Iffley

This morning, Colin and I walked the two miles along the River Thames tow path to Iffley. This village has one of the finest examples of Romanesque architecture in England. The parish church was built in 1170 and has wonderful beakhead carvings around some of the doors and windows. There are also dragons, mermen, and creatures eating their own tails. It's more like churches found in France and Italy than in England.

The rest of the village was interesting too, with a 17th century thatched cottage, a 15th century tithe barn, a late Elizabethan stone cottage, and a 16th -17th century long barn. All very pretty, but also a bit eerie - this is how picture postcard English villages are supposed to look.

We had lunch at the "Prince of Wales":

Cumberland sausage

mustard mashed potatoes

onion gravy

Henry's smooth bitter to wash it down

And then we walked back along the tow path to Oxford with views of water meadows full of sweet meadow and bucolic cows grazing.