Mistakes And Successes In Our Travels

I suppose I could go back to any trip we have ever taken and recall mistakes we made whether it was an inferior place we stayed, driving across a prairie state with no gas station in sight and the needle moving ever closer to empty or having me try to look at a map to get us to downtown Boston. Along with the mistakes have been the successes like getting off the interstate in Miles City, Montana and asking where the locals eat.  We were told it was the 600 Club downtown.  The meals for four of us were less than $20 and were delicious.  Our successes outweigh our mistakes but our trip to England contained a bit of both.

Our first mistake was at the rental car desk at Heathrow.  Hack’s ears were completely plugged up from the flight and I was left to do the talking.  Hack had always done the car renting on all our trips.  He had already requested a Passat and the guy behind the desk had our internet information.  He told me he didn’t know why their ad said they had Passats because they very seldom had them. Later in the conversation he said he had one, but he personally did not like them and wouldn’t we like a Mercedes?  I asked him how much more that was than a Passat and he never gave me an answer.  He came up with a deal on a Mercedes and I did a quick calculation from pounds to dollars.  I then asked him again how much more this was then a Passat.  Long story short….we drove the Mercedes on the trip and when we returned the car, knew we had paid twice what we usually do. We are in a dispute with the rental car company, but I’m sure in the end they will simply say, let the buyer beware.  

Our expensive Mercedes mistake.  

Another mistake is one that I hope does not become a common occurrence on every trip I take from now on.  I left a bag with all my shoes except the ones on my feet at the first place we stayed, The Yew Tree Inn.  I wouldn’t have thought this was starting to become a pattern except I had left a coat in the closet of a hotel room in Door County, Wisconsin on a spring trip. But except for the expense, this turned into a success in getting them back.  I am eternally grateful to a young man named Felix in a coffee shop in the Cotswolds who let me use his phone to call The Yew Tree Inn and have the shoes shipped to our hotel in the Lake District.

A cute coffee shop in Stow-on-the-Wold in the Cotswolds.

A German young man by the name of Felix who let me use
his phone to call the YewTree Inn  so I could get
 my shoes returned.  My hero.

Ah…..the Lake District, another mistake.  I thought I had booked a beautiful hotel on Lake Windermere in Ambleside.  When we got there after a long drive from Stratford-upon-Avon we were told I had actually booked a hotel two villages over. How could there be two Waterhead hotels?  I had looked at the one in Ambleside on the internet and wanted to think a bit at the high price.  When I decided to book it, despite the price, I got the other Waterhead hotel which was in Coniston, an eight mile drive down a tight curvy road where stone walls were one foot away from my window.  When we first approached the hotel I thought it looked spooky.  It was an old stone hotel a short walk from a smaller lake than Windermere and a short walk into the village.

The Waterhead Hotel in Coniston, England.  

A short pathway from the hotel to the lake called Coniston Water.

A steam powered boat on the lake.

The beautiful serene view out our window at the Waterhead.  

This mistake however turned into a positive when I saw our room.  It was large and bright and the bathroom was large. white and sparkly.  The view from our window was of an expansive green lawn beside the hotel, a pasture full of sheep and the lake in the background.  Coniston is a small village off the beaten track and even though we had to take the curvy road to get back to things we wanted to see, it seemed easier in the morning when we weren’t tired.  The hotel had a restaurant where we ate the first night and the following two nights we ate at a pub in the village.  

When we wanted to go to Beatrix Potter’s house it was only four miles from Coniston and after visiting her house we took a ferry across Lake Windermere to get back to the other side.  The Waterhead hotel that we stayed in was less expensive than the one in Ambleside and we had great conversations with the English travelers who were staying there as well.

Before we got to the Lake District we stayed one night in Shakepeare’s birthplace of Stratford-upon- Avon.  Hack booked the hotel in this town and I would have said it was a mistake if it had not been for one thing, the dessert at dinner.  The room itself was not a room for old people. The hotel was hundreds of years old, we were up three flights of stairs and there was a slight step up into the bedroom part of it and there was a small hallway to the bathroom.  However there was a huge bathtub which I took advantage of.  I stubbed my toe several times walking from the bathroom to the bedroom.

Sitting outside Shakespeare's birth place at Stratford-upon-Avon.  

A bedroom in Shakespeare's house.

Back to the dessert.  One plus with the room was that breakfast and dinner were included with the price of the room.  I ordered something called Eaton Mess for dessert and it was heaven.  It was fruit, mostly strawberries, mixed with whipped cream and pieces of meringue.  I can’t really describe how delicious it was.  It made the whole stay in this ancient hotel worth it.

Upon leaving the Lake District and heading toward Scotland we saw a view of a large green valley we thought was picture worthy.  There were few places to pull off the road so we turned up a slight hill into what was the driveway of a nearby house. So many of the events that make our trips successes met us in this driveway.  An elderly man came over and started talking to us.  We apologized for being in his driveway, but I know he was glad we were as he was able to tell us a little history of the region.  He told us there was a railroad viaduct in the panorama we were looking at, but it could be seen better when the sun wasn’t out. He told us that during WWII the viaduct has been filled with explosives in case it needed to be blown up.  The railroad had stopped running in this area, but a grant from the government was going to get it going again. He told us his son lived in New Zealand and his daughter in New Castle.  We thanked him profusely for talking to us and letting us park in his driveway.  I was remiss in not taking his picture and getting his name.  I was hoping that we had brightened his day as he had ours.

Further up the road one of those unexpected experiences that so often accompany our traveling happened.  We saw the words Cheese Festival and I felt the excitement of what I knew would follow.  The building we were about to enter was built under a huge hill with rocks all around the outside.  Before entering the building we looked at a pen of miniature sheep that their owner had brought for people to see.  I was absolutely smitten by these wee small animals.  Even Hack said we should get some for our “farm.”  I talked to the girl whose farm they were from and she said as far as she knew these little sheep could only be found in the UK.  Her family owned the largest amount of them.  

Inside there was cheese to be sampled and bought, wine to be tasted and
European bread made by a Polish baker to be savored.  I was in my glory.  We ended up buying some English cheddar that was smooth as butter and some rye bread from the Polish man.  We sampled some wine and I bought some cheese scones from a woman who said their baking business was very close by.

Adorable miniature sheep that I wanted to bring home.

Huge chunks of cheese for sale.

Listening to people tell their stories is one of the pleasures of traveling.  Hack met a very elderly woman on the streets of Thirsk who said she knew Alf White (a.k.a. James Herriort) and had several delightful stories to tell about him.  Meanwhile I was in a bookstore talking to a woman by the name of Valerie who said her family had made six trips to the states and loved traveling in our country.  

Hack talking to a gentleman on the streets of Thirsk,
the town where James Herriot had his vet practice.

An absolutely delightful bookstore in Thirsk.

There is never enough time to see all the things a country has to offer.  We pick and choose and do the best we can to get an overall experience.  We passed by Oxford because the traffic was horrible and went on the Cotswolds, a delightful area of England where there are still thatched roofed cottages.  Was it a mistake to pass up Oxford?  Probably in some sense, but the Cotswolds were so picturesque..  

So many of the houses in the Cotswolds have thatched roofs.  This was in the town of Chipping Campden.

Flowers against a stone wall.  There are stone walls everywhere and they add to the
beauty of England and Scotland.

The mistakes and successes add up to what traveling is all about.  There is an enrichment of our minds and souls and a knowledge that people live both alike and differently from Americans.  We always hope to leave a good impression of who we are and where we come from as we gather so many good impressions of those people whose countries we visit.  We never think there is something we can not do as we needed a sense of fearlessness to travel UK roads.

We are thinking it would be nice to see the Lake District in the spring when we were told the blue bonnets bloom in the woods and the daffodils cover a field William Wordsworth planted in memory of his daughter.  We would like to see the Yorkshire Dales in the sunshine and spend more time exploring James Herriot’s part of the world.  We probably will not go back, but we seem to live by the traveling philosophy of never say never.  

Exploring the Lake District - Rydal Hall Historic Gardens

On a beautiful sunny day we headed to Grasmere, a lovely town in the Lake District, to find both Dove Cottage and Rydal Mount, two houses where the poet William Wordsworth lived and wrote.  We took a road up a steep hill and came to a sign that said Rydal Hall. We turned in and found a parking lot behind a beautiful stone building. We quickly realized this was not Wordworth’s house but what awaited us was a spectacular formal landscape and a nature walk. We both started clicking our cameras and couldn’t get enough of the scenery.  

Rydal Hall is a bed and breakfast but its gardens are open to the public.  The formality of the upper tier contrasts with the natural look below where sheep were grazing and a short walk into the woods revealed a waterfall. Take a look.  

The formal garden of Rydal Hall.

The flowers were still blooming beautifully in September.

The fountain was dancing in the sunlight.

Sundials are a rare sight these days.  

Baa baa black sheep.  

We walked to the lower level and found a gate that we could open and there were many
 spots to sit and just enjoy nature.

I had to lean out over the river to get a picture of the waterfall.

A stone building was at the end of the path.

Historical Houses of England - A Peek into the Life of Jane Austen

It isn’t hard to see an historical house in England as everything is old, but having taught the literature of England for so many years I was looking forward to seeing some famous addresses.  The first house we visited that wasn’t a castle was the home of Jane Austen. She spent the last eight years of her life at this house in Chawton. Everything about her home was light and airy and to add to the enchantment there were people visiting dressed in period style. These men and women did not work there, but had just arrived when we did to see the house and were dressed in 18th century clothing.  

The desk that Jane wrote at seemed so small, yet her famous novels were composed on this small table with a quill pen.  There were fresh flowers on every windowsill and I found that delightful. Jane was born in 1775 and only lived 42 years, dying in 1817.  She wasn’t well known in her lifetime as her books were published anonymously and she didn’t really become famous as a great writer until the twentieth century.  

“I think I may boast myself to be, with all possible vanity, the most unlearned and uninformed female who ever dared to be an authoress.”

                                                                         Jane Austen

Two women in period dress walk in front of Jane Austen's house.  

A look at what would be for us a very primitive kitchen.

A lovely display of bonnets and dresses.

Mr. Darcy comes to life.

I agree with Jane completely.  Love this little display

It's all in the details.

To think that Jane's great books like PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY and others came from writing at this little table.  All with a quill pen.  Amazing!

Another sweet touch.

Can you tell I like to photograph flowers?

Bowl used for a sink and chamber pot below.

I doubt Jane's original bed has survived, but this gives the feeling of the late 1700's early 1800's.

Period dress and sewing case.

Another dress and hat of the period.

Hats and bonnets on display.

The simple back yard of Jane Austen's house.

The Delights of Highclere

When we started planning our trip to England and Scotland I knew that Highclere Castle had to be on the agenda. The PBS show, Downton Abbey, had captivated us and to see where it was filmed would be a special treat.

Highclere was to be our first stop the day after landing at Heathrow. We scoped it out the night before our visit. It is possible to drive right up to the parking lot and see the castle without leaving one’s car. We stayed in the nearby Yew Tree Inn and I could hardly wait to see the inside of the castle and view the rooms that had become so familiar to us on Downton.

Two weeks before we left for England I received an email saying we could attend a high tea in the Coach House behind the castle if we so desired. It seemed a once in a lifetime thing to do, so I signed us up for tea at 2:15 p.m. It was not inexpensive, but we found that the experience was worth every penny we paid for it.

The drive onto the castle property shows a beautiful landscape filled with sheep grazing in meadows. No other structures can be seen from the castle, just rolling meadows of green grass and trees. There is a large grass covered parking lot fairly close to the castle with just a short walk through the gate and up to the front door where a woman took our tickets.

Sheep in a meadow leading up to Highclere Castle.

The main entrance is on the other side.

The tour through Highclere Castle is self guided. There are people in each room that will answer questions and I had a few when I saw some china in a glass case. I was curious to know what company made it and asked the man who was guarding the room and answering questions. He told me it was Sevres, a high quality French porcelain.

Because this castle is home to the Earl and Countess Carnarvon, there were personal photos of theirs on various tables. We were told no pictures were to be taken even if not using a flash. We obeyed that on the first floor. When I saw a woman taking pictures of the bedrooms on the second floor I asked her if she was being naughty. She said, “All my friends in Canada are depending on me.” I laughed and looked around to see if anyone was watching and snapped a few pictures of my own. Hack did the same thing. Luckily there were no photo police following us.

Looking down to the main floor.

The gardens of Highclere were a short distance from the castle down a gravel path.  A groundskeeper was trimming and the work involved in keeping up this huge place has to be enormous and expensive.. The fact that tourists are coming in droves and spending many pounds to get in has to be helping the Carnarvons manage their property. There are two tea rooms and a gift shop that also add money to their bank account.

The gate out of the garden area.

At 2:15 p.m. we went into the Coach House and were led upstairs to the tea room. The tables were covered with white linen table cloths and yellow roses graced every table. We were brought glasses of champagne, a pot of tea and then a three tiered plate with small sandwiches, pastries and scones. It seemed a massive amount of food, but Hack said, “Let’s pace ourselves and eat every bit.” We did. It was all delicious.

Tea for Two

Highclere closed to the public for the year on September 22. We were there on September 15. It was fun to see the first episode of Downton Abbey on BBC while we were in Edinburgh. I will not give anything away, but season five contains many plot lines that will keep us watching in the cold and snowy winter in Michigan. I would recommend to anyone that if they get a chance to go to England, go when Highclere is open to the public. You won’t regret that decision.

Much beauty everywhere, even in the little things like this bench and pot of flowers.

A huge tree that is often seen on Downton Abby.

Yup....we were actually there.

Visitors to Highclere having lunch on the back lawn.