England Trip: Lyme Park

I think that one of the most memorable days from this whole trip was the day that we visited Lyme Park. The south exterior of this park (not the main entrance, but the façade facing the gardens) was used as the Pemberley estate in the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice. It was also fun to go and see this park right now, because currently there is a 12-foot-tall statue of Colin Firth located in the pond. The sculpture itself isn't amazing, but the idea is fun.

One of the unique things about Lyme Park is that visitors are invited (but not required) to dress up in period clothes. Someone invited me and V to dress up, and it ended up that all four of the "big girls" put on Edwardian clothes. Once Sam and my littlest sister L saw us in costume, they wanted to dress up too. Some children's dress-up clothes were located upstairs near the stage, so L got to put on a fancy frock.

 E's fancy hat

Sam was very attentive to me when I was wearing this fancy Edwardian outfit. He kept holding my hand and telling me that I looked beautiful. It was very cute. I've never had such an attentive son. Maybe I need to wear Edwardian clothes more often!

We weren't able to take pictures inside most of the house, but it was really fun to visit an old estate. Sam enjoyed sitting down at an old writing table; I helped him write a letter to Bop and Gram. We learned on our visit that not everything in the house was original to the family of Lyme Park. The gallery of paintings in the upstairs hall were filled with paintings on loan from the National Gallery in London. But one still could get the sense of the original grandeur of the park. It felt a little bit like we were visiting Downton Abbey.

The home is set on a very large estate, and we only visited a portion of the grounds during the hours that we spent there. The gardens and the orangerie were also really lovely. Here are a few more pictures of the grounds.

England Trip: Haverthwaite, Cartmel, Clitheroe and Ribchester

The next two days of our trip were filled with several activities. We took a train from Haverthwaite to Lakeside, and then took a boat from Lakeside to Bowness. One of the highlights of our stop at Lakeside was seeing a display of live owls. The lady with the owls told us about how one owl is nicknamed "The Transformer Owl" and directed us to a YouTube video that was really popular that night. Sam was pretty excited to know that there was a Transformer Owl.

Sam took this nice photo of A and V on the train.

Sam also took this photo of C on the boat.

 Riding on the boat down below

After the boat ride we went over to Holker Hall to find something to eat. We arrived a little bit too late to get a full meal, and the house was also closed. We were able to walk around the gardens for a bit, though.

After seeing the Holker Hall gardens we drove to the nearby town Cartmel in order to get some food at the King's Arms restaurant. The priory in Cartmel dates from 1188. The church was already closed, but we did get to walk around the exterior. I thought it was interesting how the doors on either side of the transept looked completely different.

The other thing that I will remember about Cartmel is that I cracked my phone screen by accidentally dropping it on a cobblestone road. Those cobblestones! J accidentally dropped his Nikon camera on the priory grounds less than an hour later, breaking the zoom feature. Both devices still work though, so we can't complain too much.

The next day we met V's friends in Downham, a small town where allegedly the whole town in the 19th century converted to the LDS faith and moved to America. There really wasn't too much to see in this area, beyond the local church, a small scone bakery. and a red telephone booth.

Then we went with V's friends to visit Clitheroe Castle. The tower and grounds were pretty neat, although the majority of the actual castle interior was closed (beyond some exhibition rooms with artifacts and information that relate to Clitheroe).

The afternoon ended on a strained note, since V's friends lost their daughter (who has Down's Syndrome) on the grounds for about ten minutes. She was spotted at the bottom of the hill, underneath the castle tower. I jumped over a low part of the castle wall and practically slid down the grass hill so I could reach her quickly.

We said goodbye to V's friends soon after that mishap, and drove past Ribchester on our way home. I had noticed a sign that said "Roman Museum" off the road on our way to Downton, so I got everyone to follow us back to that sign. The Roman Museum was closed, but we did get to visit the Roman Bath House that was located in the area.

The Roman bath ruins. The area in the foreground separated by a curved wall was the sudatorium (sweating room).

A and Sam hanging out on a wall which would have been for the furnace room.

Sam and L standing on column stumps within the tepidarium. They're completing the missing columns with their bodies.

That night I was pretty pleased that I had been able to see art and monuments from all different types of periods over the past few days: prehistoric = Castlerigg Stone Circle, ancient = Roman bath house, medieval = Cartmel priory. It's neat that England's history is so rich that it has monuments and objects from so many historical periods.

England Trip: The Lake District

Near Hill Top Farm, Beatrix Potter's farm

The next two days of our trip were spent in the Lake District. J and I often joked that everywhere we looked was picturesque and beautiful. J even went for a walk outside our cottage one morning, and saw a rainbow behind a field of sheep. He felt like he was in a painting by Constable.

On Tuesday we went to the Beatrix Potter farm. Before we could go into the house with our timed tickets, we decided to hike to Moss Eccles Tarn, a little lake that Beatrix Potter bought. She liked to go to this lake in the evening with her husband, William Heelis.

View on the hike to the tarn

 Outside Beatrix Potter's farm house, Hill Top Farm. We couldn't take pictures inside, but we did purchase a copy of Potter's book The Tale of Samuel Whiskers in the gift shop. Several illustrations in this book (like THIS ONE) were actual depictions of the inside of this house, including some of the furniture.

Afterward we drove to Dove Cottage, where William Wordsworth used to live. Wordsworth lived about 100 years before Beatrix Potter, so the furnishings and setting seemed rather sparse by comparison. (Once again, pictures were not allowed inside the house.) We received a formal tour through Dove Cottage, and then were let out into the garden.

My sister E took a book with her everywhere for the first few days. This photo captures the contrast of her reaction to Wordsworth's garden with Sam's reaction.

The final place that we visited was Castlerigg Stone Circle. I was excited to go here, since this stone circle dates from the Neolithic period (about the same time as Stonehenge). Since I knew that I wouldn't be able to see Stonehenge on our trip, I felt like this was a very good substitute. The stones are much smaller than Stonehenge (and not trilithons in a post-and-lintel formation), but you do get to walk right up to the stones and touch them. And the scenery was really beautiful (more beautiful than around Stonehenge, so I'm told).

Sam liked playing tag and hide-and-seek in the big field

England Trip: Garstang and Liverpool

We have just returned from a very fun trip to England. We spent about a week with my family (the S family) in Northern England, and then just our little family spent a few days in London before flying home home. We took lots and lots of pictures, but I will share only some of my favorites here. Sam was a fantastic little traveler and really loved playing with my littlest sister L. I feel really lucky that we were able to go on this trip, and I imagine that we won't go on another fancy trip overseas for several years.

We rented a car! I took this picture before J even started to drive it. He was a bit nervous to drive on the other side of the road (and on the other side of the vehicle), but he did a great job. The narrow country roads (with all of their hedges and fences which limited visibility) were a little nerve-wracking, but we were just fine.

My dad found a very charming cottage in Barnacre (near Garstang) for all of us.

Our bedroom

The sun room (called the "solarium" by the English). V is pointing to the chickens which often congregated by the back door (in hopes for handouts?).

Look at the ivy creeping up the side of the cottage! It was such a charming building.

Although we were all tired from jet lag, we forced ourselves to stay awake by visiting a local fair in Garstang. Sam liked the curlycue horns on these rams.

 After going on this spinning ride, J decided that it wasn't a good idea to spin so much when he already felt wonky due to jet lag. Sam and L loved the ride, though.

That evening we went to support V's good friend, Alex, who wrote and directed the British Pageant. We were all still tired, but we managed to stay awake for the show. Alex put a lot of work into this show, and I'm glad that we were able to support her.

On Sunday we visited the River Ribble, among some other sites in the area that relate to LDS history in England. These were some trees that were along the bank of the river.

 On Monday it was my brother A's birthday, and we decided to spend the day in Liverpool. Since we drove in two separate cars, we ended up having trouble meeting up at the Beatles Museum (which resulted in my family waiting outside the museum for an hour to meet up with us, since we unknowingly went inside the building). Other than that, the day went fairly smoothly.

 Me with Sir Paul. I accidentally dropped my favorite black cardigan in the permanent museum exhibit, and I never was able to get it back. I decided that the cardigan became my offering to Sir Paul, since I had made this pilgrimage to Liverpool so I could pay homage to the Beatles.

Sam with Ringo, his favorite Beatle. Sam is wearing his new Yellow Submarine t-shirt that we bought in the gift shop.

 We barely had enough time to quickly, quickly hike up to the Liverpool Cathedral before we went on a tour of the city. We didn't have much time to look at the building at all, since we had to rush back down to meet the tour bus.

 

The birthday brother, A, with our not-so-little brother, C.

Aside from Penny Lane, on the tour we also got to see some places in the city that relate to different Beatles songs or actual Beatles members themselves. We saw where George Harrison was born, Paul McCartney's childhood home, where John Lennon grew up, Strawberry Fields, and different structures (like a bank and barber shop) that form part of the Penny Lane lyrics.

After the tour, we went to some type of Indian fusion restaurant for A's birthday dinner. It was fancy! We drove home after this point, and Sam was so tired that he fell asleep in the car (which rarely happens). In fact, Sam usually fell asleep at least once a day on our vacation, which is unusual for him. He almost always woke up cheerful and ready to move onto the next adventure.