HEREFORD AND OXFORD

15 June 2023, Collumpton, Devon, England
We were surprised that most of the roads between the
Wales border and our first stop in Hereford were barely two
lanes wide. (We’re very glad we’ve had so much practice on
these!) We’ve since discovered that going through most little villages
everywhere we’ve been, the roads are often very narrow
with cars parked half on the curb and half in the road, which
is fine unless there’s a car, truck, tractor (!) or bus coming the other
way. Fortunately, most drivers everywhere are very courteous and
stop or pull over if passing is a bit tight. In fact, on this entire trip
we’ve not seen any reckless drivers or car accidents. Yay!

Hereford is a much bigger city than expected, especially
since it was described in our travel book as “this pretty
market town.” The roads seemed quite complicated to us,
but our GPS helped us twist and turn as we made our way
around. Hereford is dominated by the beautiful Hereford
Cathedral at its center. We had a bite to eat in its café and
then spent over an hour in awe of its massive pillars and
semi-circular arches towering high above, its stunning
stained glass windows and a variety of interesting tombs
inside. We also loved all the nooks and crannies and little chapels.
This “great medieval monument” seems unusually
sturdy. In 1056 Welsh invaders razed the Saxon church that
stood there and a couple of centuries later the Normans
replaced it with an attack-proof version.

The main reason we chose to stay in Hereford for two nights
is because my maiden name is Hereford (pronounced Hare-
a-ferd) and my parents were in touch with a distant cousin
who lived at “Old Sufton” in the suburb of Mordiford. I wrote
ahead to introduce myself (enclosing a 1988 Christmas card my
parents had received from Major Robert Hereford—Bobby–
and his wife). I never got a response but we chose to drive
out to Mordiford to see if we could find the house and
hopefully the next generation of distant cousins. We found
the old house (that has been in the family since Norman
times!) and a very friendly maintenance man there. He sent
us to an even larger house nearby (“Sufton Court”) where
Major James Hereford (age 88, son of Bobby) now resides.
We were told to go to the back door. Unfortunately, no one
answered, which was disappointing, but I left a verbal
message on the “Ring” security network. In viewing both “big
houses on the hill” (below), I tried to imagine all the generations of
Herefords who had lived there for centuries and blessed
them all. I also discovered an article about a large group of
Herefords in the USA who hold reunions in both the States
and in Mordiford and that also claims that anyone with the
last name Hereford is related. I hope to find the USA
Herefords when we return. We also enjoyed a nice lunch at
the nearby Moon Inn and also snooped around the ancient
Mordiford Church where services were held for “Our beloved
Bobby” in 2001. (Side note: Hereford cattle originated in Hereford!)

On our way to Oxford (having picked up a brochure at the Cathedral), we stopped just north of Gloucester to enjoy the amazing Nature in Art Museum & Art Gallery where all of the art was inspired by nature. Most of this extraordinary collection was housed in a beautifully restored Georgian mansion and the informal gardens were filled with some very
creative, often whimsical sculptures. We had such a good time and had a delicious bowl of soup in the café.

Our hotel was about 10 miles south of Oxford’s city center.
That was a surprise, but it turned out to be much quieter.
To get to the HopOn/HopOff bus downtown, we first drove
for 25 minutes to a Park & Ride then rode a bus for another
25 minutes to get to the big red tour bus. This gave us an
opportunity to see many of the 44 small colleges that make
up Oxford University—the oldest university in the English-
speaking world (nine centuries of continuous existence) and
a world-leading center of learning, teaching and research. It
is quite the thriving metropolis. We rode on the bus with a
philosophy professor who teaches graduate students at
Christ Church College (founded in 1546) who pointed out
that we could identify everyone taking finals that week
because they were in their “full academic dress” of black and
white. It was very warm that day, so we doubt they were very
comfortable, but probably highly proud to be part of this
centuries-old tradition.

Oxford is a much larger city than we expected with lots of
beautiful old buildings combined with some that are more
modern additions to the University. We could probably have
spent several days here, seeing the insides of some of the
beautiful museums, libraries and chapels. The one place we
did stop was Britain’s first public museum, the Ashmolean
Museum of Art & Archaeology (founded in 1683) where we
had lunch on its rooftop then spent several hours in awe of
many of its exhibits and treasures including the Alfred Jewel
AD871-899 (below). The world-famous collections of the
Ashmolean (named after someone name Ashmole who
donated many artifacts) range from Egyptian mummies to
contemporary art, telling human stories across cultures and
across time. We’ve never seen such a large collection of such things as
fine porcelain, silver, coins, medallions and pocket watches, and
we especially enjoyed the Impressionists’ exhibit.

Unfortunately, Gary’s rooftop lunch did not agree with him at
all and he spent most of that night dealing with awful food
poisoning. Not fun! We asked for a late checkout and the
hotel (Courtyard by Marriott) couldn’t have been nicer. And
bless Gary…he was quite the trooper. We were due in
Devon in South West England that afternoon to stay with
dear friends for 10 days, and he was determined to drive.
We broke the 2.5-hour trip in half, stopping in the beautiful
city of Bristol on the way. Gary was able to take a “power
nap” for about a half hour and then we finally made it to
Devon (town of Collumpton) around 4pm. Thankfully, this
whole day of driving was on the “Motorway”—a beautiful
divided highway (“dual carriageway”)—that made the drive
much easier. No narrow roads all day long! Occasionally
there were chevron markings on the road accompanied by a
reminder sign to “Check Your Distance” and stay two
chevrons apart. Most drivers seemed to ignore them, but we
thought that was a good idea. We also loved some of the
tudor homes we saw along the way.

And boy, were we glad to find such a warm welcome and
cozy, inviting home to collapse and relax in for a few days
before playing tourist again. (We also added another 644
miles on our second rental car, so we’re up to 5857 miles!)
Gary then slept about 15 hours practically non-stop and
we’re happy to report that within 24 hours he was feeling
100% better! Yay!

We’re very excited to be (a) taking a break from driving, (b)
spending time and catching up with these dear friends, and
(c) visiting places like Glastonbury, Cornwall and Land’s End
with these wonderful people. So that’s what you’ll get to hear
about next.
Meanwhile, we hope the summer months ahead bring you
much joy and fun. Thanks again for being with us!