Pigs and Palaces

A few more outings around Oxford these past couple of weeks. We had a great day at Blenheim Palace, an early 18th century palace built as a gift to the First Duke of Marlborough who led the Allied Forces to victory over the French during the Wars of the Spanish Succession. It is the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill and current home to the 11th Duke of Marlborough. The palace is set in 2100 acres of beautiful parkland with landscaped gardens and a magnificent Lake. A miniature train links the palace to the 'Pleasure Gardens' which contain a butterfly house, the world's second largest hedge maze (quite a challenge to get out of), an adventure playground and more. Much of the new period movie 'The Young Victoria' (just released in UK - not sure about Aus) was filmed there.

At the other end of the spectrum, we visited Didcot Railway Centre, home to some old Great Western steam engines and visited by Thomas the Tank Engine on rare occasions (ie. last weekend). Not sure if it was the chilling wind, heavy rain or being surrounded by millions of snot-faced tantrum-throwing kids but this place just didn't do it for us. Not sure from the photo if Noah felt the same way or if he was just upset that part of his monkey balloon that we had just queued for hours for burst.













We dropped by Millet's farm, a bit like Collingwood Children's farm but with fewer animals and less to do. Highlights were the enormous pigs, especially the blonde, woolly Austrian ones that looked like a cross between pig and sheep (not the one in the photo).

For something a bit more cultural, we joined Jules and Anna for dinner before attending a classical music recital at Pembroke College. Can't fault the musical talent of these students but must admit it wasn't the most mind-blowing evening.

Monday was Purim and Meaghan took the boys to a party at the shule, Noah dressed as an English Bobby and Ethan wore his Ali G velour tracksuit (shame Meaghan forgot the camera as they both wore stick on moustaches - hilarious!).

Last night we went out to a place called the Nut Tree Inn for a wedding anniversary dinner (without kids). This charming restaurant in an old farmhouse was about 20 minutes drive from Oxford and accessed via a number of narrow windy dark roads with no lights or signs. Thank goodness for our sat nav. The restaurant was awarded a Michelin star this year and the food was great although not sure if Meaghan's diarrhoea-filled day today had anything to do with their rich sauces.

And finally (for now), a happy birthday to Bobba Val for the 14th and happy 60th birthday to Mum/Booba/Sally for the 16th.