Our wanderings through the countryside took us from the Fens of Lincolnshire through Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, and Buckinghamshire on the way to Oxfordshire. If you think the only thing to see in Oxfordshire is Oxford, think again!
From our rental cottage in Great Milton, 10 miles south of Oxford, we were able to drive not only to that most venerable of college towns, but the Cotswolds, Stratford on Avon, and by the train to Bath. ALL of central England was within our reach.
This is a diverse area that includes the quiet of the rolling countryside and the speed of the motorway which can take you from Great Milton to Stratford in under an hour. For a more leisurely pace, you can drive along the A-roads through villages and towns. A farm market can be found every day of the week, it's just a matter of finding out which day for which town. We enjoyed a morning in Thame, which I will discuss later and still had time for sightseeing in the afternoon.
A multitude of ways are available to entertain yourself in the Heart of England. The area has a rich heritage and many lovely "great houses" dot the countryside. Waddesdon Manor, Blenheim, and Woburn are an easy drive from Great Milton. Many lovely homes of a smaller scale give another glimpse into the English Life of Privilege. This is an area steeped in history and I hope to be able to share a bit of what we found. Again, you really need a car to get to most of the places we visited.
Minster Lovell and Rollright Stones, in particular, are deep in the countryside, quite a way off the beaten track. That is not to say that you can't visit this area if you don't drive. Nothing could be farther from the truth. You can take the train from London to one of the cities and from there take the bus even into the villages. A local driver is also a possibility, check with the local tourism office or research online ahead of time.
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