Stanway House

On Tuesday, a group from the Anglo-American Women's Club (AAWC) attended a private tour of the Stanway House and Gardens. This was organized by an American friend whose husband is the big cheese in our SUSLO community.

From Wikipedia: Stanway House is an example of a Jacobean manor house. The manor was owned by Tewkesbury Abbey for 800 years then for 500 years by the Tracy family and their descendants, the Earls of Wemyss (pronounces "weems"). Sir William Tracy was one of the four knights who murdered Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1170 upon orders from Henry II.

It was an interesting day, but I was a little disappointed at the interior tour of the house. However, it is a private residence, so the areas we were allowed to see were few. Overall, the house is gorgeous, especially from the outside. The interior was a bit run-down if you ask me. Upkeep of a house so large definitely pulls on the purse strings. My favorite part was the Jacobean entrance with gate house and the tithe barn. The workmanship never ceases to amaze me especially when you look at the beams and construction of the ceilings. The photographs are accredited to another American friend who actually remembered HER camera! Thanks, Ann!



The scallop shell was part of the family's crest and it is seen in portions of the architecture everywhere. After killing Becket, Sir William de Tracy went on a pilgrimage for forgiveness and adopted the scallop as a remembrance of this pilgrimage.



The Tithe Barn




The final portion of the tour was a viewing of the fountain. It works via gravity only and once it's ready to spout, it shoots 300 ft. into the air for approximately 20 minutes. During the summer, people can come and view the fountain spouting and kids can run through the water spray that falls. We'll be back...

Mini Schmini

Looks like I will be getting my Fiat 500 upon return.
Please save one for me!!!!

From Yahoo! News:

Fiat 500

Fiat 500

Chrysler's product plan calls for a subcompact hatchback from Fiat to enter the market late next year. Chrysler could redesign the 500 a little and rebadge it as a Chrysler, but that probably wouldn't make a lot of sense. "I don't think they want to, because everybody loves that damned thing," said James Bell, publisher of the Automotive website Intellichoice.com. It also would also mean a lot of work to make this car anything other than a Fiat. The design is supposed to remind you of the cars you might have seen driving around Rome in the 1960s. Slapping a Chrysler badge on it just wouldn't make sense.

Chrysler's plan also calls for a plug-in electric mini car from Fiat to come out shortly before the gasoline-powered one. That could be a 500, or 500-based vehicle, as well.

While the Fiat may look cute, though, it's much smaller than most cars Americans are used to. It's about six inches shorter than a Mini Cooper. The 500 feels bigger once you're inside it, though, said Matt Stone, executive editor of Motor Trend magazine. You don't sit as low to the ground and there's more glass to see out of than in the Mini.

"I think people would totally dig it," he said. "It's terminally cute."

Oh, that it is...., I say, terminally cute.

Opposite Side

For all of you non-Facebookers, I am blogging to tell you that the button on my new British jeans is on the opposite side from all of my American trousers. I woke up and got dressed right away in semi-stupor as usual and couldn't get my jeans to button and it wasn't because they didn't fit - so no snide comments! It only took me two hours to figure out why I had difficulty. I is smart, me.

Idle Chit Chat

Nothing of note has happened recently. The rain is back and it's chilly again.
Evan is halfway through his exams and they are going well, except for French he said. To his defense, this is his first year of Francais and everyone else has taken it since second or third grade. Thankfully, he doesn't need to take it next year, but Craig and I were speaking in French at lunch this weekend and Evan understood what we were saying. Smartypants.
Finn was organizing Pokemon cards this weekend and has decided to sell a bunch on eBay. He was also sewing a pouch for some purpose. He also attended Chess Club on Saturday afternoon. Otherwise, he was a grouch this weekend.
Owen actually allowed Craig and I to have a full uninterrupted two-hour conversation on Sunday morning. I have no idea what was keeping him occupied and I don't really need to know. He whittled a lot and rushed outside when the sun was out.
Craig and I did menial household chores and sort of relaxed. We all went out to lunch on Sunday and had a pint that knocked us for a loop. Not all of us had a pint, just to clarify. Thank goodness we no longer have toddlers.

Yorkshire

Last weekend, we drove up north to Yorkshire. It was a very nice trip and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. I actually didn't even pack a pair of shorts or any "suncream" because I didn't believe what the weathermen were saying, but I should have because it was HOT! We all had a good time in the sun and I think a trip back to the city of York and also the beaches is on our list.

YORK

York is a beautiful city. It has Roman walls, Viking heritage and is just bustling. Evan said it reminded him of New York but more ancient and he is exactly right. New York didn't get it's name for nuttin'.

The main train station where we parked for the day - nice architecture

York Minster in the background
Why is is called York Minster, you say? Well, a "mynster" was the Anglo-Saxon name for a missionary church - a church built as a new center of worship - which was the original building in 627 AD. A cathedral is the mother church of a diocese. York Minster is both.
They have a very informative website and the virtual tour is really neat.

http://www.yorkminster.org/

The gray glass is called grisaille. "Gris" in French means "gray".

A couple of the gnarly old kings on the Quire Screen
There was a statue for 15 kings of England from William I to Henry VI - but no queen... The statues of the kings kept getting younger as time when on and beard's became shorter and then non-existent - a definite sign of the progression of fashion. Also, Henry VI's statue was the only one whose eyes had pupils, but that was probably because it was newer as the original was trashed in the Reformation. It was sort of creepy looking at statues with no pupils. They all looked blind or something.

The Quire
There were hundreds of quire seats and each had the crest and name of a Dean.

Cool dragon lamp base back by the Astronomical Clock

View from the Tower
You can go up into the Tower by climbing 275 very steep and windy steps. We all got our exercise for the day - better than a workout!

Halfway point - a much needed rest!

A monkey on a war memorial outside the Minster
"Haven't you always wanted a monkey?"

Leaving York

CAYTON BAY

The next day we ventured to the east coast to Scarborough and settled for the gorgeous cove of Cayton Bay.

View north
You can barely see Scarborough Castle on the very right tip of the coast.

Beach bums
We all acquired our first mild case of English sunburn - never thought I'd get to type that.

View south after the tide went out
We timed it perfectly again.

Whitby Abbey & Town

We headed to Whitby in the afternoon after eating at a roadside snack shack aka "roach coach". No really, the burgers were good and fast. These coaches are everywhere in roadside pull offs and the same coach generally has a claim to a certain pull off. It's the English version of old skool McDonald's.

Evan is contemplating the sheer beauty (or sheer boredom).

My Mom is not going to like these photos. I think my fascination with graveyards is rubbing off on some people.

Whitby Harbor from whence Captain Cook sailed.

Whitby street scene
It was PACKED!! The town reminded me of Annapolis for its oldness and seaside qualities, but also of Ocean City for its giant beach and amusements, although not nearly as grand scale. They did have this Trimper's ride arcade place that was straight from the OC boardwalk, hon. There were seafood vendors everywhere selling winkies, mussels, shrimp, some sort of snaily things, etc. that you could buy and eat as a snack out of a paper cup.

One of the two lighthouses

The next day, we headed for home with a few pitstops. The first was a trip back to Cayton Bay in an attempt to recover Owen's lost spectacles. Our attempt was successful as someone had handed them in at the surf shop right next to the toilets and changing room. You just gotta love honest and helpful people!

We are suckers for ye olde roadside sign. So our second pitstop was at the Kilburn White Horse in the Yorkshire Moors. These are a phenomena in Britain from like way back (Stonehenge time) and mostly south of Cheltenham. This one is much more "recent" (created in 1870's by a local schoolteacher and his students) but stunning. We are guessing the horse's head is on the ridge. As a note, the stone here is painted white. I think the older ones are actually white stone. We need to go look at the ones south of us for comparison.

We passed a glider club on the way to the White Horse and it turns out that they launch off of the cliff directly behind the horse. At least five gliders were towed out while we were there.

Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Gardens

I just couldn't resist a place with the name Studley Royal so this was our third pitstop. Turns out no studly royals were there - awww shucks. The town just next to this was named Studley Roger. We should have visited him too.
Anyway, this is a National Trust Site so we got in for free as we are members. It was awesome and the kids even enjoyed most of it once they found the mill and the stream. The fountains were very nice and there were different temples and statuary interspersed, but we were all tired so no photos. Thank goodness for ice cream!

Finn propped himself up in the shade of a tree to read and be inspired.
The rest are photos of the 12th century Cistercian abbey.

After this we headed home which was just a long trip. However, our last pitstop was at a real pitstop where we had dinner while watching the final of Britain's Got Talent. The winner was a surprise and a shocker as Susan Boyle, Scottish spinster singer extrodinaire, was expected to win. Instead a group of city youth dancers won and I do think they deserved it because they were flawless. Ms. Boyle will be a star without winning the show. These kids needed a chance and Britain gave it to them - sniffle sniff...

Peanut Allergies

I was packing lunches and snacks today (actually Craig was doing the snacks) and we were wondering why peanut allergies have become such the norm in the US and they are not even an issue over here. Granted, the peanut is not grown over here and Brits really do not eat peanut butter, but there are peanuts galore in nut mixes and restaurant dishes. The schools have never sent home notices banning peanut products. It got me wondering about if it is actually a peanut allergy or the way peanuts are processed in the US or grown - fertilizer, chemicals. I need to research this.

Oh, an aside - I was searching through "peanut" photos and was amazed at the number of pictures of cats and dogs that popped up in my search. There were way more pets than actual peanuts!

Rula Lenska

So we are eating in this pub in Scarborough, on the coast of North Yorkshire and it's filled with old timey pantomine bills/adverts. (Pantos are plays that are usually fairytale type stories and males often play female roles and I will blog on this at another time - it's a whole 'nother story.) Directly behind me is one that starred Rula Lenska. Craig reads it and says, "Rula Lenska... that name sounds familiar." So we mull it over and decide that she was on a commercial in the US when we were kids and Craig thinks it was an Alberto VO5 commercial and she would say "Hello, I'm Rula Lenska." So then, we're like, "Do you remember seeing that commercial and asking who WAS Rula Lenska?" Well now we know - she was a British star and we had no idea, until now. The mystery is solved. And my husband really is a wealth of sometimes unimportant trivia.

From Wikipedia: "In the late 1970s and early 1980s, she became famous in the United States and Canada as well for her Alberto VO5 hair products commercials that began with a closeup of her stating, "I'm Rula Lenska." People assumed this was a product endorsement by a celebrity whose name the advertisers expected them to know, but it later was revealed that this was a marketing ploy. It worked, and thus in the United States she became famous for pretending to be famous. Most people in the U.S. were unaware that she had an acting career in the United Kingdom, and believed she was just a model."