Last
year, we went on our first ever caravanning trip, and visited my
brother who is living in Oxford. We had a good time so we decided to
do it again. We stayed at the same camp site, Godwin's Ice CreamFarm, which is a lovely quiet site two minutes from the M40, that
allows dogs of course and has an ice cream factory on site!
My
parents had decided to come along and had stayed at the WestonGrounds Farm B&B, which was a five minute walk from the camp
site. The rates were very reasonable at the B&B and was set on
lovely grounds in a nice house. My parents said it was run by an old
couple and their only complaints were that, and I quote, “you can
tell the rooms are cleaned by old people”. By which they mean, they
miss things like dust on the lights and in the crevices, the same
criticism they have for my Nana!
It's
a ten minute drive into Oxford, and we left the car at my brother's
place and walked into the city centre. My family don't walk any
slower than briskly so the dogs were happy since they had to stay on
the leads for this part.
The
city centre is really nice, with nice buildings and lovely shops.
There are some neat little shops in the indoor market but dogs aren't
allowed in there so my Mum and I abandoned the men for a snoop
around.
It
was a Saturday so it was really busy and the dogs surprised me at how
well they weave through the crowds without tripping anyone up – for
anyone who owns a cocker will know that at home they are perpetually
under your feet, wherever you go. Last year, Duke was just a puppy so
it was great socialisation for him but he quickly grew tired and my
brother, Sam, happily carried him for us. Well, you would think there
weren't ever any puppies in Oxford by the reactions he got and if a
guy ever wants to pull, this is the way!
On
a Saturday, there are lots of street entertainers in the city centre,
and we spent quite some time enjoying watching them as they were
good street entertainers. My brother always throws some money in
their hats and was annoyed at the number of people who enjoyed the
entertainment then walked away. It reminded me of our trip to Paris
where there were some fantastic street dancers, who had built up a
very large crowd, then when the music stopped and the hats came out,
everyone made a quick getaway. This Saturday, we enjoyed a delicious
pasty while we watched a tight-rope walking violinist, enjoyed a
singer singing Ed Sheeran song, an awesome 8 year old guitarist
singing Counting Stars by One Republic and a professional dance group
promoting the Dance in Oxford festival.
For
dinner, we took a redcommendation from Sam's boss and walked to a pub where dogs are welcome, called The Perch that was on the River Thames. It had a beautiful
beer garden that was huge but half of it was flooded as the river had
swollen from all the rain we'd had, much to the cockers' delight who
were soaking when we got to the pub. My Dad and I had the hand
battered fish and chips and Mum and Nick had the burger. Sam had the
steak which he said was truly delicious.
Sam
said it would have been a lovely walk back if we had walked down the
river, but we had forgotten to bring the cockers' dinners so we had
to call in a supermarket to buy them some raw steak, so we walked
back through the centre.
On
the Sunday, we went for a walk from the camp site and found a nice
public footpath to the left after The Black Sheep pub. The path took
us through fields and a wood with a stream, and we came out at
Kirtlington where there is the Oxford Arms. We decided to just have a
snack at the corner shop, though, so we could make it back in time to
have some ice cream before they closed, something worth finding time
for.
