After a busy weekend with Julie's family creating many new memories we bid adieu to our welcoming Farm Hosts Rita and Chris. We head off to our new cottage in the village of Grantham in Lincolnshire. On the way we set our satellite navigation to Scenic roads which means many more "Round-Abouts". I'm an expert now thanks to some tutelage from Julie's niece Marilyn. Our next location is a leisurely two hour drive.
Being Sunday, we stop along the way at an Inn serving "Sunday Roast", an English tradition.
Again we are blessed with nice weather as we wind our way to our new home for 5 days - Paddock Cottage.
We are sharing a home with our hosts which is quite old and beautifully renovated. We are in a two floor apartment that was previously the workers home for the neighboring Manor House. The owners have a lovely garden and I am able to catch a picture of these two backyard birds before we go off on our adventures.
English Robin
Whats for Dinner? Pheasant!
Todays adventure will take us to two National Trust Properties. Prior to leaving home we purchased two Royal Oak Passes. This is an organization of Americans that support the National Trust Properties. The Royal Oak pass gives us free admission to Trust Properties.
First Stop Woolsthorpe Manor, The home of Sir Issac Newton.
In 1664 as the black plague ravaged the cities of England, the students of Cambridge were sent home for safety. Issac Newton a young man studying at the University returned to his home in Grantham. He spent the next two years continuing his reading and asking the questions of the day as a student of astronomy and philosophy. As he sat one afternoon reading under his apple tree he contemplated the falling apple and how when objects fall they neither bare left or right but always continue straight down regardless of the height they fall from. He said, "I think I must study the force I believe pulls objects towards the earth such as this apple." If it was me I would have simply said "I think I will eat that!".
Call me a skeptic but I find it hard to believe this is a 400 year old tree.
Being the Easter School holiday we were not quick enough to grab tickets to the house tour so we move on to our next National Trust Property Belton House. A short 5 mile drive and more Round-abouts and we reach our next destination.
Belton House
Belton House was originally built in the 1600's by Lord Brownlow, the lawyer to Queen Elizabeth I. Our guide tells us that as her lawyer he received today's equivalent of 18 million pounds a year for handling the legal work for the queen. Having studied her reign I can imagine that he was a very busy man. We toured the basement of the house with a knowledgable guide which centered his talk on the life and work of the service personnel of the house.
We learned about the hard lives of the servants and the class system that existed among their lot. There were upstairs servants and downstairs servants. These servants lived separate lives apart as they were discouraged from mingling with the lower class downstairs workers. In the downstairs children were hired as early as ten years old. They would handle menial tasks such as building fires in the kitchen, lugging heavy pots and pans and obeying orders from Cooks and Butlers. Young boys would be sent into drain wells to shovel out the grease and discarded food scraps. A child of this age would work 17 hour days and sleep in the stone basement hallways on straw mats. They were forbidden to go outside or upstairs where they might be seen by the gentry residing above. Many years would be spent in candle light and relative darkness never breathing fresh air.
Bolton House was turned over to the National Trust in the 1980's and serves as a beautiful park ground open to the public. The grounds today, being a school holiday, were swarming with young families picnicking and enjoying the grounds. We enjoyed a lunch in the Cafe of Nettle Soup and Cornish Pasties.
British Cuisine which years ago received terrible reviews has become quite diverse and as good as anywhere in Europe. Many fine restaurants abound in the cities however I prefer searching out the Pubs in Villages and trying traditional fare. Nettle Soup and Cornish pasties would be Pub fare years ago for workmen returning from the farms and fields. This lunch was delicious.
Lots of walking today for me which makes me thankful for my physical therapist however I suspect I will be hurting this evening. Advil is on hand and an early to bed is in order.
I have learned that we are not too far from one of Englands great birding centers on the coast. I look forward to finding Titchwell later in the week as the weather is projected to get warmer. Sun is shining...life is good.
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