought the moles out from hibernation, deep down in their tunnels.   Our resident mole is currently springcleaning its tunnels, which results in piles of soil above the ground.  No wonder our lawn at the back looks like the aftermath of a mining area, with the ground sinking over the tunnels and rising over the piles of dirt.

And of course we have now plenty of patches of dead grass, caused by dog wee, to add to the undulating ground.  I think a really good topdressing and repair job might be on the agenda this year.  Or more fake grass.  

Aah, the offending shrub, which had annoyed me all winter.   A Weigela I think.   It has beautiful pink flowers in late summer, on the previous new branches.   But the shrub needed a very good prune, as it was getting so straggly.   A job I had been putting off.   And the ivy, which normally covers the bank, had found its way up the branches of the shrub.  

Guess what!   I found an old wine bottle, thrown into the shrub during Scott's 2013 New Years Eve party.   It was obviously a good party, Scott.   And an easy way to get rid of the bottles too.

The branches have been cut back, now to get rid of all that ivy.

The view now from the kitchen window.  A great improvement, but no flowers this year, sadly.  The hebe next to it looks a little stark.   Sadly the dead parts of the hebe, deprived of light for so long, will not regrow again.  

 The new rose arch, all ready for the climbing roses to start growing over it. I hope the roses appreciate their drastic pruning, and start to grow again.  The garden in full sunshine.  It was so lovely last week.

So with the spring flowers out, and tiny leaves starting to bud, spring is definitely in the air.   So exciting.

Parking the caravan. The downside.

We need to approach the parking of our caravan, in a more organised and methodical manner.  Either that or ask for another parking spot   

We have no problems hitching or unhitching the caravan, and it travels beautifully behind us when out on the road.   So easy to tow.  But back at the storage area, that is a different matter altogether.

  

 Admittedly the cold wet weather has not helped us.   All we want to do, is get home, where it is lovely and warm.  And I will be the first to admit, that at this point we tend to rush things a bit.    

 The storage area for our van is well protected by buildings and the hedge at the back, and when we parked our motorhome there, we were very happy with this spot.   All we had to do was reverse the motorhome in, and raise the front up so that the water ran off the back, instead of collecting on the roof.   Easy.

But getting a caravan into this same spot requires much manoeuvring, and organisation.   There is not enough room on the narrow track to reverse the caravan in, or at least not by a couple of amateurs like us.    So we unhitch the caravan and use the electric mover to reverse it back into its spot.

Well, this is the general idea, anyway.   But in reality we seem to get it wrong, too often.   But the last time nearly finished us off.   As we had left all the electrical switches on in the caravan, accidently, we had flattened the leisure battery overnight, and did not check this was so in the morning.    We always hitch up by reversing the car to the caravan, so were unaware that the leisure battery was flat. We set off on a very short journey to fill the gas bottles, and to get a new jockey wheel for the front, but alas it was not long enough to charge the battery fully again.

When we returned the obvious happened, the mover worked for about two minutes and then went dead, and after checking the small batteries in the handheld device, we realised that we needed to check the power switch.   Which registered as red.   Flustered by then, I released the mover, without checking the caravan brake was on, and the back of the caravan clipped the corner of the shed, as the caravan made a lunge for the deep potholes in the track.

These are mean potholes, deep, and filled with water.  There was no way we could push the caravan out of the potholes, let alone up the slight slope, which by this stage looked very steep.   We could not leave it on the track either, and the depth of the potholes meant that we could not hitch up again.

So Walter, being enterprising, went off in search of the owner of the site, who then found another man, and the four of us pushed the caravan out of the potholes, up over the ever rising slope, and into its position in front of the hedge.

    

The owner has said that he will fill the potholes for us.   I hope so.  But we also must make sure we always switch off the electrics in the caravan, no matter how cold and tired we are.  Even better, we will take the battery home with us, to be placed on a charger, until our next outing.  And we must check before we leave on a trip that we have plenty of battery life in the leisure battery.    

We have now re-read the caravan manual, and read everything online that is related to the electrical system, the leisure battery and the electric mover.  We understand.  The electric mover absolutely and totally needs and uses a great amount of battery power.  We also realise that we are currently stuck if we cannot use the mover.

Mind you, it would help if we learned how to reverse the caravan around tight corners when on a narrow track.  Just in case.    

And we now need to remove a small dent from the corner of the caravan.  Our perfect and dent free caravan is no more. 

Shade, on the conservatory roof, at long last.

We have a south facing conservatory, which is fantastic on the days when the sun is shining and it is very cold outside.   But on the days when it is hot, the room is unbearable.    When we first built the conservatory, in 1994, there was an enornmous chestnut tree, on the boundary, in our upper garden, which shaded the conservatory during the summer time.   Sadly, our then new neighbours and the people upstairs did not like the tree, so we were forced to agree to share the costs and have the tree cut down.

Since then, we have tried to find ways of keeping the conservatory cool during summer, such as umbrellas, awnings, shade cloth looped up inside, shade cloth on the doors, but nothing really worked well.   Internal blinds were too expensive and probably would not work, and the only shade cloth available here was very cheap, and of an inferior quality.  This is not Australia.

Recently I discovered a company, www.koalashade.co.uk, who imports tough knitted polymer cloth from India, and make shade covers to fit conservatories.  Not cheap, as the cost of ours has come to £220, but perfect for the roof of the conservatory.   Tough, efficient and long lasting.

First of all, the roof needed to be washed, luckily the sun was shining, otherwise it would be a very cold job.   I still needed to wear a coat though.   We have a trestle type ladder arrangement, which made the job easy, even for people, like me, who hate heights.

One job always leads to another job, so together we washed all the windows too, badly needed after a winter of grime.   Walter testing his window washing skills on the conservatory windows.  We certainly did a better job then the window cleaners we used to employ, who seemed to just move the dirt around.    A real waste of money.

The shade cloth was easy to put on the roof, only took a few minutes, although we did put it on back to front, so had to unhook it and turn it around.

All in place, except for minor adjustments, through not reading the instructions properly.  The two extra tensioning attatchments are currently on the front of the conservatory instead of on the middle of each end.   Note the puckering on the back right hand corner, and the white beam showing.   The front hooks only need a cord on each one, just to hold the cloth down.   A small job for tomorrow.

The before,

and after views through the roof.   What a difference it makes, and it is only early Spring.

Looking forward to a pleasant spring and summer in the conservatory.   A job well done.