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Chastleton House is one of England's finest and most complete Jacobean houses, filled with a mixture of rare and everyday objects, collected since 1612. The house is filled with the atmosphere of 400 years of continuous occupation of one family. The gardens have a typical Elizabethan and Jacobean layout, with a ring of fascinating topiary at their heart, and it was here in 1865 that the rules of modern croquet were codified. We will leave Christ Church at 9am, Thursday morning to arrive at the house at 10am. Following the visit we have arranged a private lunch nearby with Lady Hereford, who lives in a relatively small manor house in the heart of the Cotswolds. On the return journey to Christ Church, we plan to visit Daylesford Organic Farm and the ‘Working Cotswold Town’ of Chipping Norton that is full of lovely antique shops and has a museum.
On Friday morning, we will pay a visit to New College, in order to follow the trail and learn the origins of the ‘Green Man’.
The ‘Green Man’ is a sculpture, drawing, or other representation of a face surrounded by or made from leaves. Branches or vines may sprout from the nose, mouth, nostrils or other parts of the face and these shoots may bear flowers or fruit. Commonly used as a decorative architectural ornament, Green Men are frequently found on carvings in churches and other buildings.
New College chapel houses several fine examples carved as miserichords (shelves under a choir stall seat). The college is a gem to visit and the carvings are one of Oxford’s little known treasures.
We will return to Christ Church for lunch in the Great Hall with all Conference participants. The afternoon is then free for your leisure before the Black-Tie dinner at Blenheim Palace.
Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire
As has become tradition in the past 24 years of the Oxford Analytica International Conference, the closing dinner will take place in the Long Library of Blenheim Palace, home of the Duke of Marlborough and birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.
