On Sunday we drove from Bradford-on-Avon to Cardiff to meet our friends, Alyson and Jen, and their Mum, who we hadn’t met before. Alyson lived in NZ for a few years and we travelled with her and Jen in the Azores a few years ago. Alyson is currently living in Cardiff so it was great to catch up with her.

We continued our journey north towards Burford, in the Cotswolds, stopping on the way in the city of Gloucester. We only spent an hour or so there looking at the Cathedral. Wow! It is spectacular. Apparently some scenes from the Harry Potter movies were filmed there (having never seen the movies I can’t tell which areas might have been used for the movie)

However, one of the main reasons we wanted to stop in Gloucester was because Brent’s maternal grandfather is from Gloucester. It was nice to take a quick drive around the area and see where his ancestors are from.

Today we visited Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill (the title of this post is a quote of his). He spent a lot of his childhood here and many family holidays. It is also where he proposed to his wife, hence his quote “My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me”

Blenheim Palace, built between 1705 and 1722, is home to the current Duke of Marlborough. The place is huge and we got to view just a few of the rooms. The formal gardens are beautifully laid out and resemble French gardens and also have an Italian influence. Probably the most spectacular though is the park like grounds with lakes and a waterfall. We once again had to negotiate the rain. Our 3 pound umbrellas have been a great investment.