The big adventure out of London - part 7 - final

I thought I was going to end this with the last entry but don't want to make each one too long.

After Saint John's College we were hungry. On our way to find food, we stopped in the Round Church. It is a lovely, very little church and it is round and very old.

The first restaurant we went to was full. It was Mothering Day in Great Britain. We ended up in a pub and I had the best hamburger I've had since getting here.

The real place of interest we were heading to on this trip was Kettle's Yard. I'm not usually one for modern art but this home and gallery were great.

The home belonged to Jim Ede, a former curator at the Tate Britain. He lived here and furnished his home with art and artifacts from the many artists of his time and they often visited him there. Since, there has been a gallery addition where there are works from many well-known artists.

Also on the property is a tiny little chapel that still has the original Norman architecture. This is a rare find. It is so tiny that it is now a children's chapel.

We were pooped out after the day but it was great. It started to snow shower when we were walking back to the car. They dropped me off at the train station. I made it back to London before they made it back to Harlaxton. They also got hailed on.

The big adventure out of London - part 6

I've got to wrap this up. There was just so much to see.

It was definitely cold and very, very windy while we were in Cambridge. Helene and I wandered around the street market while Nick was bookstore shopping. Once back together we headed down the Trinity Street to Trinity College. When we neared the chapel, we could hear the choir. We stepped in and the sound was wonderful. The choir was rehearsing but it was glorious. We couldn't see them as they were behind the wood wall.

We were sitting and enjoying the choir when a tour came in with a loud guide who talked and talked.

College is in session so we weren't allowed to do the full tour. Helene and I did step into the Hall (cafeteria) and saw the portrait of Henry VII, the founder of the College, before we were kicked out.

Trinity College library was designed by Christopher Wren and has some famous artwork inside. We couldn't go in on Sunday. That's the library behind the lovely Helene and Nick.

After Trinity College we headed on down Trinity Street which changes its name to St. John's Street as we entered St. John's College.

St. John's College Chapel is small but has a beautiful wood ceiling (shown to the left). There is a strange tomb just as you walk in. And the tower connected to the chapel is open to the top in one big expanse.

The colleges are all layed out about the same with gates or guard house entrances to an open court yard of grass (no trees). You pass from courtyard to courtyard walking through the buildings that make up the courtyard.

St. John's college has the Bridge of Sighs which is kind of a replica of the bridge of the same name in Italy.

The bridge spans the River Cam which runs right though Cambridge. On the river you will find people, usually students, .

The big adventure out of London - part 5

We were warned that Sunday would mean a change in weather. And they weren't kidding.

Helene and Nick came by the motel at 8:30 as planned. The restaurant hadn't opened until 8:00 so I was still eating breakfast -- still no pancakes. Turns out there wasn't much hot water at Harlaxton Manor and the coffee machine wasn't working. Staying at the motel was the best move.

I drove to Cambridge, our big destination for the day. This meant we got to go on the expressway. There were no speed limit signs so keeping up with traffic was the way to go...which was around 70. And they are on miles per hour and not kilometers per hour. Even though we were on an expressway, the A1, there were still round-abouts. They were pretty easy to negotiate. Having lived in Washington, DC helps.

It was a dramatically windy day and you could really feel it even in our little car. By the time we got to Cambridge it was downright cold. The sun was out some but big dark clouds were also around.

Cambridge University consists of several colleges. Most of them have been sponsored by Kings and Queens. There has been a lot of money involved. And they all seem to have chapels. England does have a state church - The Anglican Church - that was established by Henry VIII. The grand-daddy of all the chapels is the chapel at King's College. Stunning doesn't begin to describe it.

One of the most famous features is the fan arches. The picture gives you a glimpse of how amazing it is. Truly gorgeous. The chapel is brilliantly long and brilliantly tall.

The brown wood structure in the picture to the left separates the chapel with the choir on the other side. They are seated on each side with an aisle in the middle.

The organ is also situated in the dividing wall. There is a very large Reubens painting at the end where the altar is located. There are lovely side chapels on the right and a museum of the history of the college on the left side.

The other stunning feature are the windows. The entire
interior is surrounded by windows. The upper set represent images from the Old Testament and the lower set from the New Testament.

And the symbols of the Tudor house are represented throughout. You can just make out the Rose, red dragon, greyhound, and portcullis (gate).

More of Cambridge to follow...

The big adventure out of London - part 4

So you've probably noticed several reference to Belvoir. The small villages we were visiting are in the Vale of Belvoir surrounding Belvoir Castle. The castle is home to the Earl of Rutland. He and his family actually live there. And get this. The pronunciation is "Beever." You'll have to ask Nick why.

From the fox hunt we went to Woolsthorpe. There was a small church but it was closed. And the running joke for the weekend really got going. I found myself repeating the statement, "now, that looks old." A lot of these churches have gone through various changes over the years. The more changes usually means it has been around for a long time. Some of these go back to the 11th century.

In Woolsthorpe we stopped in the Chequer's Pub for a pint. Then we headed to Stamford stopping in a village that begins with "D" to see if the pub is open. This town is within walking distance of Harlaxton. The pub wasn't open.

Stamford is where Burghley House is located. Helene is having guests in a few weeks and is planning a trip to visit this estate. We thought we'd check it out. We knew the house wouldn't be open.

The scuplture garden was open though. Nick didn't care for much there. It is located in a wonderful garden with big old trees and a large resevoir.

Also, on the grounds of the estate are ancient deer. We saw a herd when we first drove up and didn't think to much of them.

On our way to look at the manor house closer we came up to another herd. These were much closer and have no free of humans.




The house itself is stunning from the outside.


Burghley House is a ways out of town so we headed back to Stamford. The town has several churches. Helene and Nick had seen them, it was late, and we were kind of churched out. So, of course, we headed to a pub. We had seen The Green Man pub on the way in and Helene's natural pub homing device kicked in and we were able to find it again.

It was St. Patrick's Day and a pub named The Green Man seemed appropriate. Our bartender was from Canada! We had Guinness and watched the football game on tv. Decided we were hungry and headed to the George Hotel.

The George Hotel is a fancy place with a very fancy restaurant. We went to the less expensive Garden Lounge restaurant. It was wonderful. We had a leisurely dinner then headed back to Harlaxton. There was no room available at the college on Saturday so I spent the night at the Ferrier Inn, a regular roadside motel. It was nice.

The big adventure out of London - part 3

After getting petrol we headed to Bottesford where Helene and Nick had heard there was a very interesting church.

And there was. Completely surrounded by a cemetery but beautifully located next to a creek. This church, St. Mary's, was quite large for a small village. We met the rector when we walked in. Turns out the principal (head master) at Harlaxton has preached here. The church was supported by the Dukes of Rutland and they had insured that it was big and impressive.

The unusual aspect of this church is all the tombs within the chapel. And they all have elaborate statues. One tomb is shown to the right. Or it is Helene and Nick taking a nap :-)

The spire of St. Mary's is below. It is made of stone.

From Bottesford we were to head to Woolsthorpe. Helene had heard there was a nice pub there. On the way we saw a lot of cars parked along the road and people out looking into the woods.

There was a handsome horse and rider. He looked very official in is red jacket, black boots and black helmet. I thought it looked like a hunt.

We drove on but curosity got Helene and I. Since I was driving we turned around and Helene got out and asked what was going on. We had also passed Belvoir Castle and considered going in. Helene found out that it was a fox hunt so we went back to watch a bit.

Fox hunting is a controversial sport now. The Labour Party actually has banned it and the hunts are just supposed to be staged with a scented trail. This group was out and about with a real fox in chase.

The big adventure out of London - part 2

I realize this are going to be in the wrong order on the blog so if you haven't read the first part, scroll down to part 1.

Harlaxton is a school so breakfast is on a strict schedule. And we missed it. No coffee for Helene and Jeff and no food for Nick.

One of the things I've been wanting to do is drive and so Nick had arranged to rent a car. This was also going to make it easier for us to explore the smaller villages around the area. We got a ride from the college van driver to Enterprise rent-a-car.

There was only one agent on duty and apparently she needed to show each driver in minute detail how to operate each vehicle...and we weren't the first there. Quite a while later (I don't remember how long) it was finally our turn. And you probably guessed it, there weren't any cars - at least any that would hold 3 adults available.

Apparently there was one that was supposed to be picked up but there was some confusion and the agent who was the only one there couldn't get the vehicle back. But in the meantime, another guy had showed up and he had some relationship with Enterprise....not sure what. He could take us to this larger car. It was only 10 miles away.

Well, maybe ten miles as a crow flies. And, by the way, there are lots of crows about. And crows' nests...big ones. It turned into a mini-tour of the countryside including stories of northern England. Turns out our driver was a "Murray from the Durry." Nick picked up on his accent and asked him about it. He was very animated about telling us.

We did find the car in the middle of nowhere basically. We headed on with no real plan. We ended up in Redmile where there was this lovely inn and pub. The Peacock Inn where we had a leisurely lunch.

Next door to the Inn is a lovely church, St. Peter's. Nick knows a lot about churches and architecture so described the architectural history from Norman times to Elizabethan and Gothic -- I probably don't have those correct.

At this church we found The Belvoir Angel which has become the logo for the churches of the area. You can see it on this gravestone



From Redmile, I drove. The first thing we needed was petrol (gas).

A big weekend - adventure out of London..part 1

This was really an adventurous weekend. Helene and Nick, the couple from Wisconsin living and working in England, came down with their college group on Friday. I joined them at The History Boys. A really marvelous play and production.

I took the bus back with them and the college group. We arrived at Harlaxton, the University of Evanston (Illinois) former manor house outside of Grantham, north of London. We arrived at 2AM.

Harlaxton is quite the building and complex. I stayed in room 327 right next door to Helene and Nick's spacious end-of-hall room. It was a bit chilly but the bed was very comfortable and it took no time to fall asleep.

Nick gave me a tour of the estate Saturday morning. The following pictures are from various parts of the interiors.