During our 25 day trip we only needed cash one time at a launderette in Bishop’s Cleeve. For those who ask about Discover card acceptance, of all the places we went, most people had never heard of it. The gift shop at Blenheim Palace accepted it as did one vending machine.
We were taking part of this trip with another couple with the couples flying into Heathrow and Gatwick, so we spent two nights in London to ensure everyone arrived and to get over jet lag.
Staying near the Gloucester Road tube station, on arrival day the most we did was walk over the Kensington Palace and Hyde Park. On our full day, one couple went to visit the Churchill War rooms while we, having been there a couple times already, walked through St. James park and up to Buckingham Palace and back, then over to Westminster Abbey to occupy time. We also visited the UK Supreme Court building, something we hadn’t done previously.
The following day we departed London, picked up a rental car at Gatwick, and headed south to the Portsmouth area. After checking into our hotel we visited the Royal Armouries/Ft. Nelson and followed it with dinner at the Golden Lion in Southwick. The pub was used as an officers club during WWII and portions of Operation Overlord were planned there. General Eisenhower and Winston Churchill drank pints in the pub while General Montgomery stuck with juice.
The following day we visited the Royal Dockyards for 5.5 hours. Although the HMS Victory is undergoing a 10 year renovation and is enclosed in a building, it was still nice to visit. The Mary Rose exhibit was very impressive and we also enjoyed the old ships’ figureheads. While seldom open to the public, the Victory’s fore-topsail, the only remaining sail from the battle of Trafalgar, was only display. Before heading north from the Portsmouth area we visited Portchester Castle; a fairly well preserved ruin. Its keep is the second tallest Roman built tower in England.
On our free day between Portsmouth and our visit to Highclere Castle we drove over to Wallingford for its Agatha Christie connection as well as it serving as the fictitious town Causton in the television series Midsomer Murders.
The visit to Highclere Castle was a high point for a couple in our party. We arrived early and were able to get in right away. The total time spent at the castle and grounds was 2.5 hours. From it we drove to Abingdon for a couple nights.
During that stay we visited Blenheim Palace where Winston Churchill was born, along with Bladon where he is buried. That was followed by a visit to Bampton that was used as a filming location for the Downton Abbey series.
En route to Market Harborough we visited Bletchley Park and spent almost 4 hours there. While in Market Harborough we visited the former Spanhoe airfield where my father’s squadron was headquartered during WWII. C47s from the airfield participated in both the D-Day and Market Garden operations.
After dropping off our traveling companions we went to Amersham for a night before continuing on the the Cotswold villages of Bradford on Avon and Castle Combe. While in Amersham, the town celebrated its heritage day. En route to Bradford on Avon we stopped at the 5000 year old West Kennet Long Barrow and Silbury Hill; the tallest Neolithic mound in Europe.
Needing to waste a few hours before checking into the next hotel we visited Malmesbury Abbey followed by The Ancient Ram Inn in Wotton-under-Edge before continuing on to Castle Combe. The abbey was nothing special and manly served as a coffee and souvenir shop, although services are still held there. The Ram Inn is no longer open regularly, so we were not able to enter. It is supposedly one of the most haunted buildings in England.