Yesterday (Thursday), the faculty enjoyed a free afternoon to wander through Grantham, the historic market town about four miles away. After asking the advice of the locals, I went straight for Hallem's, a small deli/specialty food market that offered a nice range of local cheeses, olives, and other tasty treats (The cheeses we settled on were a Lincoln Imp, an organic cheddar, and a very unusual local blue who's name I forgot to write down so I need to go back and find that out). There was a green grocer, near the town's main church, St Wulfstan's, who had the most amazing blackberries (1 qt for a Pound) and tiny sweet strawberries (1 pt for a Pound)! The wine mechant, Bottom's Up, was just down a little further (next to the saddlery shop) where a lovely 1999 LBV Warre's Port and some Hendrick's Gin (naturally) were all collected as provisions for the Senior Common Room where the faculty gather in the evenings (see the picture). A local university professor died 25+ years ago and donated his book collection to Harlaxton and now other visiting professors have added to it. The collection varies from education to philosophy to music along with contemporary fiction and travel books that are all for our private use. It is a lovely room...Maybe I should note that the younger members of the faculty decided not to wait for the evening and enjoyed drinks and nibbles out on the south terrace of the manor before dinner.
On to Friday...
Okay, this is it! The first (of three!) coaches packed with students is due in from Heathrow by 1 today so I figured that this was the last chance to enjoy some peace and quiet on a walk about. At 6:30 am this morning, the sky was so blue and there was a cool breeze blowing that I had to get out in it. I walked the mile-long drive up to the main road then followed a bike path about a mile toward the nearby town of Denton until I figured out that there were public footpaths that would take me across fields rather than have to walk alongside the traffic on the A607 to Melton Mowbray (noted as a high-risk road due to 26 casualties in the month of July alone!)
I made it back to the manor in time for a hearty breakfast only to turn around two h0urs later and back out with one of the history professors who wanted to go for a walk through fields. These are the fields and local animal life in the pictures. By the time Beth and I got back to the manor, there was a big storm brewing and thankfully a kind workman who was working on restoring the gatehouse, gave us a lift back up to the manor just as the rain came down in buckets. (See the next post for the pictures.)
The students are now wandering around the house like lost sheep as we all were at first. It is nice to know which staircase takes you back to your room and which unlabeled door leads wherever else you need to go. This is much like Gosford Park for those of you who have seen that film. It is no wonder those visiting servants would get a bit confused and end up in the wrong places.
The other exciting news of the day was that I now have a contact for riding here in Lincolnshire; in a small village on the other side of Grantham, called Hough on the Hill (don't say it...). The Headmaster's administrative assistant and her husband used to have quite a few horses and they know anyone who is anyone in the local horse world. She also used to ride her hunt horses in the trial point-to-point chase that is required to make sure they are fit to hunt the territory. As it turns out, the Belvoir Hunt is one of the top hunts in all of England so if I get to hunt with them, it will be quite something. Ann's excellent advice was that I should 1) hunt with someone who is willing to go with me and 2) only plan to hunt on a Tuesday meet when the "farmer fraternity" go out for a more friendly and less "hell-bent on speed" Saturday meet. Tuesday meets here for my hunt friends information typcially bring out about 50 people but Saturday meets can have as many as 200, most of whom, in Ann's words, are from London and don't know what they are doing. I think a Tuesday sounds great...it only requires me to go out at 4 am! We'll see!
No comments:
Post a Comment