Our vacation in Britain - week 3

For the last week of our vacation we rented a cottage in Hockwold-cum-Wilton, East Anglia which is near RAF Mildenhall and did a lot of day trips.

Events were going on at some of the places we visited and we had a few surprises along the way.

We calculated that we travelled about 3,000 miles on our journey round Britain.Most of that was on windy roads.

Fountains Abbey - 2nd August

Fountains Abbey and grounds in North Yorkshire take a while to get around but it is worth the effort.

This is the largest monastic ruin in the UK. It was founded in 1132 and there is an interesting display in one of the smaller buildings about it's history and that of the Cistercian monks.

The walk from the abbey to the Georgian gardens is pleasant. We watched dogs roaming and swimming. It's quite a contrast between the two sections of the estate and is quite cleverly laid out.

There was an interesting Medieval re-enactment going on in the abbey grounds which added quite considerably to our time there. We watched a shooting display using bows and arrows and early guns. There was much to see in the tents and it was fun seeing the children from the re-enactment running around the ruins.

Within the buildings themselves was a group of actors doing a comedy of some kind.

We had to walk down into the abbey grounds which means ...... hiking back up at the end :)

Sudbury Hall/Museum of Childhood - 3rd August

The interior of Sudbury Hall is featured in "Pride and Prejudice" and unfortunately was not open to the public on the day we visited. However we walked round some of the exterior and Nik attempted to commune with the swans, yet again. Seems to be his vacation goal to get up close and personal with one of them and he has come close to succeeding on a number of occasions :)

We did not leave enough time to do the Museum of Childhood justice but we enjoyed it none the less. One of the ceilings has a full scale room attached to it. We loved that. We also liked the dragon carpet.

Tucked away in one of the corners of the garden is a rather unusual exhibit. A model scene made of plasticine !!!! It's called the Paradise in Plasticine Garden and features a bust of William Harbutt. From what I overheard it meets with somewhat mixed reactions but we liked it.

Kedleston Hall - 3rd August

My aunt and uncle live quite close to Kedleston Hall and we arranged to meet them there. One of their friends portrays the housekeeper Mrs. Garnett who held that position for 43 years from 1766. The 3rd as it turned out was the anniversary of her death so we cracked some jokes with her about chatting with ghosts :) My uncle is quite an accomplished artist and has done a picture of their friend based on the oil painting in the hall.

The current hall was built in 1758 and both internally and externally was designed, or redesigned, by Robert Adam. It is quite lovely inside but I confess to liking the India collection in the basement area :)

There is an interesting display of costumes throughout the hall related to the movie "The Duchess". The TV series Jane Eyre was also filmed at the estate.

After visiting the hall we went back to my aunt and uncle's home for a lovely dinner then made the long drive to East Anglia.

Wicken Fen - 4th August

Wicken Fen is one of England's oldest nature reserves and is quite wild looking in most parts. A number of sedge fields were in the process of being cut back. I was not in the best of moods on our visit and getting cold and damp did not help. Having said that it was interesting watching for wild life from the hides. A number of older couples were there with their grandchildren doing scavenger hunts and having a fabulous time :)

Ely Cathedral and The Fitzwilliam Museum- 4th August

I absolutely love stained glass windows of pretty much any time period and my uncle suggested to John that we take a trip to Ely Cathedral. I was in "hog heaven" :)

The museum of stained glass is located upstairs in the cathedral and no pictures are allowed though you can take some within the cathedral itself. Kris and I sat and watched a video about the process of making stained glass. The finished piece was sitting on the table. Very interesting and we watched it twice the way through :) I liked the way the exhibit was set up i.e. as a time line that you walk up in a semi tunnel like environment then walk back down on the outside.

After we finished at the cathedral we made a trip into Cambridge to visit the Fitzwilliam Musem. No photographs unfortunately because they are not allowed. The building is quite spectacular inside and is some areas quite overshadows the exhibits. There is currently an exhibition going on about Charles Darwin. Very interesting and worth the visit. We got to experience rush hour traffic on our way out and marvelled at the ability of the emergency vehicle drivers being able to wend their way through on such narrow streets.

Banham Zoo - 5th August

Banham is a small zoo (by American standards) but has a very busy schedule which keeps everyone moving along at a good pace. We particularly enjoyed watching the seals being fed, the Birds of Prey show and the Amazing Animals! show. We stayed for most of the day.

Oxburgh Hall - 5th August

Oxburgh House is surrounded by a moat with some swans swimming around in it. Nik and Elisabeth climbed down into the priests hole while inside the building and quite enjoyed that experience. I was in awe at the tapestries on display from the time of Mary Queen of Scots and John spent quite a bit of time outside photographing flowers. We did not enjoy the overwhelming stink of pigeon poop when we climbed up to the roof but the view was great.

Angelsey Abbey - 6th August

When is an abbey not an abbey? When a ruin has been bought by a man of substantial wealth and vision and turned into a home of beauty and workmanship. The gardens are gorgeous and statues abound.

One of the interesting collections inside the house is a room devoted to Windsor Castle. So many different artists giving their interpretation. We also liked the clocks and tapestires.

Wimpole hall and gardens - 6th August

The last owner of Wimpole Hall was Elsie Bambridge, daughter of Rudyard Kipling. She was a widow for about 30 of the years she was in residence there and lived in the substantial basement for a good chunk of that time.

The house is quite lovely inside in a shabby kind of way. The kids liked the Yellow Drawing Room and I loved the Library and Book Room. Downstairs is an unconsecrated chapel which we all liked, as well as a bath house which we thought was quite unusual.

Bure Valley mini guage railway - August 7th

Riding on a mini gauge railway is an experience. Kind of like Gulliver in Lilliput Land :)

Merrivale Model Village and Gardens, Great Yarmouth - 7th August

The garden setting with it's winding paths is quite lovely. The model village concept is great but the buildings could do with being upgraded to match the landscaping effort. The kids liked it but if given the choice would prefer another visit to Legoland :)

John let the kids loose in the Penny Arcade after we went through the gardens. Elisabeth worked out how to use one of the machines and while we don't promote gambling it was fun to watch the looks on their faces as the pennies came "ca-chinging" out. They still came away with nothing but a better understanding of how easy it can be to get addicted to gaming.