from Princeton to Oxford: July 2023

Sunday roast at Windmill pub

30 July 2023, Sunday

After our rainy polo match, we headed to the Windmill in Asthall, Burford. I've had this pub in my eye since our very first visit - we always pass by it on our way into the Cotswolds. Its ambiance and food lived up to my expectations!

Misty Cotswold countryside

Kirtlington Park Polo Club

30 July 2023, Sunday

We watched a spot of polo this morning. Stayed until the rain came in!

Hampton Court Palace

29 July 2023, Saturday

We spent the day at Hampton Court Palace, enjoying Tudor history and Georgian splendor. We did an in-depth tour of the Tudor rooms, where Henry VIII kept court for the first half of the 16th century. The Baroque rooms were designed by Sir Christopher Wren and added with expansive gardens in the late 17th century. Queen Victoria opened the estate to the public in 1838. It is still considered a royal palace but the Royal Family does not use it regularly as in the past. Now we tourists can enjoy it instead!

In front of the main gate

The Tudor Great Hall

Carved hammer beam ceiling, with carved

faces of courtiers "always watching"

An actor performing a brief scripted Elizabethan play

King and Queen

Playing Fox and Geese in the Great Watching Chamber

The Anne Boleyn Gate in the Clock Court

Fountain Court in the newer Georgian structure

Great Fountain Garden

The Long Water

The Privy Garden

The Pond Gardens, with the Tudor and Baroque sections in view

The Great Hall and Anne Boleyn Gate

In one of the rooms of the Great Kitchen,

equipped to feed 400 Tudor guests

In the kitchen garden with the palace in the background

View of the Great Hall from the kitchen garden

Day to day at home

28 July 2023, Friday

We have settled into a good routine after one week in Oxford. We get out on our bikes, make many trips to Waitrose, and spend a lot of time in the garden. It's been sunnier than the forecast shows!