Blenheim Palace

Our day in Oxford had a Sir Winston Churchill theme.  Our first stop of the day was to pay respects at Churchill's grave.  It's surprising how humble and unpretentious his final resting place is, if you ever want to visit his grave yourself, the sign pictured above is the only marker or sign directing visitors to the cemetery.

Then we drove to the gorgeous Blenheim Palace.  This estate is famous for many reasons, the most well known reason is it being the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.  However, while it's his birthplace, Churchill's immediate family never lived in the palace.  Churchill's mother was attending a party at Blenheim Palace when she went into labor, she was escorted to a guest room where she gave birth to her well known son.

As you can see, Blenheim is absolutely stunning, and lavishly decorated.

After a tour of a few of the interior rooms, it was time for lunch!  We enjoyed our lovely lunch over looking one section of the expansive gardens.

We had a little extra time to stroll through some of the themed gardens, here is the Italian Garden.

Next, we found the lush, Secret Garden.

We saved the best for last, the Rose Garden

Stratford-Upon-Avon

After our time in Wales, we made our way to Oxford.  On our way, we stopped at the charming and famous Stratford-Upon-Avon to tour Anne Hathaway's Cottage and William Shakespeare's birthplace.  First up was the Hathaway's Cottage, this is where the wife of Shakespeare grew up, and where she would have lived while she and William courted.

John and Mary Shakespeare were wealthy enough to own the largest house onHenley Street.  This was the house where William was born and lived until his mid-twenties, surrounded by the hustle and bustle of his family.

Outside the house, they had actors acting out scenes from some of Shakespeare's most famous works.  It is truly amazing everything this man was able to accomplish in his lifetime.

I was hoping to see more Dr. Who things around England, but I got pretty excited when I saw this store's window display.