The Magna Carta Memorial..

Runnymede.
We discovered, from a list of places at our hotel, that Runnymede was just a few miles down the road from where we were staying and so, after a bit of a lie in, we headed to the nearby National Trust owned land and availed ourselves of the NT special offer brunch in the cafe.

It was a cool and misty start to the day and our short drive took us along a scenic stretch of the River Thames where you can get boat trips to Windsor or Hampton Court. The mist was hovering over the water and the never ending stream of airplanes coming in to land at Heathrow were disappearing from the blue sky into the mist.

The memorial in the blip was commissioned by The American Bar Association. They took the principles of the Magna Carta for the basis of their law after independence. 
It was commissioned it in 1957 and it was here they commemorated 800 years of the great charter in 2015.

Nearby is the J F Kennedy Memorial and climbing up past it onto Cooper’s Hill there are extensive views of the London skyline in the distance.

There is lots more to see nearby but we didn't want to go too far.  Near the two lodges at the entrance, designed by Lutyens, one of which is now a tea room, there are some wicker art works representing rural gleaners from a past age and a series of chairs set out called ‘The Jurors’ also created to mark the 800 years since the historic signing. The 12 seats are intricately fashioned out of brass and represent key moments of freedom and equal rights in the rule of law over that period of time.

We returned to the cafe for coffee before our long drive home with, by now, warm sunshine all the way. Not too much bad traffic for Friday travel. 

A good and varied week away.