Three Villages

Earlier this week my son had a free day so we grabbed the chance for a country walk. He's a supply teacher so doesn't know if he's working on any day until the last moment. Luckily, it was a fine day (apart from one rather vicious shower which coincided with a struggle up a windswept slope) and not too muddy, given that we live in an area of heavy clay which can weigh you down pretty quickly.

We walked out of the top of Banbury towards Drayton village and then turned off to head across the fields towards this ...

Yes, it's an obelisk in the middle of a muddy field. The Wroxton Obelisk was built in the middle of the 18th Century to commemorate the Prince of Wales' visit to the area, apparently he went to the races in Banbury. They felt the obvious way to celebrate this was to put up a big bit of stone, complete with latin inscription, which we struggled to translate in the rain. The obelisk was originally part of the landscaped grounds of the Wroxton Estate, as was this Folly which dates from about the same time.

The architect was one Sanderson Miller and we came across one more of his wonderful creations when we got to Wroxton.

It looks like a mini castle on a hill but is actually a Dovecote. This is what's known as an 'eyecatcher' basically something to look pretty as you look across your extensive estate.

Wroxton House is a Jacobean country house, built on the site of an old abbey and is now a College for students from Fairleigh Dickinson University in the United States.

This is actually the back of the building; the public can explore the grounds as long as they don't picnic or bring a dog so we did. There were masses of daffodils up but not out yet on the banks, it will be a mass of yellow soon. You can walk through the trees and admire this beautiful lake; it's a very peaceful place.

The village of Wroxton is a typical small English village, complete with duck poind.

I do like it when the ducks have their own thatched cottage. It was re-thatched a couple of years ago which must have been a tricky undertaking. You could just see some eggs inside the doorway. It doesn't show up very well in the photo but the pond has a lovely new iron railing too; I'm partial to a nice bit of cast iron.

We had planned to stop for a pub lunch at Wroxton but its two pubs are both closed down so we carried on across country towards North Newington. On the way we stopped to admire some of the first of this season's lambs.

Note the lamb using a sheep as a step

I was trying to master my new compass on this walk but the path between Wroxton and North Newington was pretty straightforward ...

The ways between two villages are often very old, following the easiest and straightest route, trodden by people for many years.

North Newington's pub has the enticing name of 'The Blinkin' Owl' but, guess what, that was closed too. So, on we went, this time heading for Broughton village.

The footpath comes into the village through the grounds of Broughton Castle which is a moated manor house mostly dating from the sixteenth century. It's the home of Lord and Lady Saye and Sele whose family name is Fiennes. This name is thought by some to be the origin of the 'Fine Lady' who famously rode her horse to Banbury Cross. 

The castle is open to the public on Wednesday and Sunday afternoons in the summer and is well worth a visit. It's been used as a location for various films, including the BBC's 'Wolf Hall' and 'Shakespeare in Love' so some parts might seem rather familiar.

There is a pub in Broughton village but it was of course closed. To be fair, it was three o' clock by now and they had been open at lunchtime. So we plodded on, heading back to Banbury via the Salt Way, one of our oldest paths.

We finally found an open pub in the shape of  The Easington where we enjoyed a pint of cider and a delicious vegetarian toad-in-the-hole. They have an actual vegetarian and vegan menu with real choices which was very exciting. I do get tired of having to seek out the vegetarian options on menus which often turn out to be few and far between and dull. It was really nice to be able to choose between several interesting options.

It was a good start to my walking week - just over ten miles. Since getting a cheap pedometer at the start of last year, I've been keeping track of how far I walk in an attempt to do more. Last year I walked over 600 miles so I'm hoping to do more than that in 2019. There's been too much work and not enough getting out so far this year so more days like this are called for.