A twice-postponed tour of cultural highlights in the Cotswolds, Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon proves to be a winning combination for the Ormerod family
FOR HALF-TERM in February 2020, our grandsons had chosen Bristol for a short caravan break. When one of Thomas’s teachers asked, “Why Bristol?” He replied, “Why not?”, going on to say that Brunel’s SS Great Britain was moored there, and you can see works by the famed street artist, Banksy, of whom both boys are fans.
The day came to set off, but Joe and I deemed it unsafe to drive because of the high and gusty winds in our area. Promising to visit in 2021, little did I know – just like the rest of the world – that we would then be grounded for almost two years.
Come 2022, the site in Bristol was fully booked, so instead, I booked the Caravan and Motorhome Club Site at Cheddar, reassuring our grandsons that we could drive to Bristol’s Park and Ride.
Then I discovered that the facilities block at the site would be closed during our stay. Wanting to be out and about as much as possible, extra chores didn’t appeal.
Oxford’s many options
Another search revealed that the Broadway Caravan and Motorhome Club Site, in the Cotswolds, had pitches. I remembered Thomas had admired the honey-coloured buildings of Moreton-in-Marsh during a previous visit, and hoped it would suit.
So instead of Bristol, read Oxford, the city of dreaming spires, home to the oldest university in the English-speaking world.
We used the Pear Tree Park and Ride facility and alighted from the bus outside St John’s College, a charming building founded in 1555 – a good start to our visit.
Nearby, we spotted Balliol and Trinity, and already, it was beginning to feel like the set of University Challenge! Opposite St John’s is the Ashmolean, Oxford University’s famous museum of art and archaeology. Founded in 1683, this is the oldest public museum in the UK.
Not far from the museum is the Martyrs’ Memorial, which commemorates Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London, and Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, all burnt at the stake in Oxford in 1555.
The memorial, designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, was completed in 1843, almost 300 years after the event.
A trip to the theatre
Oxford’s medieval centre is so compact that it was not long before we arrived at the Sheldonian Theatre – which is not a theatre in the traditional sense.
Used by the University of Oxford for degree ceremonies, concerts, conferences and lectures, the Sheldonian was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and completed in 1669. It takes its name
