We kicked off our English gardens tour by flying British Airways nonstop from Chicago to London. All of our best laid plans were dashed when we were delayed for three hours by an absolutely insane weather event of a dust storm at O’Hare!
I would bet that Chicago hasn’t seen a dust storm since the 1930s. It blew over quickly enough but caused mass chaos with aircraft movements and thus our departure. Instead of leaving at 9:15, we pushed just after midnight and arrived at Heathrow about 2 1/2 hours late.
By the time we got our car rental and drove to Bath it was nearly 5:00pm. This was just enough time to force us to rearrange our itinerary in Bath.
We did manage time to walk around town a bit before calling it an evening on our first night.
In the morning we popped up and headed to the Cotswolds to see Hidcote Manor.
Hidcote is one of the most influential gardens in Britain. It was started in 1907 and has been imitated many times across Britain.
It’s known for its “Arts & Crafts” style, with its outdoor garden “rooms”.
It is not large, but it definitely packs a lot of interest i to the space.
Each garden “room” was lined with shrubs for borders and lent an air of formality as you transitioned from one room to the next.
I found the wilder gardens to be more interesting.
From Hidcote we drove into a town called Lower Slaughter for lunch. It is squarely in the Cotswolds and known to be one of Britain’s most picturesque villages.
The main street of Lower Slaughter adjoins a creek that flows through town. The creek used to power an old mill.
A mill has been here milling flour since 1086.
The village is incredibly cute everywhere you look. If you go, plan lunch at the Slaughter’s Country Inn.
From here we made our last jaunt of the day to Blenheim Palace. One of the most famous palaces in Britain, it was opened in 1722 and centuries later was the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.
This is an enormous place – it’s called the Versailles of Britain. The grounds are stunning!
We spent a minute with the wisteria.
From the palace you can walk entirely around the lake and there are gardens and statuary sprinkled throughout the grounds.
At the end of the lake you’ll find the Grand Cascade, which is a waterfall that empties the lake.
The waterfall feeds into a peaceful pond.
Towards the end of the walk you’ll come to a very moving tribute to Sir Winston Churchill.
He loved Blenheim so much that he proposed to his wife on the grounds.
Once we finished seeing Blenheim we headed back to our hotel in Bath. We have a couple more things to see in town and then we head southwest to the edge of Devon.
