Bladon Chains – Finale

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This is our last visit to the Caravan and Motorhome club site at Bladon Chains – a short walk away from Blenheim Palace and the Oxfordshire town of Woodstock.

The site has been rented by the Club from Blenheim Estates and it seems Blenheim estates just can’t build houses fast enough on their vast “bank” of land assets. In this case it appears that they are going to build dozens of Log Cabins. It’s a shame because this site is always a sell-out and it’s the perfect location to explore the surrounding area and has regular bus and train routes into Oxford itself.

We have visited this area on a number of occasions and here is a link to a prior stay.

We arrived after a very short tow from Mollington near Banbury arriving around 12:30. The wardens here are helpful and polite and the site is well-kept despite the fact it will be handed back as early as September 2021.

The Kampa Leggera Awning was swiftly erected devoid of any “divorce” moments. In the evening, Bob and Mandy hosted a BBQ and we settled in to watch the England (2) v Demark (1) Euro 2020(1) tournament semi-final on Bob’s not so-wide-screen TV!

Thursday and made our first foray onto public transport and caught a train to Reading From Long Hanborough. Met some friends and spent the afternoon eating and drinking. The food at the London Street Brasserie was as good as ever.

The 3 wise monkeys at the London Street Brasserie, Reading

Friday we set out on what was described by Bob as a 7 mile hike. Some 5 hours later and we arrived at the Black Prince, having covered some 10 plus miles with another one or two until we arrived back at Bladon chains.

We entered Blenheim palace grounds “under” the car exit barrier. Apparently there are public footpaths through most of Blenheim, one just needs to avoid the area close to the building itself.

Blenheim in the distance

We saw lots of butterflies on our route through Blenheim and beyond and lots of froglets crossing the paths

Ringlet Butterfly
Froglet at Blenheim

From Blenheim grounds we exited towards and through the village of Combe and finally arrived at the Roman villa of North Leigh.

North Leigh Roman Villa
North Leigh Roman Villa
North Leigh Roman Villa

From the Roman villa we headed back towards the grounds of Blenheim palace, before dropping into Woodstock by the Black Prince public house.

Monument at Blenheim
Blenheim Palace in the distance

The plan was great, a decent 6 or 7 mile walk and lunch in town. In reality, the final tally of nearly 12 miles, limited water and no food en-route proved a challenge. Arriving at the Black Prince after the kitchen closed at 14:00 was just the icing on the cake!

Blenheim, the long way round

The landlady took pity on Moe and provided her with chocolate ice-cream and a wafer – on the house – a very nice touch. The guys enjoyed a couple of beers and a packet of crisps!

Evening we were entertained at Bob and Mandy’s, eating take-away pizza from a “home chef” in Combe. The pizzas were delicious.