Over the centuries Scots have moved away from their homeland in an effort to find employment of a better standard of living. Using the various censuses I have found some Scots who settle in Hook Norton. Their details can be found under the heading Articles – Hook Norton…..
My interest in family history also stretches to local history. As we live in an old house it seemed logical to try and find who some of the previous occupiers were. My searches have enabled me to write an article about this which is now online.
My latest article is about Edwin Rixon who lived in Hook Norton for a time before settling in Banbury. He was a well regarded citizen of the town in later years.
An article about a soldier with a connection to the village who is commemorated on the war memorial in St Peter’s Church. It can be found with my other recent ones under Articles – Recent in the menu.
One of my more recent articles can now be read online, just click on the link – Articles – Recent. He lived in the 18th century and had a connection to Hook Norton. A brief reference is made in the article about severe gales which hampered the voyage to the West Indies in 1795. A follow up article has been written – Disaster at Chesil Beach. This too can be found under Articles – Recent
Recently I spent three nights staying in an AirBnB in Lymington on a family short break. Needless to say we went for walks in the forest and also paid a visit to the beach at Milford on Sea. Here are some images from this trip. The weather was kind to us with a day of sunshine on the day we went to Milford on Sea.
Continuing my trips out for the day I visited the Midlands Air Museum at Coventry Airport. A good collection of aircraft that I recall from my early days of aircraft spotting and visiting air shows.
After a walk in the local area I stopped off at this airport for a spot of photography and lunch. The AV8 cafe is open to the public and it was very busy when I visited last week. It was still the school summer holidays and the weather was great…
Cotswold Airport at Kemble used to be the home of the RAF acrobatic display team The Red Arrows. However, now it is perhaps more well known as where obsolete aircraft are broken up for spares. During the Covid pandemic in 2020 BA decided to retire its fleet of Boeing 747s and many were sent here to be scrapped. One G-CVIB was spared and it now rests close to the restaurant/cafe as a nightclub and cafe. It means that visitors can get up close and personal with it.
The summer of 2025 has been long and dry with little rain during the past few months. Temperatures have been above average and according to the Met Office we have had a few “heatwaves” when the temperatures are above 25°C for at least 3 consecutive days. So far we have had four….
There are several bike routes I can ride on from the house but recently I have put the bike rack on the car and driven somewhere else to have a ride. For a while I wanted to ride around Oxford and I managed to do this on 19 August. My plan was to park in Woodstock, however, the car park was full so I drove on to Oxford Parkway Park and Ride and started from there. The map above shows my route which was 25 miles and took 2.5 hours of not travelling very fast and taking in some sights with a few photo stops as well as a lunch stop in Jericho.
As a photographer and keen walker I make the most of the good weather. Despite thunderstorms being forecast I travelled to Blenheim Palace in Woodstock on 31st July for a walk around the estate. There is restoration work being carried out on the roof with lots of scaffolding being erected to facilitate this. However, it provides an opportunity for visitors to gain access to the roof, all of 109 steps up to be eyeball to eyeball with some of the statues. I believe this is only until 2026 when the work should have been completed so if you are planning to visit Blenheim then you have a limited chance to follow in my footsteps.
