Bike Ride and Big Lunch

This is what the newer hotel-room wings look like at Oakley Court. Not as grand as the grand house -- in fact, rather bunker-like -- but softened by colorful Virginia Creeper growing up the walls.

We had beautiful weather yesterday. I borrowed a bike from the hotel and took a long bike ride after breakfast in the morning. I haven't been on a bike in years, but what they say is true -- you never forget! I rode up in the direction of Bray, crossed the Thames at a pedestrian bridge and then rode down the other side of the river on a public pathway.

Here's what one stretch of the path looked like. Very woodsy! I wound up directly across the river from our hotel, and then kept going south around the bottom of Dorney Lake.

I found an old country church down there, no longer used and managed by an organization called Friends of Friendless Churches. Its members work to protect disused historic church buildings across Britain.

The church is known as St. Mary Magdalene of Boveney. The oldest parts of the building are probably 12th century and apparently it's a good example of "galletting," or applying decorative slivers of flint to the pointing.

Here's the interior. It looks like that back wall needed extra bracing, both inside and out! The building does have some nice stained glass windows.

I got back to Oakley Court in time to change and go with Dave to lunch at the Waterside Inn, a fancy restaurant in Bray. Dave made the reservation and has been looking forward to this for weeks! I had scallops as a starter and duck as a main course, and Dave had lobster. Everything was wonderful.

By the time we got back to our hotel it was about 4 p.m., so Dave took a nap while Olga and I explored the grounds. We discovered in a back corner of the property a gigantic, bouncy Stonehenge for kids to play on. One of the more peculiar things I've seen recently!

But not as peculiar as...

...the coat this man was wearing when he came to breakfast yesterday!

Down by the river, Olga and I found a couple of boats bearing the names of productions filmed at Oakley Court. "St. Trinian's" is a film series about a girl's boarding school, based on a series of cartoons. I'm unclear which Trinian's films were made at Oakley Court, but presumably at least one was.

Incidentally, in all my talking about "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" yesterday, I failed to explain what it is. Unlike the old British horror films made here, "Rocky Horror" is not meant to be scary -- in fact it's a musical pastiche of old-fashioned horror movies, best known for promulgating a dance known as the "Time Warp." It's fun, not frightening. Just so you know.

Olga and I settled on a couch down by the river, me reading and Olga watching the boats go by.

Dave and I had such a big and long lunch that we couldn't begin to entertain any thoughts of eating dinner. Instead we stayed in and watched the Neil Simon farce "Murder By Death," which some sources (IMDB and Wikipedia among them) say was also filmed at Oakley Court. Having now seen the movie, I think they're wrong. I didn't recognize any element of Oakley Court in the film, and indeed its Wikipedia page says it was entirely filmed in California. Fake news alert!

Oh, and I did manage to watch the last third of "Rocky Horror," too, so I can now say I've watched the entire movie IN the house where it was filmed, which is pretty cool.

Back to London today!