Blenheim, Cogges Farm and Bampton

Blenheim Palace is where Winston Churchill was born and raised.  We passed the estate when we were coming from London to Ilmington...it is in the town of Woodstock where I also live. We have been trying to plan our days by the weather and last night Kay made a list of the places we still wanted to go and we looked at the weather forecast.  We laughed because we never saw so many ways to try not to say it was going to rain...on and off chance of drizzle  (chance 99%), mostly cloudy with a shower, cloudy with a little rain, occasional afternoon rain, a shower and thunderstorm around....around where?

Blenheim does not disappoint and should be a must see on anyone's list.  I couldn't understand why Kay was insistent that I must visit there until I saw it.  The inside is absolutely amazingly gorgeous and very well kept.  The inside structure looks like it is new...the furnishings and art work are well cared for and ornate.  I'll let the pictures describe.  We then walked through the terraces and then down to the boathouse and through the Churchill Memorial Gardens, the Rose Garden and The Cascades which is a beautiful waterfall then walked along the lake path back to the palace, had a snack and a drink (Kay had the best cake here we have tasted) and then headed to the car which was a half mile away..ha ha.

Our next stop was Cogges Farm which was the filming spot for some of Downton Abbey's farm scenes.  We also found that some of Arthur and George were filmed here as well.  It rained while we were there so we took a few photos and moved on to our next stop.

 

We arrived at Bampton at 3:30 and found a Co-Op and bought some snacks for lunch and had a picnic in the car.  This little village was the actual place where Downton Village was.  The church where Mary and Matthew were married and later the funeral, baptism and other functions took place, Downton Hospital and Mrs. Crawley's house were all filmed here as well as the fair.  We had little trouble finding the church and Mrs. Crawley's house since anyone who has seen it would immediately recognize it.  We read in town that the civic center had Downton memorabilia for sale and photos of the filming so we set off to find it and it was in the building that was where the hospital was in the series.  We saw two women go in before us and they were in there speaking to the woman running the shop.  They were all very friendly and we got to talking and the woman who ran the shop whose name was Esther Hepworth actually was an extra in the series and one of the other two was the artist who did the cards and towels!  They were all so friendly and fun and we took photos and Susan signed the things we bought as well!  They took our picture outside as well.  And...the sun came out the moment we got to Bampton and we never saw rain again.  Thank you Kay!

Mrs. Crawley's House

Entrance to Downton Hospital

Susan is the artist that designed many of the things in the shop.

The church where Mary and Matthew were married

These photos are on display in the church

It is beautiful with some of the carvings dating back to 1320!

Esther told us this "Poo" deposit station was switched out to be a Postal box during filming

The building on the right was the pub during filming

It was a very long day and we were so tired and hurting since we did over 4 miles walking yesterday.  We decided to eat out instead of fixing something at home and went to the Howard Arms in our village.  Again another good meal there...I had the salmon and Kay had a burger.  We came home and watched another episode of Downton Season 6 which Felicity brought us on Monday and Kay has not yet seen.  It is fun to watch it again now after being in all these places. 

Another day in the books and three more things off the list!  Well done us!

PS  I finally got a photo of the Elderly Persons sign...there was no place to stop but Kay wanted me to stand bent over in front of it with her walking stick...bahahaha