Bath, Oxford, Stonehenge (LateJuly, but it's taken me awhile...)

Right, it has been far too long (once again) but rather than starting with a negative, I’ll launch straight back in time to the start of our Summer. Firstly, I’m going to need to do a backtrack all the way to the beginning of August, when we headed on our first weekend of Summer on a gorgeous weekend tour of Oxford, Bath and Stonehenge. I’ll add some photos so you’ll see how glorious these places are, but first some context. A friend of mine who I first met while working at ‘Horror Harris’ when we first arrived here, suggested a tour group who do bits of London and surrounds and occasional trips to parts of Europe by coach, but without the usual Contiki-esque culture. So, wanting to see the famous and curious Stonehenge, experience Harry Potter’s dining room and see Jane Austen’s old haunts, we decided on a weekender with this group, stying overnight in the Hilton and seeing all three delightful places. We headed off on a Saturday morning, visited Oxford for the day, where we did Cream Tea (not Devonshire Tea because that would make the people of Devon, not unlike the resident of Champagne, very angry) visited the university and explored he old town. Oxford is a very quaint and beautiful old town, with famous sights including the pub where Bob Hawke famously drank a yard glass of beer (pre-Government) and other, infinitely more inspiring places too. The Christ Church buildings there are where Lewis Carroll got his inspiration for Alice in Wonderland. The hall there was JK Rowling’s inspiration for the famous Hogwarts Dining Hall, needless to say, that was a long line we had to stand in! The day was sunny and peaceful and we thoroughly enjoyed our wander through Oxford. That night we stayed in the Hilton, which was lovely, and met some nice people to enjoy our meals with, then the following day we squeezed in a half day trip to Bath followed by Stonehenge. I have to admit, I didn’t know Bath was going to be quite so incredible. As our coach hit the top of the hills surrounding Bath and we looked down into this city in the valley, I couldn’t quite breathe! It was like something out of a fairytale. The entire city of Bath is made up of street after street of local golden coloured Bath Stone. It is the most incredible sight from afar, then only gets better as you wander the streets. The city is famously the home of Jane Austen and host to an enormous Roman Bath Complex, the only natural hot spring source in all of the UK.The Bath Complex has been restored into a kind of museum where you can see how the Romans structured the building, the social bathing they did, etc. It is quite incredible. In Bath we sampled the famous ‘Bath Buns’ that are sold everywhere, oversized slightly sweet, savoury buns with your choice of fillings. Lovely. We headed home to London via the curious and astounding Stonehenge. Having not listened in high school History classes and not being very well versed on ancient mysteries, Stonehenge was a place I wanted to see, without quite knowing why! Justine, Liv, Ems, if you’re reading, you’ll recall our visit to the far less illustrious Glen Innes’ fake Stonehenge on our roadtrip all those years ago? Where it rained so much we had to repack the car in bathing suits? This is far better! Thousands of people make pilgrimages to Stonehenge ach year, and the site is teeming with tourists, but it is unmissable and brilliant and of course, a mind boggling mystery. Scientists and historians have all sorts of theories about it, but it does remain a mystery how ancient people managed to create an enormous henge out of ludicrously heay blocks of stone from incredibly far away, and why they bothered! The purpose of the henge, as well as how it came to be, are quite the mystery. The other thing that is quite interesting about Stonehenge is the mounds that surround it, something I had never even heard of. Surrounding the henge for quite a distance and numerous mounds. When they excavated these mounds some years ago, the skeletons of people and their riches, their animals, etc were found buried beneath. Quite amazing. Here’s some more info if you’re interested: Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi) west of Amesbury and 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of earthworks surrounding a circular setting of large standing stones. It is at the centre of the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred burial mounds.[1]
Archaeologists had believed that the iconic stone monument was erected around 2500 BC, as described in the chronology below. One recent theory, however, has suggested that the first stones were not erected until 2400-2200 BC,[2] whilst another suggests that bluestones may have been erected at the site as early as 3000 BC (see phase 1 below). The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC.

Confusing, but I’ve also added two other pieces of writing to the blog preceding this entry, even though the events written about came after this trip! They’re pieces I’ve written for the enjoyment of writing…something I had time to do over Summer.