This week: From London to the Orkney Islands

Last week was a very hectic week. In preparation for the first long weekend trip to Ireland, which goes from Wednesday to Sunday, we had an extra day of class on Friday to make up for missed Thursday classes this week. As soon as possible, I packed my bags and headed to London for the weekend to see friends Michael and Todd, and to check out the big LAPADA antique show in Berkeley Square. It is only an hour train ride from Grantham to King's Cross station and then just a quick trip north on the bus to Michael's flat. It was a bit jarring to be back in the hustle of London after five weeks in idyllic Lincolnshire walking through the cow, sheep, and horse pastures.

We had a low key weekend overall. I slept in on Saturday morning and enjoyed a leisurely day looking at some of the most beautiful furniture, paintings, and other old stuff. There were four George I dining chairs...only a cool L28,000. Madonna and child statues from 14th C. Alsace, Munnings paintings of horses, a breath-taking 8"x10" painting of three hounds (only L8,000), and on and on and on. The show was really in the park too...under what looked like the usual white tents but then you went inside and you felt like you were in a building...solid floors were put in around (!) the bowls of trees...carved to fit snuggly against them. So there you were looking at one booth and you'd turn a corner and run right into a tree trunk!

Sunday I was up early and first in the queue for Matins and Sung Eucharist at Westminster Abbey. I sat right in front of the Canon of Westminster in a seat closest to the high altar but in the choir pews. The choir sang Byrd's Mass for Four Voices, his Preces and Reponses, and some other lovely anthems. No offence to the Harlaxton Village choir (all seven of them) but I needed to hear some real music for a change. It was such a lovely day, I wandered from there through St. James Park...up past Clarence House to St. James' Street and Fortnum and Mason's. I walked up Old and New Bond Streets looking in the shops, stopped in to an auction preview at Sotheby's, and found my way to Oxford Street and eventually back to the flat. It really was one of those rare gorgeous days in London.

I headed back to Harlaxton on Monday morning and was back to my usual teaching routines yesterday and today. But tomorrow...I'm off with the political science professor and her husband to the Orkney Islands off the northern tip of Scotland! We're going to fly from Heathrow and rent a car to travel the small cluster of islands to see as many of the islands' 5000 neolithic sites as we can. Crashing waves, cliffs, ruins of towers, standing stones...you get the idea. What an opportunity! Stay tuned for the details of this new adventure!

I do hope everyone is doing well! I miss you all alot!

Chatsworth

It has been over a week since I took a trek to Derbyshire to see one of the two great houses that I have wanted to see in person for a long time: Chatsworth House, home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. What a place! The stables and carriage house are the size of grand manor in their own right as you can see, dwarfing the tourists wandering by.

The house was really too much to take in and trying to capture it all on film was a futile task. I just bought the book that has many of the grand images in perfect focus so I could concentrate on enjoying what I was seeing. To the left was a display of gold platters and chinese porcelain arranged in an over the top, yet understated, way. Let me try to explain.

The day I went to the house, they opened a new exhibit called "Flor-abundance," which seemed to be someone's bright idea to cover ever public room of the house with the most gaudy flower arrangements possible. In the main hall where you first come into the house and where visitors to the Cavendishes would have been received, there was a solid line of 5-foot high and 6'-wide flower arrangements in a room that was already dominated by floor to ceiling murals, now unable to be enjoyed because these obnoxious flowers were in the way. The chapel was unrecognizable as such as it was turned into one big dried herb arrangement. And I am not making this stuff up! The place smelled great but come on!

But then you have beautiful panels like this one where lovely game birds, fruits, and other sporting accessories were carved by Grinling Gibbons. These were so finely done that one would have thought they were real! Then you turned the corner and there were more of those flowers!

The other thing that I found a bit annoying was that the current Duke and Duchess have developed a penchant for the most random pieces of contemporary art possible. Now no offence to Lori and other friends who enjoy contemporary art but this was silly. A table covered in twenty pieces of beautiful glass vases of different forms all done in an opaque egg shell color with hints of amber was blocked by a giant 6-foot tall blue and white vase done in an abstract form...think Ming vase on LSD. And next to that, occupying most of the other open space in the room was something akin to "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree only 7-feet high and hung with pastel colored ornaments. What were they thinking? There was no sense of the space or what else was around. It was all just thrown together. What must the Dowager Duchess think?

Okay, enough ranting. There was plenty more to keep me in awe. As you can see, the dining room was a reasonable simple one. No tacky flowers here thank goodness.

To the left was an amazing light fixture set with candles. Wow!

Then there was the one of the few contemporary pieces I had to have a picture of since it made me think of Derby and the Billings' whippets, Tigger and Simon. Now here was a lovely sculpture but it was tucked away in the sculpture gallery, off to the side.

The lion is one of a pair, and quite a startling guardian of the entrace to the gift shop. I could see a pair like them sitting out on Park Avenue...couldn't you?

Finally, I was able to get out and see the gardens. They were the best part of the entire experience. Despite the clouds, they were every bit as lovely as the pictures I have seen of them.

I've included just a couple of them. This is the part of Chatsworth I would come back for. In addition, there are probably miles of public footpaths across the estate that I will some day go back and wander. Who knows...maybe Mr. Darcy will come riding up on a horse. It looks like he might at any minute.

To the left is the greenhouse, chock a block with exotic plants and citrus. Below is the stepped fountain flowing down toward the house from a folly at the top.

And last but not least, there were these lovely small plants that looked like large crocus. If it hadn't been late September, I might have assumed that's what they were but now I think they must be a kind of "surprise" lilly, if that is what they are called. These were everywhere.

Morris Dancing

Last Monday night, the Foresters Morris Dancers and the Greenwood Cloggers paid us a visit for an evening of traditional music and dancing. Morris dancing like this is really a Victorian recreation of an older dancing tradition that has it's roots back in the days of the Old Religion. Village dancers would go, with bells around their legs and sometimes masked, about villages and fields dancing, hitting sticks together, or hitting tree trucks all of which was designed to wake the spirits of the trees and fields, reminding them that spring was coming. The Victorians, faced with the disenchantment of the new industrial era, tried to revive these traditions much like we have madrigal dinners. These days, as you can see from some of the pictures, Morris dancing is being kept alive be middle aged men and women having a grand old time.

As you can also see above, I was pulled into the line and was required to hit sticks with a partner between dancing in circles. It was not as easy as it looks but I got the hang of it. One of my students was in the center of the dancers who told her to just hold her arms out and go stiff but didn't tell her they would be picking her up and spinning her in the air. She loved it just the same.

The dancers were quite festively dressed in ribbons and flowers...again more in keeping with their more typical appearance at spring festivals.

The Greenwood Cloggers gave the gents a rest and did some traditional steps from Lancastershire in the conservatory. This was followed by a "Plough Play" which as the name suggests was a bit of a spring time frivolity that included a farmer and plenty of the boys in drag. Ah those Brits!

When their performances were done, the whole lot of them and all of us heading down to the cellar pub to share pints of ale and relax. The group taught us some traditional songs from around the British Isles and we even managed to push back the tables and chairs for some more dancing. I left by 10 pm but they were still going strong...I assume they left before dawn but you never know!

Weekend Fun with the Belvoir Hunt

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear for this weekend's "hound exercising" (formally known as "cubbing" for about 40 members of the Belvoir (pronounced like "beaver") Hunt at a meet in Garthorpe, a small racecourse kept up by the local Hunts as a venue for point-to-points, team chases, and hunter trials during the year. Since I don't yet have a horse to ride I had to be satisfied with my invitation to join the hunt members for breakfast "in a brown hut in the middle of a field," as the hunt secretary described it to me in an email. I had no idea what to expect of course. This village, which is only a 15 minute drive from Harlaxton, was unknown even to the taxi company! I told the driver who picked me up that I had a map but didn't know exactly what he was taking me to.

After a beautiful drive through the Linconshire/Leicestershire country (thank goodness for GPS), we turned into the race course and saw the horse lorries, cars, and a group of people who assured me I was in the right place for the hunt breakfast. I have no idea what they must have though seeing a taxi pull up but they were very welcoming and nice. They were waiting for various spouses and children to get back from the ride.

A few of the riders got back and put their horses away and then we got the word that breakfast was ready. I walked into what was a brown hut in the middle of the field...more like a camp cabin really...to find three ladies, all aged 70+, each with thier own camp stove, frying eggs to order, sausages, and bacon for sandwiches. There were two tables with nearly 20 (home-made by these ladies) berry and apple pies on them for pudding! We washed it all down with tea and coffee and sat outside in the sun enjoying the weather can talking horses and hunting as more and more of the hunt got back.

Everyone was extremely nice. They all wanted to know what the Traders Point Hunt was like and how hunting at home compared to here. My standard reply was that our hunt had a field of forty people on a very very big day, say at the opening meet, but it was rarely that many people. Also, I told them our territory didn't reach from where we stood to the sea on the east coast of Britain which is the territory of the Belvoir. Those first pictures were two views of the race course where the BH would host their annual teach chase and hunter trials. There were 23 fences all together across all of those fields. Just a little bigger than the handfull of jumps in front of the TPH clubhouse!

The next day I was back for the team chases and hunter trials. Unlike yesterday, the weather turned cloudy and the wind was almost biting but everyone soldiered on and the day was great provided there was a tea break every hour or so.

I walked out onto the course to watch the first class of riders in the team chase. You can see from this picture of the riders going over fence ten, this was an easier course and the teams seemed to be made up of either an adult and child (12 or over) or pairs of siblings or friends.

Back on the main grounds, there was an equestrian "boot" sale where people could sell old tack and other riding accessories from the boot (or trunk) of their cars. There were also other vendors as well selling wonderful hunting books and antique prints as well as vintage hunting clothes. I bought a wonderful dark mustard colored vest for cubbing and a pair of string gloves for more those formal meets. There were also food vendors grilling bison burgers and lincolnshire sausages, and of course, despite the much cooler weather, there was a bar offering wine, ales, and of course, Pimm's! By 3:30, my taxi arrived to carry me back to Harlaxton after a great day with the Belvoir. They all want me to join them soon so I am back on my mission to find a horse to hire.

Lincoln

Today was the first of the required British Studies field trips for the Harlaxton students to the ancient city of Lincoln, about 40 miles north of Harlaxton. It was a beautiful day as you can see from the pictures. We poured out of the coaches and divided into groups of about 15 that went off in different directions to do hour-long tours of "Roman" Lincoln, the Cathedral, and Lincoln Castle.
The castle was somethign I didn't get to thinking that the town itself had so much to see and do that I would definitely have to return with Jim when he comes to visit in October. You can see in the picture here one of the towers and the walls stretching in both directions.

The city has been occupied at least since the Romans were here. The castle and cathedral were both begun shortly after the Norman conquest in 1066 though they replaced existing buildings from both the Romans and the Saxons. The original front wall of Lincoln Cathedral is what remains from a Saxon one that collapsed in an earthquake. You can see that central portion in the third picture below of the Cathedral's west door.


I went on the walking tour of Roman Lincoln with one of the student groups. What you can see in the photo is Newport Arch. This has been in use since the Roman period and it was through this gate that the Roman legions marched out to put down the uprising of Boadicea, the famous Queen who tried to unite the tribal peoples of Britain to oppose the Roman occupiers in the first century!

The final picture is the view across the square between the castle and cathedral. From this vantage point you can see the slope of the hill that we are on. Down the street on the right is quite a steep hill (think Nob Hill in San Francisco) called "Steep Hill" which takes you down past many shops and houses that date from the 1300s. At the base of the hill is a river over which is High Bridge which was build in the 12th century and is the oldest in Britain to still carry buildings (shops and flats). It was wonderful to see all the small shops carrying anything you might possibly want...from antiques to wine to chocolates to stationary to fresh meats and produce.

The poor dears

Walking to Belvoir Castle

So what was I thinking? It was a lovely Sunday afternoon. Belvoir (pronounced beaver) Castle, home to the Duke and Duchess of Rutland is five miles across the valley from Harlaxton. There is a walking trail that follows the Grantham canal almost all the way to the Castle. Wouldn't it be great to get out the house and get some exercise and see the home of the Belvoir Hunt and the Duke of Rutland's Hounds? Well the first part of the walk was grand. As you can see from the pictures. The flowing water created idyllic scenes of young swans (just turning white) swimming along, sheep and cattle grazing, plentiful wild black raspeberries everywhere, and even the odd pheasant or two scaring me to death by suddenly flying out of the brush six inches away from me!

The canal itself was interesting in that there were still locks every now and again several of which were still working. As you can see in my photo, they have had a blue-green algae problem in some parts of the canal and were working to clean it up so people could return to fishing in it again.

So, what's the problem with this little bit of exercise? It turns out that the Castle was indeed 5 miles away...AS THE CROW FLIES! By the time I saw the view in the picture above, I had gone nearly 7 miles...and it was still another mile and a half uphill to the entrance to the Castle car park! I was a bit footsore and debated the entire last mile and a half about calling a taxi to take me home. But what I saw was worth it. The views of the exterior of the castle and gardens are all I have as they didn't allow photography inside.

I did get there in time for a 12:30 art tour however. Belvoir is home to a beautiful art collection that includes the famous full-length portrait of Henry VIII attributed to Holbein. There were painting by Stubbs and many other lessor known but skilled Dutch painters. To see several of the smaller pieces, we were taken beyond the velvet ropes in a few rooms. One room, a chinese guest room, in particular made one stop breathing. The wall paper was hand-painted and brought in rolls from China in the 1790s. It was designed with a water scene that had many birds and insects all over it. If the workmen happened to rip the paper, they woudl just cut out a bird or butterfly and paste it over the tear to cover it up. You had to look carefully but you could see where this had happened quite frequently it seemed. The other thing to note about the room in addition to the lovelty furniture and art was that the ceiling was 18 feet high!

We were taken through the dining room which had a large repousse wine tub (for chilling wines as needed. It is the largest of its kind in Europe and decorated with peacocks, the heraldic symbol of Belvoir. There was also a long gallery that was featured in the film the Young Victoria as her dressing room, and a chapel in the basement. It was a lovely house in which the Duke and Duchess still live with their five children and four dogs.

The final picture is of the stables and horse exercise yard. Horses could be exercised in that round building in the center of the court yard. As you can also see from the view beyond, the Earls who first built a castle here 1000 years ago appropriately chose the name Belvoir, or "beautiful view."

I was so energized by my walk and tour around the castle, I did in fact walk home. Taking my time of course and soaking in all the beauty here.