Wednesday 24th July
We arrived into Oxford a little after 8pm and were met at the bus stop by our lovely host, an Oxford professor, for our next house sit.
We arrived at the house, in a quiet little suburb of Oxford to the most amazing Georgian style house and the most beautiful little dog, Connie, the chocolate cocker spaniel.
The house is amazing, it's a three story Georgian house with the typical staircase in the middle and rooms on either side. The first floor is the kitchen, laundry and yard on the left, and living room and bathroom on the right. The next floor is a couple of bedrooms and a huge study, and then the top floor was the bedroom where we were staying and a big bathroom on the right and then a couple of other bedrooms on the left.
While our host started preparing dinner, the daughter took us out with Connie to show us the walking route. Connie is so funny and adorable! The route takes us along the street where she is on a short lead, to a sports field, where we swap her onto a long lead, and then across the sports field and to open paddocks/ fields with super tall grass. Well, she is just a joy! She got so excited and started bounding through the fields, we'd just see her jump up every other stride as she jumps just above the grass!
After a gorgeous walk we headed back for dinner! We had a lovely evening with our hosts chatting and getting to know each other.
Thursday 25th July
Our hosts left after breakfast this morning, at which point we took Connie for her morning walk.
There is currently a heat wave in the UK and it was already ridiculously hot today at 39 degrees!
Connie is such a beautiful girl, she is so calm natured, but gets excited when she sees you and does the cutest little wiggle butt when she wags her tail.
The story we'd been told about her was that she was a rescue dog, she had previously been kept in a cage for breeding and until they got her a few months ago she had never been outside. So she is so calm and chill, and then when she goes outside she turns into an excitable puppy seeing the world for the first time. It's so beautiful. She is amazingly well behaved, but pulls on the lead when we go for a walk and doesn't have great recall yet, just because she's so excited. We have a short lead for her for walking from the house, along the street and to the sports field, where she knows to sit and wait while we change the lead over to the 20m long one so she can run free without having to worry about her not coming back while she's being trained. Then we just pull the lead in to cross from the sports field to the open fields/paddocks, and then let it go again and she can run till her little heart is content.
She is so sweet, when we got to the field she started bounding through them, running away and then looping back to us, just jumping up and down, like a dolphin swimming through water. She was so happy!
We didn't realise through all the thick grass how close the river Thames was and all of a sudden the lead goes a little slack and we run over to where it leads and there she is having a little paddle! I don't blame her, even I was tempted to jump in!
Once she'd gotten out of the water (with some help!) we bounded back through the fields towards home.
As soon as we were through the door, she ran into the kitchen and threw herself into her water water bowl! She was trying to lie down in it! What a funny girl!
After we'd all cooled down from our morning adventure, we headed out to the grocery store, mainly just to be in aircon for a little bit!!
We made the hot walk home and spent the rest of the afternoon chilling in the living room which was the coolest room in the house and taking turns playing the piano.
Once the sun had started to set and the heat becoming more bearable along with it, we took Conni out for her evening walk, without a little dip in the Thames!
Friday 26th July
We walked downstairs this morning and were greeted by a very excited girl and her wiggly butt! She is so cute!!!
After some brekkie for all of us we headed out for our morning walk.
It was a little cooler than yesterday, but still rather hot and we got too close to the river again and Connie was a lucky girl and got to go for dip! She managed to get her lead tangled on a branch in the water, so very carefully and trying not to end up in the river myself we managed to get her untangled and she enjoyed a little swim before bounding back through the fields.
We decided once we were back that after two days of swimming in the river it was time for a bath for our Connie girl!
With one very clean, tired puppy and two relaxed humans, we all spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out and napping!
Once it had cooled off we went out for another beautiful walk and then made ourselves some fajitas for dinner!
Saturday 27th July
We woke up to a cold rainy day! I guess the heat wave was over!
We kept the walk a bit shorter today and just went to the sports field, Conni wasn't too keen on everything being wet and didn't want to sit for us to change her lead over! I wouldn't want to sit on the wet ground either! We did a few laps and let her run free on the big lead, zig zagging all around, until the rain started to get a bit heavier at which point we headed back to the dry house!
Later on when the rain had eased, we headed out to get some groceries and played the Harry Potter game along the way, there's so much new stuff here compared to Nottingham!
We spent the rest of the day curled up on the sofa with blankets, tea, cookies and a pup by our feet. What a perfect afternoon, Sam even fiddled around on the piano!
We were in the kitchen and Conni was running around in the garden and then we realised that we couldn't see her anymore. So we went out and called for her and heard some scurrying around the back behind the shed and then she comes running out really happy with herself carrying a plastic pot!!
She's so funny.
We enjoyed the rest of the evening curled up giving Conni plenty of cuddles.
Sunday 28th July
We started off our day with our walk with Conni and then decided to go into Oxford itself and have a look around!
We worked out the bus system last night and they had a deal on a card that allowed for 10 trips which would work out so much cheaper and about what we needed to go in and out each day!
We had the front seats up the top of the bus and driving into Oxford was insane!! It was so beautiful and just breathtaking! It was like driving into another world, all the beautiful grand old buildings! I think we both fell in love with the city instantly! It was like being in Harry Potter.
We jumped off the bus in the main street outside an old building that had been turned into a Harry Potter shop!
We meandered down the street taking in all the grand architecture and the civilised liveliness of the city.
We found our way to the Christchurch Meadow which was absolutely beautiful!
We walked around Christchurch Meadow and Merton College and Cathedral just taking it all in, in absolute wonder and awe! How amazing it would be to go to Uni here! We were honestly speechless!
When we eventually returned from the incredible Oxford City we took Conni out for her evening walk. We headed out to the fields again for her to bound through on her long lead. We were following the route we were shown and walking along the little worn path along the edge of the paddock that is bordered by huge bushes/ trees and Conni was bounding back and forth through the paddock. She then bounds into the bushes and no big deal we just expect her to bound back out, but I feel the lead get really tight and it won't budge, oh no, she must have got herself tangled in the bushes! We get closer and duck down to peek through an opening and see that sure enough she's got herself tangled around a branch, just as Sam starts to make his way to her to try and untangle her, she squirms herself out of her harness and just takes off, happy that she's free! Oh no no no no!! She's free and running and we can't see her and we know she doesn't have good recall! Oh no! We start frantically calling for her as we hear the rustling in the bushes from her getting further away.
Shear fear and dread is running through me. We're running along the bush line calling and calling and can't see or hear her, we have no idea what's on the other side of the bushes or where it leads to. Eventually she comes racing out of the bushes happy as Larry and runs close to us and then away again, just happily enjoying herself. She runs past me again alongside the bushes and I try my best to catch her but she just wiggles out of my grip, and I learn quickly that the bushes are a stinging nettle because boy does my arm sting where it scrapped it. Sam's not far behind and manages to gab her, although he too is attacked by the thistles in the process. THANK GOODNESS!!! We've got her!! And she's happy about it, she wasn't trying to get away, she just got herself out of her harness and was enjoying running around! What a good girl for eventually coming back!
Right, so now our situation is we've got a dog in our arms without a lead or harness, and said lead and harness are tangled in a thistle/ stinging nettle bush. How are we going to get her home?? She was too heavy for one of us to carry the entire way back and her lead was too tangled and we couldn't go in without getting destroyed by the thistles. We decided we'd carry her home and then come back for the lead. Although, we just found it too embarrassing to go back the way we'd come a few minutes ago with a lead and now we're carrying her, so we found an alternate route home and took turns carrying her!
We got her home safely, thank goodness! I don't think I've ever been that scared! After getting her safely settled back in the house, we geared up in all long clothes, found our gloves and headed out to retrieve the lead! Sam, the hero, braves crawling into the bushes and manages to untangle the lead! Lead acquired and stinging from thistles we head home relieved and everyone had a shower (well a bath for Conni).
What a day! The evening is spent having very relieved cuddles and popping in a Tesco order!
Monday 29th July
Our Tesco order arrived nice and early this morning which I still find very exciting every time! The only thing that was missing from our order that they didn't have stock of was our salsa that we needed for dinner tonight! So while I headed out with Conni for her walk, Sam ran off to our local shop to grab some salsa and then met us in the field, which by the way, we made sure to steer very clear of the bushes! We were not having a repeat of that again!!
Once Conni was taken care of for the morning we went for a lovely walk to explore Iffley Lock! It was so quaint!
Later on in the day when we were back at the house we found that Conni had destroyed her favourite elephant toy that she also sleeps with, she'd pulled all the stuffing out! We picked up all the stuffing and left the actual elephant for her but decided to go out and buy her a new toy to sleep with.
We headed out to the pet shop we'd seen next to the grocery store and bought her this little monkey toy to replace her elephant.
She absolutely loved it!! (I don't know who got more out of it, her receiving it, or me giving it to her!) It was so cute, she loved her monkey and took it straight to bed with her and the proceeded to carry it around!
Later on we realised that we hadn't seen her elephant toy in a while and I'd seen her take it outside earlier in the day. Sam then remembered that our host had said she often leaves toys outside in the garden. So Sam went out to find it and found that she had buried it in the garden! She killed it and then buried it! What!?
Sam pulled it out and whacked it around to get the dirt off it and then she was then interested in it again!
We headed for an evening walk in the beautiful golden glow of the sun before it set.
We then returned home and made ourselves nachos for dinner for the first time this year!
Tuesday 30th July
The weather had really turned and it was freezing and raining today.
We had our usual couple of walks with Conni and the rest of the day was spent curled up on the couch with our pup at our feet. Sam played around on the piano while I read. It was a lovely cozy day.
Today was also the day we invented our new amazing chicken salad wrap. Hear me out, it's perfect for a cozy day. Tortilla, hot chicken schnitzel, crispy lettuce, cherry tomato, corn, cheese, drizzled with a honey mustard dressing/ sauce. It was so good!
Wednesday 31st August
We started off our day with walking our Conni girl and then headed back and made ourselves a picnic lunch and hopped on the bus into Oxford.
Once we arrived into Oxford we walked straight across to the library in the hopes to secure ourselves the very coveted tickets for a tour inside of the famous Oxford library (Sam and I both love libraries and books, so this was very exciting for us!). We ran up to the ticket window and what do you know, we managed to buy the last two tickets for the day!!! It was meant to be!! We get to go in at 4:40pm!
We walked around Oxford and all it's amazing buildings and colleges for a while taking lots of photos.
We wandered around Christchurch meadow and found a bench to sit on to eat our picnic lunch. We then wandered around and played the Harry Potter game while we waited for the college to open at 2pm.
It was insane how busy the queue was to get in, there were so many tour groups here!
We got our tickets and got to walk through Christchurch college, its grounds and Christchurch Cathedral. It was amazingggg, I can't believe people actually live and work here! It's a functional uni! It feels like something from another time and just feels magical and so cool, I can't describe it!
It's like walking through Harry Potter, and I mean we literally are, these are the buildings they used to film so much of it in! It's incredible and special to see the buildings from it. They are just so so beautiful.
We got to go into the room used as the Great Hall, and walked up and down the staircase from the first movie, when Harry and the others arrive at Hogwarts for the first time! I think Sam was having the best day ever!!
We also got to go inside Christ Church Cathedral which was beautiful!
After we managed to pull ourselves away from the incredible Christchurch meadow, we then walked around the 'Oxford Uni College' area until it was time for our tour of the Bodleian library. Everything around here is just amazing!
It was then time for our tour!!
Oh my goodness! I can't believe we get to go inside! The library is incredible, oh the smell! The smell of old books was incredible and they are so old! There's all the classic old spined books and they are so precious that they are actually chained to the shelves! But the amazing part is, while we are on a tour, students are actually allowed to study in here and read the books!!
The Bodleian library is the main research library for the University of Oxford and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It has over 13million printed items and is a depository library meaning it has a copy of all books published in UK and Ireland!! Not all books are kept on site though, they've got a warehouse centre where most of the depositories are kept!
It was so so special to be able to come in here and see such old scholarly history! The other amazing thing is that this library was used to film the 'restricted section' of the library in Harry Potter!
As part of our very special tour we were also shown inside of the divinity school building which was very special too and also used as the hospital wing in Harry Potter! It's a medieval building built in the 1400's!
What a special day!! We're both buzzing after that!
We returned back to our Conni and took her for her evening walk just in awe of all the amazing buildings and history we had not only seen from the outside, but been in today!
When we got back home and were closing up for the night we found that Conni had buried her elephant again in the garden!!
Thursday 1st August
We had a chill day today, took Conni on her walks and made our pasta bake for dinner. This time I decided I wanted to try my hand at making sweet potato chips. I sprinkled the cut up sweet potato with oil, salt and turmeric and mmmm it was delicious! Success!
Friday 2nd August
We spent the morning in our usual routine with looking after Conni and playing with her and then headed into Oxford for the afternoon.
We had a look at Oxford castle and castle mound which we didn't quite understand and then meandered through a covered market.
We also found their main shopping centre and it very much suddenly felt like we were back in a 21st century uni town. This modern centre filled with chain shops just didn't seem like it belonged in such a learned place!
I also spent some time today photographing the bees hard at work on the gorgeous lavender at the front of the house!
Saturday 3rd August
Today was a very exciting day. We started off with the usual walk for Conni and then we headed into Oxford to visit the natural history museum.
I love natural history museums and this one was great fun and had so many cool displays!
Once we'd seen everything there was to see at the museum we headed back home for our chicken schnitzel wrap and chilled out for a little.
We then headed out to our grocery store to buy some picnic-y bits and a picnic blanket (well a tarp because Tesco didn't sell picnic rugs!), because we're going to an open air movie/ picnic night on the grounds of the museum!
Sam took Conni out for a really good walk while I started dinner and put together our picnic for tonight!
After enjoying our pizza we hopped on the bus and headed back to the museum.
It was an amazing set up, situated in the museum grounds there was a huge screen set up that the movie was projected on and scattered around the lawn were people all set up on their picnic rugs and deck chairs. A lot people were even rugged up with blankets, which to be honest was probably a good idea because it was so cold!
We found a patch of grass and set up our tarp and picnic, and settled in with our snacks for the movie! It was such a special experience, we both were looking around in awe, it really felt like we were sat at Hogwarts!
This is what we were here for, to experience living in the places we visited and I definitely feel like that. I could so picture myself living here, I love it, there's something magical about it.
Sunday 4th August
We got up early and headed downstairs to meet our excitable wiggle butt puppy one last morning as our time in Oxford has unfortunately come to an end today.
We got into our routine one last time and took our beautiful girl for a really good walk through the fields and did a little photoshoot of her happily bounding through the grass with pure joy!
After her walk and photoshoot we had lots and lots of cuddles, cleaned up, had our lunch and then it was time to say goodbye.
I was so sad to be leaving, I am so attached to Conni, this was one of the hardest house sits to leave, I may have even shed a few tears as we reluctantly said goodbye and made our way to the bus stop.
We bussed it back to London and stayed the night in an easyjet hotel near the bus station as we were headed to our next house sit first thing in the morning!
Thanks to Michelle recommending the coupon app to us we used our coupon app to get a 5pound burger each at Cafe Rouge in the train station which is a pretty fancy restaurant, so that was a bargainnnn!
It has been such an amazing week in Oxford and looking after Conni. We love Oxford and would go back in a heartbeat but more than that we fell head over heels in love with our Conni!
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