It's England. It's evening. It's raining.
It’s blog time again and the title of this blog says it all. The day started off cloudy, cleared up, but later clouded up again. Finally the moisture just had to let loose.
Today we went to my “ancestral home” – Castle Howard. Construction started on the castle in 1699 after the King gave his permission. The estate sits on more acreage than one person should own. We entered a magnificently manicured rose garden. This rose garden roamed from one enclosure to another; and finally exited on a vast grassy area which contained an enormous fountain. This we found out was the back entrance. The front entrance wasn’t so bad either as it sat off a picturesque lake. The Howard family still occupies one wing of the castle (they have 3 yr old twins). The majority of the castle is open to the general public (of course, for a fee). You move through the tour from one gorgeous room to another. This place is beyond belief. The art is by such painters as Gainesboro, Canalletto, Pannini, and many more. At times they close the tour to the general public, so that the entire family can use the property. The one thing that impressed us is that while the facility is very large, the feeling is that it is not just “another” museum, it is being used on an ongoing basis. On many of the tables there were current photos of the Howard’s and their twins.
By the way, we had to find this property using our UK A to Zed map book. Lynda is getting very good at finding where we are to go. Occasionally, we do get turned around and have to use spiral navigation (going around in circles) to get to our destination. When we are desperate we do stop and ask.
In the area, was a local farm the specialized in growing lavender. Lynda had to make a detour and see the farm. It was actually very pretty. We also stopped at a medieval priory. Next to it there was a field of cows. They came to the stone fence to moo at Lynda in an English accent. Actually, I think that they were looking for something to eat.
We next moved on to Eden Camp. Eden Camp was used to house German and Italian prisoners of war during World War II. Today the 24 huts contain a history of the life in England during the War. There are newspaper articles, artifacts, personal accounts, pictures and recreations of the life and times from 1939 until they closed the camp in 1948. You just couldn’t assimilate all the information. We finally had to leave, since they were closing it for the evening.
All along the way, we keep coming across interesting road signs. I won’t try to explain them as a picture is worth a thousand words. I think I will just store them for now. Later, I’ll devote an album just to road signs and pub signs.
This evening we went to a neighborhood pub for dinner. Let me say that this is what we truly expected to see in a rural pub. We sat in the token – no smoking area. In the main part of the pub, there was a large group of people having their pint of ale (or more) all this while their children were outside playing tag or watching the telly in the front lounge area. It all seemed “so British.” We really enjoyed the scene. However, when we finally got back to the B&B we had to change out of our clothes since they smelled so smoky. So much for the non-smoking sections of a pub.
We have had some delightful conversations with our hosts, Elaine & David. It seems that the B&B stories are the same no matter where you are located. In fact, the interruptions between telephone or walk-in evening guests looking for accommodations were also the same. Elaine indicated that it was difficult to deal with the time conflicts when their own family came to visit. Even those problems were the same as what we had dealt with when we owned the B&B.
We leave tomorrow for the Lake District. We plan on taking the scenic route through the North Yorkshire Dales National Park. Hopefully, the road will not drive us too crazy with its twists and turns.
Cheers, T&T
Today we went to my “ancestral home” – Castle Howard. Construction started on the castle in 1699 after the King gave his permission. The estate sits on more acreage than one person should own. We entered a magnificently manicured rose garden. This rose garden roamed from one enclosure to another; and finally exited on a vast grassy area which contained an enormous fountain. This we found out was the back entrance. The front entrance wasn’t so bad either as it sat off a picturesque lake. The Howard family still occupies one wing of the castle (they have 3 yr old twins). The majority of the castle is open to the general public (of course, for a fee). You move through the tour from one gorgeous room to another. This place is beyond belief. The art is by such painters as Gainesboro, Canalletto, Pannini, and many more. At times they close the tour to the general public, so that the entire family can use the property. The one thing that impressed us is that while the facility is very large, the feeling is that it is not just “another” museum, it is being used on an ongoing basis. On many of the tables there were current photos of the Howard’s and their twins.
By the way, we had to find this property using our UK A to Zed map book. Lynda is getting very good at finding where we are to go. Occasionally, we do get turned around and have to use spiral navigation (going around in circles) to get to our destination. When we are desperate we do stop and ask.
In the area, was a local farm the specialized in growing lavender. Lynda had to make a detour and see the farm. It was actually very pretty. We also stopped at a medieval priory. Next to it there was a field of cows. They came to the stone fence to moo at Lynda in an English accent. Actually, I think that they were looking for something to eat.
We next moved on to Eden Camp. Eden Camp was used to house German and Italian prisoners of war during World War II. Today the 24 huts contain a history of the life in England during the War. There are newspaper articles, artifacts, personal accounts, pictures and recreations of the life and times from 1939 until they closed the camp in 1948. You just couldn’t assimilate all the information. We finally had to leave, since they were closing it for the evening.
All along the way, we keep coming across interesting road signs. I won’t try to explain them as a picture is worth a thousand words. I think I will just store them for now. Later, I’ll devote an album just to road signs and pub signs.
This evening we went to a neighborhood pub for dinner. Let me say that this is what we truly expected to see in a rural pub. We sat in the token – no smoking area. In the main part of the pub, there was a large group of people having their pint of ale (or more) all this while their children were outside playing tag or watching the telly in the front lounge area. It all seemed “so British.” We really enjoyed the scene. However, when we finally got back to the B&B we had to change out of our clothes since they smelled so smoky. So much for the non-smoking sections of a pub.
We have had some delightful conversations with our hosts, Elaine & David. It seems that the B&B stories are the same no matter where you are located. In fact, the interruptions between telephone or walk-in evening guests looking for accommodations were also the same. Elaine indicated that it was difficult to deal with the time conflicts when their own family came to visit. Even those problems were the same as what we had dealt with when we owned the B&B.
We leave tomorrow for the Lake District. We plan on taking the scenic route through the North Yorkshire Dales National Park. Hopefully, the road will not drive us too crazy with its twists and turns.
Cheers, T&T
posted by Toot and Teaser | 12:07 AM
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