Wintry Woodstock

Regular readers will know that we’re invited back to Woodstock a couple of times each year, with February reserved for our longer stay. It’s a cycle we’ve come to love: a lively little town full of cafés and pubs to dip into, and the vast Blenheim Palace grounds offering more than 2,000 acres of parkland to explore — a dog walker’s dream in almost any weather.

This year, however, “almost any weather” was put to the test. It has barely stopped raining for the entire month. The Palace grounds have sprouted a collection of unplanned duck ponds, scattered like new features on a landscape architect’s sketch. Fortunately, Blenheim has no shortage of ducks ready to move in and make themselves at home.

Despite the deluge, we managed to keep a few traditions alive. Our annual trip to Chipping Norton for lunch was rescued by one of the slightly less rainy days, giving us a welcome change of scenery. We also seized the chance to climb high above the Palace on their time‑limited Roof Top Tour — a rare opportunity to see the ongoing restoration work up close and enjoy sweeping views across the estate.

Back indoors, another project has been taking shape. Our travel map is getting a long‑overdue update. I’ve started adding small images to each of our pins — tiny visual anchors that make the map more personal and help us remember the special places we’ve visited over the years. With the number of pins we’ve accumulated, this is going to be a sizeable undertaking, but a rewarding one. Each image is a little doorway back into a moment, a walk, a sit, or a story.

February may have been wetter than expected, but it’s given us a different kind of month: slower, reflective, and full of small discoveries — both outdoors and in.