T.S. Eliot called April the “cruelest month” because it toyed with people’s perceptions of a season commonly associated with rebirth.
“Lilacs out of dead land,” he wrote in The Wasteland, “mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.”
Traveling to Woodstock, England, in the heart of the picturesque Cotswolds, you get an idea of what Eliot meant by those words. This is a place that defies most expectations.
During this month in England, winter and spring seem to coexist. Temperatures fluctuate regularly between freezing and moderate. Rain turns into snow and then back into rain with little notice. Skies are cloudy in mornings, sun-filled in the afternoon and ominous at night. And amidst this climate-based confusion, the area’s daffodils are in full-bloom. The sleepy streets of this tiny town seem lined with them, their bright yellows brightening the dingy earth around them like small patches of sunshine.
Call it poetic justice, if you will.
Cozy, historic town
Woodstock , founded in the thirteenth century, is one of those cozy little English towns you see in postcards. Sitting just about 10 miles from nearby Oxford, it’s a small place, with a population of about 3,000, most of which are well-to-do Londoners who spend their weekends and vacations here. (As with many resort towns, the folk who run or work the town’s many inns, shops and restaurants live either in Oxford or in the more modestly priced villages nearby.)
The town itself consists essentially of only three major streets, neither of them long enough to require the need of a car. High Street houses the area’s grocery, pharmacy and butcher, along with some restaurants. Market Street plays home to a majority of the town’s hotels and shops, as well as its lone church (which dates back to the 1400s). Harrison’s Lane is the residential part of town and where you’ll find a majority of those aforementioned vacation homes.
Chaucer, the legendary author of the Cantebury Tales, lived here for a spell in the 1300s, and the town has a short side street named after him, Chaucers Lane (just off of Market Street), on which you can pass the home where he once dwelled. The town’s lone museum, the humble Oxfordshire Museum, offers more information on Chaucer and the area, as well as an overview of the multi-century history of the region, for those who are interested.
As with most townships in the Cotswolds, lush, rolling hills and quaint English cottages, many dating back to the 1400s, greet you from every angle. Woodstock is no different. A short stroll through one of the many back-alley staircases found here will often lead you into hidden gardens, sprawling pastures or lazily flowing creeks. This is about as far-removed as you can get from the hustle and bustle of London. And judging by the number of Londoners encountered on my visit, that seems to be the point.
Noble residence
Nearby Blenheim (pronounced “bleh-nem”) Palace is the county’s main draw (www.blenheimpalace.com). Home to the Duke of Marlborough, as well as the famous Spencer-Churchill family, whose decedents include Winston Churchill and Princess Diana, it’s a majestic estate boasting gardens nearly as extravagant and vast as those found in Versailles and a sprawling central building that rivals that French palace in terms of opulence.
That, ironically enough, is no coincidence. According to my guide, the palace itself was designed in the 1700s to be a rival of Versailles, and after the French Revolution in 1793, when that French palace was ransacked by revolutionaries and its contents put to auction, the Duke of Marlborough himself actually purchased a number of artifacts from Versailles for use in his home.
Blenheim Palace is also the birthplace of Winston Churchill, the legendary Prime Minister who led England against the Germans in World War II. A quarter of the house devotes itself to his memory, and within its walls you’ll find a large exhibit cataloguing his military, diplomatic and artistic efforts (few know he painted Christmas cards for Hallmark in the 1950s). The exhibit ends with a tour of the room where he was born; it comes filled with all its original turn-of-the-twentieth-century furniture.
Churchill’s legacy doesn’t end at the palace, though. A twenty-minute stroll through the palace’s vast gardens and estate (which boast everything from Baroque-inspired plazas to hedge mazes to sheep-filled pastures) takes you to the town of Bladon, where in its center you will find the former Prime Minister’s grave. It sits surprisingly unadorned inside the town humble church’s graveyard, alongside several other members of his family.
High-end dining
Considering its size, and England’s lowly reputation among world cuisine, it’s surprising to find dining in Woodstock to be high in quality and ambition. While there are pubs and fish and chip shops to be found, to be sure, many of the inns and restaurants here take pride in serving locally grown and caught ingredients. Game figures prominently on many menus, as does locally caught crawfish -- which look and taste more like langoustines than the variety more commonly associated with Cajun cuisine.
For a taste of the region’s offerings, visit the Kings Arms Restaurant for dinner, where you can dine on succulent dishes like a chestnut mushroom, sherry herb tartlet or Gloucester Old Spot pork fillet filled with Oxford blue cheese and sage. Just up the road, at the nearby ivy-covered Macdonald Bear, the town’s most upscale hotel, you can sink your teeth into dishes like pan-fried breast of Gressingham duck or roasted wild brill with caramelized chicory. It’s a gourmand’s delight, really, and a pleasant surprise to anyone thinking a sleepy little English town like this will offer anything but bangers and mash or shepherd’s pie.
Where to stay:
- Kings Arms Hotel and Restaurant
www.kings-hotel-woodstock.co.uk - Macdonald Bear Hotel and Resort
http://www.macdonaldhotels.co.uk/bear/ - The Feathers Hotel
http://www.feathers.co.uk/
Where to eat:
- Hamper’s Food and Wine (bakery, café, cheese shop and charcuterie)
http://www.hampersfoodandwine.co.uk/ - Brotherton’s Brasserie (Mediterranean and Neapolitan cuisine)
http://www.brothertonsbrasserie.com - Vicker’s Hotel and Restaurant (modern and traditional English cuisine)
http://www.vickershotel.co.uk
For more information: