Chipping Norton May 2025

From London I took the train to Chipping Norton in the Cotswolds, where I met up with 8 of my friends from the University of Birmingham. Some background is necessary here. The nine of us have been meeting for the weekend on the first Friday in May since 1981, so this was our 45th anniversary. I think I have made it to over 30 of these events and several of the group have made it to all of them. Until last year, we always met in the village of Abbots Bromley For 40 or so years, the village had enough good pubs, restaurants and places to stay that we stayed loyal to our tradition. Last year we realized that AB no longer met our needs and decided to move our annual retreat to Chipping Norton, which is a much larger and more vibrant town, with good hiking and other things to do on the Saturday.

Friday evening is always beers, then dinner, then more beers. Good times!

On the Saturday, our outing was to Blenheim Palace, which is was the family seat of the Dukes of Marlborough and notable as the birthplace and ancestral home of Winston Churchill. The grounds are fabulous and the interiors are vast and exquisite, despite being under massive renovations.

A vote of the group decided that we will be back next year!