Harrogate to Oxford

Tuesday April 21st

• starting miles           49571
• temperature              7
• weather                     sunny
• time                           8.00

The Moaning cow provided excellent free parking for the night although the traffic noise continued well into the wee small hours.

 Next morning Brian  decided to try out the on board facilities. If you picture trying to shave and shower in half  a phone box then you just about have it. Pauline decided to give it a miss and just after 8 we set off for Harrogate for breakfast. 

We hadn’t appreciated just how big and bustling Harrogate would be. Breakfast was in M&S car park and we gave up on Harrogate and headed for Chatsworth via the leafier parts of Leeds and Sheffield. Pauline was not too happy to be introduced to the Sat nav app on Brian’s phone but it proved its worth more than once.

We crested a hill at about noon and laid out in front of us was the fabulous Chatsworth estate – all 150 hectares. Wow! 

The house itself is absolutely fabulous from a distance and even better when you get closer. After a lunch of bacon rolls for sustenance we accepted our £2 discount as senior citizens and set off on a tour of the inside of the house. 

Each room is more lavish than the one before. Ornate doesn’t begin to convey the splendour and richness of the building, decoration and furnishings. It seemed that every piece of stone was marble and intricately carved. Every piece of wood was exotic and intricately carved. Every surface that could be gilded was gilded. By the third or fourth room we were bamboozled by the splendour of it all and in awe of the incredible sums of money that had been lavished on the house and its contents since it was built in 1559.

The Dukes of Cavendish and Duchesses of Devonshire had each attempted to add something to what was already a fabulous building. Being filthy rich certainly helped but they seemed to have a genuine feeling for improvement of the estate.

The Emperor fountain in the grounds was built by the fourth duke after he had visited Czar Nicholas 4^th in Russia. On hearing of a possible reciprocal visit he had the existing fountain moved and made bigger so that it would be bigger than that of his visitor ( some 298ft ) It is certainly an impressive water feature which can be seen from miles around.

We took a guided tour of the gardens which were laid out by Capability Brown and extended by Joseph Paxton. What was once swampy ground is now full of delightful corners. Several glass houses and a copy of the Botanic garden at Edinburgh gives onto a maze of paths containing water features ponds, sensory garden, rock gardens, a maze, a serpentine hedge and acres and acres of grass meadow. 

The current duke and duchess, Peregrine and Amanda have added many  modern sculptures   as features throughout the estate. The have made it their lives’ work to enable the estate to recover from the crippling  80% death duties which were leveled on the death of the previous Duke  in 1955.

Altogether we had a wonderful visit. We would rate it as: very  highly recommended.

 All too soon it was time to head for Oxford. “We’ll just head down the M1 and across. How hard can it be. The site is just off the A34 ring road by the park and ride. I  remember it from my bike ride”

Unfortunately there are five park and ride sites on the outskirts of Oxford and we visited four of them before we finally  reached territory which was familiar to Brian. 

Before that he discovered that he can reverse 200m up a narrow one way street which was a dead end.

However we are now safely ensconced in the Oxford Camping and caravanning club site beside the Redbridge Park and Ride and looking forward to exploring Oxford tomorrow. The sun has shone all day let’s hope for the same again.

Miles travelled:                  226

Fuel:                                  68 litres                                £87.99

Site cost:                            £49.50 (2 nights)