Day 2 in the City of Dreaming Spires

We woke up at about 9am on Sunday and headed down to the hot buffet at the Linton Lodge.

The breakfast was just what we needed to start another big day of sightseeing (I love a good hash brown on a Sunday morning!). 

The Linton is located about a 20 minute walk out of the main town, and it's perfectly enjoyable to stroll past the museums, colleges and student housing. If you're not up for the walk however, it only £5.50 in a cab - bargain!

We walked into the city after breakfast and enjoyed some fresh air before checking out Oxford Castle. The site was once home to the Norman Oxford Castle, and then the infamous Oxford Prison since the 11th Century.

We did the 'Oxford Castle Unlocked' tour, and were escorted around by 'Mary Blandy' - a prisoner that I personally believe was wrongly accused of killing her father. She told us all about the history of the prison, and let me tell you - English people were BRUTAL back in the day! Thank goodness I wasn't an everyday person in debt  during these times, that's all I can say!

After the tour, we caught the S3 bus to Blenheim Palace. Like the X90, we found all the Oxford buses to be really regular. We jumped straight on, and travelled for about 15 minutes through the countryside to the famous Palace.

It was a toss up between Blenheim and the walking tour, but I have to say that this was my favourite part of the weekend. The Palace is HUGE and full of history, most noteable being the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. The ticket includes entry into the palace and access to all the surrounding gardens. You could spend a whole day exploring.

Since I have arrived in London, the countryside surrounding Blenheim Palace is the most beautiful that I have seen in England.

The Palace is surrounded by rolling hills, lakes and 2000 acres of beautiful parkland. Ange and I took a long walk from the formal gardens, past the Italian Garden and eventually came to a beautiful cascading waterfall. We even managed to see some bunny rabbits on the way! How English is that?

On that note, did you know that the real Alice from Alice in Wonderland was from Oxford?

After taking about a zillion photos at Blenheim, we headed back to town and spent our last hour eating lunch and drinking a pint at the Eagle and Child (also known as the 'Bird and Baby') pub, near the town centre. The pub was a famous meeting point for the 'Inklings' - a Oxford writers group that included C.S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien! It was amazing to think about those men writing such famous novels in that very pub.

The history in Oxford was just amazing. We were very sad to leave on Sunday. What a fantastic place!

I would recommend going for longer than 1 weekend, because there is just so much to see. But if you have limited time, you can squeeze it all in, just like we did.

Thanks to Visit Oxfordshire visitoxfordandoxfordshire.com and the British Heritage Cities heritagecities.com for inviting Traveldudes!
All views are of course our own!

Travel diary shared by Jess Hardy
www.globetrottingdess.blogspot.co.uk