For our summer holiday this year we went to Banbury. Staying 2 miles from Banbury in fact, in a tiny village called Drayton.
As soon as we arrived we went exploring in the fields and forests behind the farm we were staying at. There were beautiful walks through the fields and farmlands, leading to some interesting landmarks.
It was a real relief to get out of the Basel summer, since we've had an incredible heatwave. For two months we've had high temperatures, including weeks of non-stop daily highs of over 35 degrees - way too hot! England was around 19-25 most days.
The kids loved the field track
Especially when, out of the blue, an obelisk appeared in front of us - turning out to be a monument to commemorate the visit to Drayton of a Prince Frederick, back several hundred years ago.
Then over a picturesque stile...
We found a lovely pond in the forest
And then out the other side of the forest, into more farmland where we found another relic, just sitting in a sheep field.
Just up the road is a nice little village complete with duck pond
And of course a selection of local pubs, where we made ourselves at home and got started reacquainting ourselves with some good old pub grub
A walk from us was the lovely Wroxton Abbey, which we visited with Shaun and Maria when they came up.
Which has lovely gardens, a lake, lots of ducks, and therefore lots of feather-collecting to keep the younger ones happy.
Of course no visit with Shaun would be complete without a car museum visit
But we also spent lots of time relaxing at our place, where there was a great big grassed area, ideal for sports
One day we went to Burford Animal Park, where the kids moaned and grumbled and didn't feel like walking anywhere, which was rather disappointing since we spent £50 on the entry fee.
So we took the Tourist train around the complex, to save our poor children's sore legs.
In the end, we found a nice little spot with some penguins, and everybody cheered up
Another day we went to Burton on the Water, where we met up with an English friend from Switzerland who has just moved back home.
The kids loved seeing eachother again
There's an amazing and accurate minature of the town which was fun to visit
We had lunch with Auntie Floss and Colin, which was fun
And caught up with Bridget, Joanna and Trevor which we really enjoyed. I even had a piano-playing session with Joanna, which I would have loved to do for longer.
One day we went to Edgehill where we had lunch in a castle, wow what a place!
We went to Stratford upon Avon and had a row on the river
And an ice-cream on the deck chairs
We organized for everybody to get together for lunch at a place called the Wykham Arms, just out of Banbury - a beautiful old thatched pub. We were so pleased everyone could make it, and we had a great afternoon there.
The kids were bored and running riot by the end, but fortunately uncle Shauny took them outside to run riot somewhere else for a while.
We visited Broughton Castle, though there was no internal admission on that day
We had a great trip, loved seeing the relatives and visiting so many cool places in and near Banbury, We definitely plan to visit again!
