Tuesday, 3^rd June                           TYSOE  -  ANGLESEY ABBEY  -  HINGHAM

We’re in Norfolk! Today was a travel day, and it all went pretty well as planned, which is always a good thing. Unfortunately, as often happens in the British summer, it was rainy, blowing a hooley and about 11 degrees. Not the summer weather you want or need, but often the summer weather you get! We got everything organised at Carol’s before leaving around 9 (still rainy) and the Google navigation took us through a spiderweb of country lanes. Apparently there was an accident on the A-something road and this was her cunning plan to get us around it.

We went through Edge Hill, site of one of the major Civil War battles, but there was nothing there to show where the actual battle was fought. It was quite close to Carol’s place, though, apparently there are some bullet holes in the church!

The Castle at Edge Hill - actually a 'mock' castle built in the 1740s, and now an inn and restaurant!

                                            From tiny country lanes to the major highways

As the trip to Norfolk itself was only going to take under 3 hours, and we couldn’t book in until 3 o’clock, we looked for somewhere to visit en route, and finally settled on Anglesey Abbey, in Cambridgeshire. We got there around 11.30, and had an early lunch in the café there before heading off to find the house. Today’s soup of the day was Roasted Pepper – nice enough, but a very small bowl served with an essentially stale piece of bread. I shall try something else next time, as that was about $14AUD and NOT good value!

Anyway, Anglesey Abbey is essentially a millionaire’s early 20^th century house, built to incorporate the remains of a medieval abbey. The millionaire in question was Urban Huttleston Broughton (yes, that’s a real name), the 1^st Baron Fairhaven. Although he was born in the USA he became a British citizen, fought in WW1 and was a career soldier before becoming a businessman and racehorse owner, and was made a Baron in 1929. The house is entirely filled with his collections and was given to the National Trust on the condition it should be left exactly as he had it. He had some amazing art: I saw works by Holbein, Constable and several original paintings of medieval monarchs. It was really interesting to see how the upper class lived in the 1920s and between the wars: the Queen Mother visited several times, and we saw the room she was always given. (No doubt they bonded over racehorses.) A fascinating house to visit.

                                             A Holbein of Lady Jane Grey's mother, Margaret

                                                              Drawing room

                             The bedroom used by the Queen Mum on her visits. Note the bedhead!

                                                                        That's a toilet!  

                                                                     Library

                                              Dining room incorporating some of the old abbey

The woodlands around the house were extensive, and ‘Lordy’, as he was known to the staff, had an extensive collection of statues along the forest walks.

                                                      'Lordy' in his Guards uniform

By the time it was nearing 1.30, we decided to head towards Hingham in Norfolk, where our Airbnb for the next 4 nights is located. It was a good drive up the A11. We stopped at the Sainsbury’s in Attleborough to get some groceries, then arrived here about 3.20. Holly’s Corner is a lovely little 2-bedroom cottage in the grounds of Steve and Diane’s house. It’s very roomy and spacious, except for the kitchen.

                                                       Holly's Corner

                                                          We have a lovely little courtyard out back

                                                          Kitchen as it looks on the internet

                                                            In real life....it's VERY narrow!

So far, the rain has cleared, and the sun has even shone a bit! Lex went for a walk around the village while I unpacked. We’ve found it’s really good when travelling like this to unpack on day one, then you don’t feel as if you’re living out of a port the whole time.

Tomorrow we shall be setting out to see Norfolk – family history wise, it’s the home of my Nanna’s ancestors, the Moores, so I shall be on their track in the next few days.

 

Monday 2^nd June                            TYSOE  -  CHELTENHAM  -  HIDCOTE (GLOUCESTERSHIRE)

Robyn writes: Today was another adventurous day exploring Warwickshire and into Gloucestershire – lots of driving through gorgeous Cotswolds villages and lanes.

We woke up around 7.30 / 8 – most satisfactory! Carol was taking a friend to the dentist, so it was just Lex and I off on our travels. We’d decided our first destination for the day would be the city of Cheltenham, another place beloved by the Georgians for its spas and beautiful buildings. We headed out around 9.30 for the trip to the Cheltenham Park & Ride, and our route took us through some of the famously beautiful villages in the Cotswolds (hence many, many tourists.)

We saw a gorgeous field of poppies!

We travelled through Moreton-in-Marsh first, then on to Bourton-on-the-Water, where we really would’ve loved to stop for a cuppa, but just couldn’t find a park. We thought we had one, for one exciting minute…..then Lex realised that the almost obliterated words painted on the road actually said “Disabled”. So, on we drove. It all looked just lovely but eventually we decided to keep going.

Bourton-in-the-water did look gorgeous, but alas, no parking.

We reached the Park & Ride about 11.30, and fortunately there was a bus waiting there. It only cost us 5 pounds to park there and the return trip into town – they are really excellent value. We enjoyed the trip into town, as it was a double decker bus, and we sat right up the front on top. Cheltenham certainly has some beautiful Georgian / Regency buildings. We got out at The Promenade, and had a walk around, before lunch at The Artisan Bakery (expensive but nice – 24 pounds for both of us for two sandwiches and hot drinks. Admittedly, Lex’s roll was huge, but that’s still a lot of money for what we got!) We explored a bit more and found the Royal Crescent – modelled on Bath’s but somehow not as impressive. Bath’s has huge sweeping lawns and a ha-ha in front it; this had heaps of cars parked in front.

The statue of King Neptune once stood in front of the Spa

Lunch at the Artisan Bakery

Beautiful Georgian buildings

The Royal Crescent

After exploring the city centre, we hopped back on the bus and were whisked back to the park and ride,where we decided to head home via the National Trust property of Hidcote, about three quarters of an hour to the northeast. Again, a lovely drive through ravishing Cotswold lanes and villages before we reached it.

Lovely scenery and villages

Hidcote was a manor house owned by a priory until it was dissolved in 1539 by Henry VIII (of course). It then became a farmhouse until Lawrence Johnson and his mother Gertrude bought it in the early 1900s. Lawrence began establishing the gardens around the house, using Arts and Crafts ideas and plants he’d sourced from around the world on his many trips. He went off to fight in WWI and fortunately came back to continue expanding his garden, which was fairly complete by the 1920s. He transferred it to the National Trust in 1948 so it would always be looked after. And it is a simply stunning garden – it rambles for several acres, with different ‘rooms’ and areas, long vistas and the biggest yew tree we’ve ever seen. There’s a ha-ha around it to keep the sheep out (excellent idea!) and so many pathways to wander up and down.

Hidcote

So pretty!

Massive yew tree on the right

They used to swim in this pool, but now it's a home for newts!

We only had about an hour and a half, but it was a lovely place to explore. We also had afternoon tea in the café, located in the old stables, so it was a very good outing to end the day.

An aside: I'd always been quite contemptuous of anyone who posed the question, "What goes on the scone first - jam or cream?" It always seemed to me so obvious that the answer was, the jam goes on first, and the whipped cream on top.  BUT, having now met a lot of cream teas with the divine Cornish Clotted Cream, I have become a convert to the idea of cream first (it's so thick), THEN the jam on top.  Radical, I know, but I thought the world needed to be aware of this!

After that, it was only a half hour’s drive back to Carol’s. We made a delicious chicken curry for tea, Lex washed up, and now we have to contemplate packing, for tomorrow is a moving day – we are off to Norfolk.

 

Sunday, 1^st June               TYSOE – WARWICK – GAYDON – KENILWORTH – LEAMINGTON

Well, it’s the first day of the British summer! (Though possibly not; according to Carol, the traditional date is June 21^st. But anyway, we are going with the Australian reckoning and calling it summer.) To celebrate, the temperature got to 19 degrees.

We managed to sleep into 7.30 this morning, which was glorious. During breakfast, we discussed our possible destinations for the day. It was finally decided that Lex and I would head off north; Glen had to return to Leighton Buzzard to work tomorrow (sad), so Carol stayed to take him to the bus/train. We bid him farewell (will see him in about a fortnight in Scotland) and headed off.

We split up for a lot of the day’s activities: Lex dropped me off in the High Street of Warwick, then headed for Gaydon, where the British Motor Museum is located on an old airfield. They only had cars made in the UK, and he really enjoyed looking at all the historic vehicles.

                                                            Model T Ford

                                          A Vauxhall car that was built in Australia by Holden

                                                     The cutest Bedford van you will ever see

Meanwhile, I headed into Lord Leycester Hospital, a wonderful set of buildings dating back 700 years. During the 1300s, the local Guilds set up a headquarters for their meetings, and in 1571, Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, who was the great favourite of Queen Elizabeth 1, approached them to set up a ‘hospital’ for wounded soldiers. The buildings have been carefully renovated recently and it was so good to wander around them, marvelling at the crooked beams and wondering how they’ve stayed up so long! There is a lovely Tudor garden out the back, and I really enjoyed wandering through it, chatting to the volunteers (and Sandy on WhatsApp) and finding the Tudor fairies hidden throughout. I had morning tea in the banquet hall (now café) and altogether enjoyed a couple of hours there.

                                                           Lord Leycester Hospital

                                                           Courtyard buildings

                                                          The banquet hall, now the cafe

                                                                   Tudor garden

                                                             One of the Tudor fairies!

I was going to go to the museum next, but one of the guides told me it was closed on a Sunday, and suggested St Mary’s, where Robert Dudley and his second wife Lettice are buried. It was just around the corner, so I headed there next. Their graves and that of some of the Earls of Warwick are very impressive. Also very sad was the grave of Robert’s 3 year old son, the ‘noble impe’, poor love. I had a most enjoyable wander around the church.

                                                        St Mary's, Warwick

                                The effigies of Robert Dudley and his second wife Lettice Knollys.

                                             They were said to be taken from life and very like them.

After that, I walked down the hill to the castle entrance. We visited Warwick Castle in 2006 and it’s awfully expensive to visit, so I wasn’t going to go in, but I popped into the gift shop there for a look, and discovered they have Zog (the dragon) merchandise. Danny adores Zog, so I checked it out, but again it was eye-wateringly expensive (50 pounds for a Zog toy – that’s over $100AUD…) I decided that Danny would be just as happy with a Zog sew on patch to put on a t-shirt instead!

                                                              Warwick Castle

                                                                             Zog!

By now it was lunchtime, and Lex was still at the museum, so I went into the Oken Tea Rooms. It’s in the house, right by the castle walls, where Thomas Oken and his family lived in the 1500s. I was familiar with Thomas already, as he was one of the Warwick great and good associated with the hospital. I had a lovely, if somewhat unusual lunch – the soup of the day was pear & broccoli! The young man serving assured me that most people liked it, so I thought what the heck. It was interesting – I couldn’t quite decide if it was sweet or savoury. After lunch, I had a wander around the shops until Lex arrived to pick me up.

                                               The Oken Tea Rooms, where I had lunch

                                                        Pear and broccoli soup! Unusual....

Then we headed for Kenilworth Castle, which we’d also visited, in 2014. At the time, they had just finished a system of steps throughout the royal apartments, but I was so disappointed because they weren’t yet open. Well, today I got to follow in the royal footsteps of Queen Elizabeth and Dudley, and explore the (now ruined) apartments he built especially for her. Despite all of this, of course, she never would agree to marry him. There were some stunning views from the top floors.

                                                          Kenilworth Castle

                                                                Views from the upper floors

I also went down into the Privy Garden he built for her, which was rebuilt from Tudor plans about 12 years ago, and it was brand new last time we were here. Sadly, it’s not wearing well. They obviously didn’t use good quality wood, as the railings, newels and the aviary are all deteriorating badly already. The gardens themselves look lovely, but it’s sad that they didn’t use a decent hardwood. Anyway, I did enjoy seeing it all again and especially being able to explore the buildings.

                                                            Privy Garden

                                                 The aviary is at the end of the path

                                                       Garden in front of the gatehouse

At about 4, Lex picked me up from the carpark. He’d been to Leamington, a beautiful regency city nearby, and suggested we go home via there so I could see it. In Georgian days it was a very popular spa town, and it has some amazing Regency buildings – whole streets of them. We enjoyed a drive around there, then decided to head back to Carol’s place, just over half an hour away.

                                                      Georgian buildings in Leamington

                                                                          Town Hall

                                                Royal Pump Rooms & Baths

Since then, Carol and I have cooked tea (spag bol), and we are doing a quick load of washing, as our next few accommodations won’t have a machine. We have one more day here before heading off for Norfolk on Tuesday. It’s nearly half past nine, and still light, but my plan is to hang out the washing and go to bed!