Local sights and London

Upon our return from the touring the south we needed to show our visitors local sights. We spent the afternoon in Banbury and had lunch at one of the local pubs called the Reindeer Inn. This pub is as old as Banbury and has. A room that was added in the 1600's for Oliver Cromwell to plan his battle for the civil war. It is the most beautifully carved panelled room and very historic. Once again great food - Carol had a mushroom medley with garlic butter and I had asparagus wrapped in speck. Stephen had the quintessential steak and ale pie. Yum yum We showed them the giant Warwick Castle from the cobbled lane which puts you right at the base of it with its fortress like walls and towers that stand 44m and absolutely dwarfing you. Warwick has two fantastic antique centres, one of which is owned by an ex chef and his passion is to collect anything related to cooking or the food table. He has amazing amazing collection of china, silver, glassware etc. I wanted one of everything. Carol and I were thrilled to buy a Royal Dalton Mr Plod and Big-ears from Noddy. Our Darling Grandmother gave us pieces of this collection when we were small and we had not seen them ever. Carol and Stephen did a tour of Warwick Castle the next day and we took them onto Stratford Upon Avon to Shakespeare's birthplace and a walk around the busy and popular township. We drove on the the most beautiful and preserved of all the Cotswold villages, Chipping Camden. I had forgotten how lovely this town is with the higgelty piggelty buildings in honey coloured stone lining the Main Street. We had lunch in our favourite cafe called Badgers. The first thing you see when you walk in the very low door stopped over and down two steps is the desert table. It makes you want to skip mains and eat cake!!! We we up at sparrows fart the next day to catch the Oxford Tube (which is actually s bus) into London for the weekend. John and I stayed at Susie's home in Notting Hill and Carol and Stephen were in a hotel right around the corner. We met brother Bill for lunch in Oxford Street and were very excited to have all three of us in London together. Carol and Stephen toured Madame Tussaud's and John and I discovered the Wallace Collection. This is the finest collection of paintings, porcelain, furniture ever assembled by one family. Five generations of collectors, four Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace made their own contribution. It is overwhelmingly opulent and vast. It made Waddeston Manor which was built by Baron de Rothschild look like a dolls house! We ventured onto Harrods to see the magnificence of this building and bought and ate chocolates to restore our energy. I bought ONE Cuban cigar to bring back for James - the collection like everything there very complete. We found a pub for dinner and devoured burgers and ale before collapsing into bed. Met Bill and Ali at Leicester Square on Saturday morning by the half price show ticket booth. John and I had tickets for the London Male Welsh Choir at Royal Albert Hall. We were so excited about going to this venue. It is such a glorious and magnificent structure. They managed to get tickets to Rock of Ages which they all said was a brilliant and funny production. We then walked through Covent Garden and Trafalgar Square heading to our very exciting appointment of high tea at The Royal Horseguards Hotel. With The wisdom of Bill and Ali we made this lunch so started at 12.30 and finished at 3.30. Carol had more cups of tea in this one stint than she has had in her life and each of us had a silver three tiered stand with sandwiches, cakes and savouries and no shortage of refills. It was quite simply very refined with gorgeous china, damask linen and Laurent Perrier Champagne which was nectar of the Gods. We could easily have curled up in our plush chairs for a snooze. We finished the afternoon off by walking down the embankment, past Parliament Buildings and Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, down the Mall and past Buckingham Palace before parting company to go to our shows. Sunday John and I had to meet with Susie and tidy her small courtyard garden, plant tulips and prepare a supper for her. Was a full on day as she gave us quite an extensive shopping list which we had to carry back on foot from Notting Hill shops. It was so exciting to be a part of local life there. The shops and cafes are fantastic and we ooed and arred at them all. The vintage clothing shops here are numerous and stashed full of stuff. Jamie Oliver has a new shop here called Recipease which is like the Good Food Company at Newton St. It would be hideous to live with, but we just loved the frantic business of the whole place. We met up the Carol, Stephen, Bill and Ali at a pub in Piccadily Square and were well ready for a cool ale after our busy day. It was our last visit with Susie we thought, but upon returning home she had sent an email thanking us profusely for our efforts and would we consider another two days stint next week to give her some extra help!! We we all shattered by the time we finally caught the bus back to Oxford and drove back to Knighcote. Dinner was at the autobahn as were too tired to manage anything else. It was Stephen's first visit to London and it is impossible to prepare anyone for the crowds, the complexity of the underground, the history, and wonderful shopping displays. You come away totally blown away everytime.