Weekend in the Cotswolds

A group of us living in London decided we needed to do a weekend away in England! The group consisted of Ben and myself, Carly and Chris, Bethany and Andrew, and Metra and Dion. The connection between us is that Carly, Bethany, Andrew and I worked together at Reckitts in Sydney and all moved to London with 6 months of each other. Metra also used to work at Reckitts, and Dion still works for Reckitts in the UK where Andrew now works.

After we all managed to find a weekend we were all in the UK (particularly difficult for Bethany and Andrew who are constantly travelling with work), we decided we were going to the Cotswolds, about a 1.5 hour drive from London, and found a suitably quaint B&B in Bourton-on-the-Water that would accomodate all 8 of us.

We had a great weekend and were very lucky with the weather. Very cold days, but glorious blue sky and sunshine the whole weekend made up for that! Bethany was our tour guide after having visited the Cotswolds a couple of times before and we enjoyed driving through all the little villages and walking between Upper and Lower Slaughter across the fields. It was very muddy, but great fun and the lunch at Lower Slaughter Manor was well deserved by the end!

Our host at the B&B had recommended a restaurant in the town which we went to for dinner on Saturday night. It was a fantastic meal, and testament that good food can be found in England! Sunday we stocked up with picnic food for lunch and headed to Blenheim Palace just outside of Oxford. Blenheim is the home of the Dukes of Marlborough and birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. It is an amazing palace, and is set in a stunning 2,100 acres of land!

We had a relaxing day by the lake lazing in the sun. The boys played with the Sherrin Ben had brought, and Metra and I took a walk through the grounds and even managed to negotiate our way through the maze in the Pleasure Gardens. It's a fabulous place, and so close to London we'll definitely be heading back for day trips.

Inge & Ben xo