Countryfile Live at Blenheim Palace and weekend adventure!

 

We recently won a pair of tickets to CountryFile Live on twitter from Ordnance Survey, so we bought the kids tickets too and made it into a long weekend. To turn it into a bit of an adventure we spent the weekend staying near Oxford and then intended to find a mystery place on the way back to explore.

The weather decided to try to ruin our plans and we did spend the few days we were away dodging rain showers and thunder!

CountryFile Live was fun, lots of things to see, animals being on display from Adam’s Farm, horse races and things to buy. Ordnance Survey had their own dome talking to people about their maps and getting people outside – something which of course we love in our house! We spent the morning wandering along the stalls, the kids were invited by Oxford Police to make a fridge magnet with their fingerprints, and we had a long talk with some bee keepers who told us all about bee conservation. The site was huge and there was lots going on. We missed out on the seeing the CountryFile presenters in the arena but we did see Anita Rani doing some shopping!

There were experts doing talks and we sat in a tepee as we listened to a talk about spiders! The kids sat at the front and eagerly listened whilst I was safely at the back, away from the spider boxes. We did get soaked and there were a lot of rain showers, it was typical the heavens opened just as we bought a fabulous Indian wrap and bhaji’s from one of the vendors. It was a great day out and despite the weather the kids had enjoyed wandering around.

We spent the night in a hotel nearby planning on exploring Oxford the next day. The weather was even worse but we used the ‘Park and ride’ service on the outskirts of Oxford and went into the town. As soon as we got off the bus the sky darkened, I took one photo and then there was thunder and a biblical downpour! Luckily there was a church nearby and along with hundreds of sightseers we took shelter for a while. The rain eased enough for us to explore a bit and we found a covered market and then the Museum of natural history. Dinosaur hunting kept the kids entertained for a bit. We walked around the town but decided the weather was too bad for a punt along the river. It was such a shame as I would have liked to explore more but it was miserable getting wet and we headed back to the hotel for a swim in the pool.

The next day on our way home we stopped at Stratford-upon- Avon, parking again at a ‘Park and Ride’ to find it wasn’t running so we had to walk into town! It was less than 2 miles and luckily, we don’t mind a walk. There was an outdoor market and we had a lovely walk by the river, followed by scones with cream and jam in a local café. A nice end to our weekend adventure away.

For more of our adventures or to join in the chat why not pop over and say hi on my Facebook page!

13 comments Add yours
  1. This looks like the perfect weekend, I bet you all had a great time exploring the Countryfile live show. It’s a shame that the weather didn’t play ball for the rest of your weekend, but you still managed some exciting activities to keep the kids entertained. At least you managed a cheeky little escape for a weekend as a family.

    Thanks for sharing with me on #CountryKids.

    1. It was a lovely weekend, we can’t have a summer holiday because of Hubby’s work so it was nice to get away and fill a weekend with activities. Thanks for reading x

  2. We’d love to visit Blenheim Palace and it sounds like you had a fab time at CountryFile Live despite the heavy downpours, we must make a note to visit next year! Popping over from #CountryKids x

    1. It was a great day out. I really liked the area so would like to go back and visit more of the grounds and palace again.Thanks for popping by!

  3. Glad you guys had fun in spite the rain and thunder. We do watch Country File every now and then, it’s just so beautiful, the scenery I mean 🙂 #countrykids

  4. Oh no – what a shame you didn’t get to punt or park and ride! I think I would have ensured I was as far away from the spider boxes as possible too! #countrykids

  5. Oh dear the weather has been so unkind this year, what a same you had so much rain over that weekend. Lucky the hotel had a pool for some fun and that you got better weather on the way home. Mich x #Countrykids

    1. I know the summer holidays haven’t been very summery have they! We did get to have some fun though. Thanks for popping over!

  6. That’s a shame you didn’t get decent weather. We went to Countryfile live on the Sunday and it was really hot and sunny. We definitely had the best of it #countrykids

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