Pre-Easter Break: Day 1 (Friday)

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Here we are staying at The Old Stable Lodge on the Coleshill Estate, Oxfordshire, courtesy of The National Trust. We arrived just after 11, quickly unpacked, had a quick look round the place and then headed out to Faringdon for lunch and a bit of exploration. We took a short walk around shops there and it was all a bit depressing! A typical town centre that’s lost its sparkle; hardly any shoppers anywhere, and where the biggest shop was Budgens! We stopped off at the Market Place Restaurant and had some snacks, (nice food!) then headed back to the car… and our next stop… Swindon!

Swindon was a lot busier, so we decided to head for the Shopping Discount Outlet on the site of the old train sheds. They’d done a good job in making best use of the space, and there were plenty of shops to look round.

Although we only bought a few bits, I guess we must have spent a good couple of hours there. All shopped-out, we decided to head back, but the journey to the cottage was a bit of a nightmare. First, I managed to dink an alloy on a kerb coming out the car-park, (bugger! bugger!) then we joined shed-loads of traffic heading out of the town – it must have taken twice a long to get home as it did to get there! Still, it’s been a good first day and we should have guessed the traffic might be heavy, being a Friday! 

Safely home, it was time for a cuppa and feet-up – and very little else for the rest of the evening! We’re thinking of turning ‘tourist’ and visiting Oxford tomorrow.