Easy hikes and walks around Wootton

Great ride can be quite busy at week ends

In addition to a tour of the baroque-style castle, there is also an interesting and recommendable exhibition about the British politician Winston Churchill.

This church, which is dedicated to the Holy Cross (Latin "Santa Croce"), takes its patronage from the cross on which Jesus Christ died. The veneration of the Holy Cross goes back in large part to Saint Helena, who was the mother of Emperor Constantine the Great (who recognized Christianity as a religion after his victory at the "Milvian Bridge" in front of Rome and ended the long period of persecution with the "Edict of Toleration" of Milan in 312). In the early fourth century, she made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land (Israel / Palestine) and brought numerous relics back to Europe, including the "True Cross" on which Jesus Christ was crucified. Helena is therefore often depicted with a cross as an attribute. The church celebrates the feast of the discovery, public presentation and veneration of the Holy Cross - called the "Exaltation of the Cross" - on September 14th.

The tree is featured in the order of the Phoenix where Harries father bullies Snape.

Car park opposite Judd’s garage. Wonderful walk must be undertaken

Great tea and cake stop

Church. Medieval; rebuilt and west tower added in 1831 by William Turner; minor restoration by J. Buckeridge, 1869. Squared and coursed limestone with ashlar dressings; stone-coped gabled stone slate roof. Nave, chancel and west tower. Gothic Revival style. One-bay chancel has offset corner buttresses, 3-light Decorated-style east window and 2-light side windows. Two-bay south side of nave has hood mould over chamfered pointed-arched blocked doorway, and label moulds over 2-light ogee-headed cinquefoiled windows; to north side are similar windows flanking early C14 reset Decorated porch, which has hood mould with rosettes and unusually primitive head corbels over hollow-chamfered pointed-arched doorway with rosettes; Cl9 pointed-arched inner doorway. Three-stage west tower has hood moulds over cinquefoiled windows and battlemented parapet with corner gargoyles. Interior: arch-braced roof throughout, with moulded beams, wind braces and king posts, set on plain corbels adorned with arms of past vicars and lords of the manor. Chancel has mid C19 Minton tile floor, and early C14 reset cinquefoiled tomb recess. Double-chamfered chancel arch has traceried Decorated-style panels flanking brattished Perpendicular-style traceried wood screen made in 1896. Nave has wood traceried pulpit set on stone base, C18 parish chest, C11 tub font reset on late C19 piers and C19 west door. Late C19 stained glass throughout. Memorials: in chancel are wall tablets to John Rathbone, d.1613, set in coloured moulded architrave, Stephen Pomfrett, d.1713, with carved stall and hourglass set above roundel , and Gothic-style memorial to William Turner. Also in chancel is medieval child's coffin. Ledger stone in nave to Edward Egleton, d,1722. Pictures of church before restoration show that chancel had north chapel (whence tomb recess was moved) and that present C14 porch lay to south. William Turner was an Oxford watercolourist and his uncle William Turner of The Manor (q.v.) provided the money for restoration. (Buildings of England: Oxfordshire: pp757-8; Information from VCH National Monuments Record; Bodleian Library, Topographical Drawings)

Winston Churchill's father called the view of Blenheim Palace, its lake and the Grand Bridge the finest in England. It certainly all looks grand from the edge of this beautiful, man-made lake. When Blenheim Palace was first built, the lake was not much more than a marshy stream. It was 'Capability' Brown who imagined a grand lake as part of his great vision for Blenheim Park. In 1764, he dammed the River Glyme, creating the lake and its series of beautiful cascades. Today, Blenheim Park is a Site of Special Scientific Interest due, in part, to the lake's importance for breeding and wintering birds.