“There behind me, far away, never more beautiful since, was the fabled cluster of spires and towers.”
From Surprised by Joy – C S Lewis.
On Saturday we spent the day in Oxford with my blogging friend, Sallyann from Photographic Memories. Sallyann lives in Oxford so we were lucky in having our own private tour guide.
I have been to Oxford several times before but have never seen many of the places Sallyann showed us. Sallyann is the intrepid photographer but for this day, I took the shots.We went on a bus from London – 3.5 hours ride from London to Oxford. Sallyann met us at the bus terminal and we decided to start our afternoon with lunch. Had we ever been to the pie shop? No so let’s all go there. The Pieminster is one of a chain of pie shops and this one is set in the Covered Market in Oxford.
Sallyann hadn’t been there either; her daughters had suggested that she take us there. Sallyann and my sister each had Kate and Sydney (steak and kidney) and I had Chicken of Arragon pie (chicken, smoked bacon and tarragon) all served with mashed potatoes and gravy. We all declared them very good and ate up every last bit. This was different to the pie shops that abounded when I grew up in the east end of London. These pies there were beef, served with mashed potatoes and liquor – a gravy made primarily of parsley and a taste unlike any other I have ever had. But back to Saturday and our pies and the rest of the afternoon.We started in the castle precinct. Oxford Castle is a large, partly ruined Norman medieval castle. We didn’t go inside but we went to the prison (part of the castle precinct) that has now been turned into a high class hotel. – Malmaison, Oxford Castle. We are told that the rooms are made from joining two cells. Unfortunately we were too late in the day to see the rooms opened as they were being cleaned.We wandered around with our own personal tour guide, down alleys and little streets that one would hardly think could have traffic going in both directions – many looked too narrow for cars to pass each other.
Hidden-away squares adorned with Victorian style lampposts made us feel as though we’d stumbled out of the wardrobe and into Narnia. We saw the Brasenose College Door said to be the inspiration for C S Lewis’ “The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe” with the close by, Radcliffe Camera. C.S. Lewis, creator of the Narnia stories, created them right here in Oxford when he was a professor at Magdalen College.
We were taken to a 13th century pub – no we didn’t go in. It was full of students and visitors on a busy Saturday afternoon. But without our guide we would never have stumbled upon this gem.
We all agreed it was a great afternoon. It ended with coffee, laughter and promises to keep in touch.
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..Related articles
- Oxford’s doors open to the public for second day (oxfordmail.co.uk)
- Oxford the birthplace of Narnia and Lord of the Rings (joeandmarymoore.wordpress.com)
Brilliant pictures. Great memories of a memorable afternoon. xxx Huge Hugs xxx
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Thank you. Yes it was a great afternoon. Hope you are doing well. 🙂
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I loved every minute with you and Sallyann although like you I had been to Oxford many times Sallyann showed us places we as tourist would never have found. A lovely day spent with lovely people and lots of laughter, Thanks XX
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Yes it was a great afternoon. Thanks for being part of it. 🙂
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A perfect afternoon with two wonderful real-life friends.
Thanks both for making it a great day. 😀
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Thank you. It was a lot of fun.
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Sounds FUN, Judith. Although I prefer fruit pies to meat pies these days. 😛
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Hello Nancy. But as a treat these were really good pies.
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I used to enjoy Moravian Chicken Pies and my grandfather’s favorite . . . steak and kidney pie.
I’m glad you’re enjoying your adventures.
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Oh, Judith, this looks like so much fun! I love CS Lewis. It’s been around 25 years since I’ve been to Oxford! Enjoy, my friend!
Hugs from Ecuador,
Kathy
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Thanks Kathy and particularly special because I met a blogging friend in real life. 🙂
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what a special day, a friend met IRL, a touch of Mr Lewis, some great pie and mashed potatoes. Life is good!
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Thanks Joss and Sallyann is the first of my blogging friends I have met. We had a great time. 🙂
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Wonderful pictures, Judith! It looks like you and Sallyann had a great time. 🙂
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Yes Robin it was great to eventually meet up with a blogging buddy after all this time.
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Sounds like a lovely afternoon. Thanks for sharing your day.
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It really was a lovely afternoon. Thanks for commenting. 🙂
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What a delightful way to spend an afternoon. Thanks for sharing.
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Yes it was very special Darlene. And I have another friend in real life. 🙂
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It sounds like a lovely day. It’s always a delight to meet blogging friends.
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This is the first blogging friend I have met and it was a delight. 🙂
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Oh, good! I hope you get to meet more.
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I’m glad you were able to meet up with a blogging friend. Sound like you had a wonderful visit!
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Yes it was fun and over far too soon. 🙂
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What a fabulous adventure! Thanks for sharing your experiences. And how great to meet a blogging friend. I’ve met one and would LOVE to meet all of you some day.
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OK Peg when can we meet IRL? 🙂
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I’ll come to you in Oxford!
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Never been to the UK but grew up on Long Island, New York State, USA and my father served us Steak and Kidney pie, which all five kids of us gagged on but ate. When you mentioned pie shop I was thinking bakery and apple pie…just saying
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Yes Claudia it probably is an acquired taste/ Thanks for following. Going over to your blog to see what you are up to. 🙂
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Thanks for taking a peek
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What a charming day you had, Judith. Love the descriptions, especially enjoyed hearing about the pies. Hope they tasted as good as the memories you have of them. 😉
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Thanks Monica. We all had a great day.
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