You drive for miles on one lane
roads. I
mean ONE
lane roads just wide enough for an
average sized car
some
of which are bordered on each side with
hedgerows.
There
is an occasional spot where cars have
made an
indentation
so, if a car comes the other way, you
can pull into
it and
let the oncoming car go (you sometimes
have to back
all the
way out). Gee, can't you see a system
like that
working in
the U.S.? All I can imagine is a game of
chicken -
seeing
who will get out of the way first. Our
first week
was
spent at Church House, a 17th century
thatched
farmhouse in
the southern shire of Dorset. The owner
took us
every day
to two different destinations. We
visited ancient
villages
and several castles. One was Berkeley
Castle which
is the
place that Edward II was "horribly
murdered". If you
saw
"Braveheart", he was the son of Edward 1
(Longshanks)
and
was known to be a bit light in the
loafers. His
wife,
being in love with another, had him
murdered by
having a
red hot poker inserted in his anus (the
way
homosexuals
were disposed of in medieval England).
How pleasant!
We also visited the ruins of Old
Wardour Castle
from
which outdoor scenes for "Robin Hood,
Prince of
Thieves"
was filmed. It was supposed to be Robin
Hood's
father's
castle. We visited Avebury which is an
ancient
stone
circle older than Stonehenge. St.
Martin on the Wall
Church where T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of
Arabia) is
buried.
We visited the cottage where he spent
his last years.
He
lived a spartan life, eating nothing but
cheese.
There was
no electricity, no plumbing, no kitchen,
nothing. He
was
really an odd duck. One of the
highlights was the
day our
host, who is the bell captain of his
church, took us
up to
the bell tower to see the six bells and
then gave us
lessons in bell ringing (I got to ring
one of the
bells).
The English take their bell ringing very
seriously
and it's
one of the few places left that still
manually ring
them
instead of using recordings and
loudspeakers. It is
very
involved and each occasion has a certain
series of
rings.
There are volumes on how it should be
done and is
very
complicated. Another big highlight was
meeting, in
person, friends from Florida that we've
made through
an NG
on the internet. They decided to go
back to England
at the
same time we went and have relatives in
the Dorset
area.
What a shock, seeing how different
people look from
what
you imagined!! My only disappointment
was that our
time
together was way too short. They are as
dear in
person as
they are on the web. After a wonderful
week in
Dorset we
jumped
into our British traveling companion's
car and headed
north. We spent the night in an old B&B
and the next
morning the owner took us to their barn
to show us
the new
lambs. We then headed to Blenheim House
where
Winston
Churchill was born. From there we took
a pilgrimage
to
Althorpe where Diana is buried and ended
the day in
Norfolk
in the Northeast. We arrived at The
Old Pumhouse,
our 17th
century B&B in Aylsham and
met with the naturalist that was to be
our guide in
Norfolk. Poor guy, didn't know what he
was getting in
for!!
Dave and I are not known for our
sanity. Our days
were
spent traveling to bird reserves and
places of
interest
such as Blickling Hall where Anne Boleyn
was rumored
to
have been born, a tour of churches,
Sandringham Hall,
the
country retreat of the royal family and
where they
always
spend Christmas. We also went to Castle
Rising where
there
is what's left of a 12th century
domestic castle
which is
one of the most well preserved castles
this old I
have ever
seen - and not many people even visit
it. This
pretty
much summarizes our trip. Driving
through the
beautiful,
green countryside with sheep everywhere;
castle
ruins;
ancient churches; picturesque villages;
estates with
acre,
upon acre of land; with no billboards or
signs to
detract
from the beauty; no ancient building
torn down to
build a
parking lot; new construction that looks
just like
the old
so the feel of the area is preserved.
As my e-mail
address
says "Oh, to be in the United Kingdom. .
. .
