Jim's visit to Harlaxton

Well, after two months, I can't express how wonderful it was to have Jim step out of the arrivals gate at Heathrow last Wednesday! It seems like forever since I seen him even though we skype twice a day. He was finally here and everything was once again right with the world. We made our way back into London and on to Kings Cross Station to get him back to Harlaxton. As everyone is, he was more than a bit amazed at the manor in all its glory when he could see it for himself. I didn't subject him to eating in the refectory that night however so we wandered down the lane to the Gregory for a light dinner then back again so he could finally get some sleep.

No rest for the wicked however. The next morning we were up, breakfasted, and then off to Stamford for our tour of Burghley House, the home of the Earls of Exeter since 1587 or so. It is a beautiful Elizabethan manor that I didn't get to see when I was there for the Burghley Horse Trials. Burghley House is something of a model for what Gregory Gregory aspired to build here at Harlaxton but only managed to do in the hints and suggestions of the architecture.

The house itself was exquisite but sadly photography was not allowed inside. We were there on a Thursday just after noon so we basically had the place to ourselves. This included the docents stationed in each room. We heard everything they could tell us and we were able to ask lots of questions. The tour started in the old kitchens. These were unbelieveable. They had a mechanical spit (though it would have been a young boy's job to keep the meat turning once upon a time) operating as it would have done in front of the giant hearth. There were giant copper pots and platters, some of which were easily over a meter long. There were turtle skulls hung along the wall, a copper basin for cooking the sea turtles, and a copper turtle soup tureen for the soup that would have been served regularly at dinner. You can imagine that I was in heaven.

The tour took you through the bell room where the servants could see where they were needed and by whom then up to the chapel and on to a series of rooms, each grander than the last. There were so many paintings that they actually had a very helpful guide book just to tell you what was hanging in each room.
For those of you back in Indianapolis, if you see Jim, he will tell you about the Heaven and Hell rooms. These were done floor-to-ceiling in murals depicting, in one case, the pantheon of Olympus, with so many stories from ancient mythology, that I intend to find a compendium of them so I can remember who all the characters were. In the next room, the murals were those of hell and leviathan. It was a bit like Dante's inferno along with all of the ancient myths related to the underworld. It made us want to just lay on the floor and try to absorb all the individual scenes represented.

Jim and I had a lovely lunch in the orangery before heading out to see a bit of the gardens just outside. The picture of Jim in front of the reflecting pool gives you a sense for the fall beauty of this small garden, made especially dramatic with the red ivy growing up the walls of the great hall.

We headed back to catch the afternoon train back toward Grantham but stopped into the George Hotel in Stamford before we did so. This is a hotel built in 1597 by Lord William Cecil (the builder of Burghley) and is a lovely Elizabethan inn with oak paneling everywhere and as you can see in the picture, a lovely trolley of cakes and sweets for those coming for tea. We both decided that we needed to come back and stay overnight there sometime.

From Stamford back to Lincoln last Friday so Jim could see the Cathedral and the reminents of Roman Britain that pepper the city. I only rushed through the cathedral on my visit last month so I enjoyed being able to take a more leisurely stroll through.

In the photo of the cathedral nave, you can see the mistake in the building design that was only discovered as the walls went up. If you follow the line along the roof (it's spine) toward the rose window, you can see the spot where they must have realized that they were out of alignment and needed to shift the stones over. So it is not perfectly in alignment. Oops!

There was a funeral that was about to take place for an old member of the Cathedral so Jim and I were allowed just a brief moment to duck into the quire to take a picture and to look at the beautiful carvings. By the time we made it back down the nave, the organist started playing a prelude and we heard the choir sing a short motet or psalm. It was just lovely. Sadly evensong doesn't start until 6:30 pm so we weren't able to stay for that.

One last story about the Lincoln trip...in an effort to save some money, we decided to take a bus from Grantham which takes a little longer but it drives you through all the lovely villages along the way. This was all well and good on the way up. On the way home however, our first stop before leaving Lincoln saw 30-40 school kids get on the bus, all on their way home. They went to the Priory Academy which I assume was a prepratory school. Much to our relief, the kids were all very well behaved, respectful, and quiet. They piled off a few at a time as we went out of Lincoln. About half way back to Grantham, we stopped at a high school and another set of students got on. These were mostly boys and they were loud and rather obnoxious, throwing their backpacks around and shouting rude words at each other across the bus. We were in school bus hell and could only pray that they would get off asap. We were never so relieved as when we got back to Grantham and could get back on the Harlaxton shuttle! What an amazing experience of British youth!

The day was redeemed however by the fact that we managed to get dinner reservations at Harry's Place in Great Gonerby, just a mile or so outside of Grantham. This restaurant is run by a husband and wife out of their Georgian house on the high street and has room for ten people at any one time. The husband is the chef and his wife runs the front of the house. They are books ages out but called me out of the blue to say that a table had opened up for this night so Jim and I decided we'd celebrate our 18th anniversary with dinner there. We got there and a table of six was just starting their first course and other table of two was having their order taken. Then Caroline turned her attention to us, bringing us a lovely bottle of St. Aubin white burgundy and then came to get our order. So this is how the place ran. Everyone's reservations were staggered so each table was one course ahead of the next table. As it turned out on this night, everyone was celebrating...birthdays at the other two tables and our anniversaries.

The food was glorious and the best I have had since being here (not such a surprise given the Harlaxton refectory food-moan, moan, moan). There was a choice of two starters, main courses, and puddings. We started with a cream of celeriac soup with sage breadcrumbs sprinkled over the top. My main course was filleted loin of venison in a lovely wine and herb sauce and Jim had wild Scotish halibut. Delicious roasties came in a bowl for both of us. For pudding, we shared a prune and armagnac ice crea with a passion fruit sauce. Wow! I loved every bite of it all! At the end, Harry came out of the kitchen and chatted with each table. I may have to try to go back for lunch one more time before I leave. And on a side note, the family of six that was there also provided some interesting conversation as they were overheard discussing butlers and who they though were they best they had ever had! Ah those wacky Brits.

Saturday, we were heading back to London to stay with Michael and Todd overnight before Jim had to return to the states. We wandered around the grounds of the manor so Jim could see all the terraces and the various views back across the Belvoir Vale on this cool crisp morning as the sun peaked out from under the clouds and hit the land as it sweeps down from the manor. It was lovely.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of my Leo Jim by one of the many lions scattered around the Harlaxton gardens. I think they bear a strong resemblance to each other don't you?

It was a lovely morning to be out wandering the grounds with Jim but we both were sorry that it was to be his last day. Christmas is only two months away and he will be back but it still seems like a lifetime!