England 2006
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The Balettie Bunch invade England!
More pictures can be found here in our England 2006 photo gallery.
UK 2006 - Day 4: Castles and PubsPart 6
of the England 2006 trip report:
The British comedian Eddie Izzard said:
We
got tons of them, ‘cause you think we all live
in castles, and we do all live in castles! We
all got a castle each. We're up to here with
f***ing castles! We just long for a bungalow or
something. Wellllllllllllll....
okay... that may be a *slight* exaggeration, but
hey! It's funny.
OKAY!
We're off and about today, with a full day of
castle exploration ahead of us! Our destination
is Eastnor Castle, which was built in 1810 as a
country manor, but in the style of a medieval
fortress. The drive from Julian and Jenny's
takes us past the beautiful Malvern hills again,
and through the narrow and winding tree-lined
roads that are typical of this part of
England.
When we first arrive in the car
park ("Englishism" for parking lot) and go into
the grounds, there's a really cool-looking hedge
maze that the kids drag us towards. The hedges
that make up the walls of the maze, itself, are
at least 7 to 8 feet high, so it's not like any
of us can see over them. So... we plow right
into the maze!!!
Andrew storms past me on
the last leg and makes it to the wooden fort at
the center of the maze first:
Kathy comes up behind
me:
Melanie, though, gets
herself lost when she breaks her flip-flop. We
hear this pathetic "Hellllp?" and we tell her to
stick her hands up in the air. THERE she is!!!!
So... with that fun out
of the way, we head up to the castle itself!
Through the woods and the
portculis/gatehouse:
... we get our first view
of the impressive front of Eastnor Castle:
Unfortunately, they don't
allow photography *inside* the Castle, but we
take a nice family picture with a suit of armor
in the entrance hallway:
The interior was really
beautiful, and decorated with tapestries and
other "castle-like" trappings. A huge dining
hall, a library with dark wood bookcases that
stretch floor-to-ceiling with books, and high
ceiliings give a feeling of grandeur in this
imposing building. As we walk around the back of
the castle, there are some really fantastic
sights of the grounds. A scenic lake and forest
stretch into the surrounding hills:
The view of the castle
from lakeside is really impressive:
We start our walk through
the tall trees of the Eastnor forest, following
a footpath that takes us deep into the cool,
cool shade, which was a welcome break, as the
temperatures today were approaching 90
degrees!!!
After a nice walk through
the trees, we come back out to the back-side of
Eastnor:
There's a children's park
nearby where we stop for a brief rest. Andrew,
Melanie, and Sam make good use of the
equipment:
... while Julian performs
his "World Famous Pole Trick (tm)"
So, after a brief water
break and a couple of souveniers, we're heading
off to dinner at one of Julian and Jenny's
favorite pubs -- The Rose and Crown. In the
second picture below, Julian actually thought we
were taking a *serious* picture.
It's a traditional pub,
with the timber and mortar construction native
to this part of England, but they also have an
outdoor seating area with a kids' playground --
look... another castle!!!
After we order our food
and drinks, Mel and I walk down the road a bit
to look at the old church that's near the pub.
St. Denys' church is an old C-of-E church with
an equally old graveyard.
Some of the tombstones
are *MASSIVE* -- the one Melanie's standing next
to has a date of 1860 on it, although I've
actually seen some grave markers on previous
trips from the 1300s!!! You can imagine how
spooky this must be on a foggy moonlit night!!!
So... a couple of pints
of Pedigree and a lovely steak-and-kidney pie
later, we relax as the day winds down, watching
"the kids" play.
"Crane technique -- if do
right, no can defend!"
This way for more adventures!!!!!
-or-
... back to the Adventures in England page!
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