Hi ya to you all from Lincoln – part of Lincolnshire – very close to Yorkshire and Nottingham.
We are staying with some lovely people whose daughter we know in Havelock North. Beryl is a retired science high-school teacher and her husband Richard was an engineer before he retired. They picked us up from the train station in Peterborough and took us off to meet their friends for supper (scones, jam and cream and cup of tea) before we all went off to an open-air Shakespeare play of 12th Night (big discussion beforehand about what is was about so we all knew! – felt better when some of them weren’t sure either!)
The play was at this stately home, set up in it’s gardens and the audience are in tiered seating under a marquee. The stage was open air, with trees at the back, and we looked slightly down on it. The actors were amateur but were great! It was freezing cold, the audience all decked out in beanies and blankets, with gale force winds, but the area was very protected from the wind and you could only tell by the trees blowing behind the stage. App. This was a very
English thing to do over summer! They kept apologising for the weather but we were warned.
The play finished and we bundled off into the car for a 2 hours drive to Lincoln (we arrived at the train station at 5 and arrived in Lincoln at midnight!) On the way past we saw the Lincoln castle and Cathedral lit up which was magical.
Our wonderful hosts had organised some busy days, and then it was decided we would stay on an extra day so no complaints from this quarter.
The first day was going to a lovely park in a stately homes gardens, and walked around a lake with swans and ducks etc. then off to another one which had turned into a hotel, and we snuck it for a nosey, and checked the gardens out. (there was a wedding going on, by the way the bridesmaids were in a disgusting shade of yellow and the bride looked frozen and was drinking beer out of a bottle! Posh wedding too!)
Then we travelled along some gorgeous country roads with narrow lanes and hedgerows, horses etc and cottages – just what you think of rural England – and came to ……. Sherwood forest! I was so excited! The woodlands were lovely and not many people around at all. We stopped at the visitors centre and went for a 25 min stroll through the forest to check out the ‘Major oak” which is one of the last great oaks left over from Robin Hoods time (they think). It is propped up on poles to stop the branches breaking and to preserve it. App. It has been only recently they decided to start protecting these trees from visitors who want to climb them, pull off branches to take home etc. We saw a squirrel running up a tree, so was very happy. Didn’t see Robin Hood, but had photos taken by statues of him, and him and Little John. They have joustling competitions and archery etc there over the summer, so could see that as being lots of fun!
Second day was a look around Lincoln itself, with a start at a lovely rural church (Norman times) where their daughter got married. Set in a paddock of cows, mounds around the fields where the medieval village used to be, and some very interesting old gravestones in the yard of the church.
Then we moved on to Lincoln Castle which is Roman/Norman (built around 700 AD) set up on the top of the high hill in Lincoln overlooking the town. Lincoln became important because it grew around the crossroads of two roman roads, one going from London up and one going from East to West, and Lincoln was where they met.
The castle had a town around it up on the hill, so we explored that before looking around the castle and walking around top of the walls. App. They took their prisoners up to the top of the tower and hung them over the tower and hanged them so the village could all see them dangling. There is a pub still going from those times call The Strugglers, where villagers would sit and watch these hanged men struggling on the noose for entertainment! Some would go over and haul on the feet of these struggling, dying people to help break their necks and so death came more quickly! Talk about morbid!
In the castle there was a chapel for the prisoners, who were taken there every Sunday. They were seated individually these closed off boxes with a hood over their head, with slits for eyes, so other prisoners did not know who they were, and they didn’t get to know other prisoners. (they were held in isolation in the cells). Very small room, Dave pretended to be the minister and we were in the boxes being the prisoners! You could only see the minister and nobody else. Very spooky.
After that we walked over to Lincoln Cathedral which is an arrows throw away! So the castle could defend the cathedral.
The cathedral is gorgeous. We were lucky because nice Beryl and Richard asked their friend who is a guide for the cathedral to take us on a personal tour. She was a lovely lady, and we had a great guided tour with explanations of the carvings and the layout etc.
Did you know knave was where the word ‘navy’ came from?? The beams up above a church ceiling meet in the middle like an upsidedown ships hull, hence ship/ navy. See I am not just a pretty face!
Anyway the door was where you entered your spiritual journey (which is why a lot of fonts for baptism are near the back where the door is). This font is one of the oldest in England made out of black marble, and they ended up putting covers over fonts to stop people in the medieval times from stealing the holy water!.
There were no chairs as in a normal church, as in the old times people actually used this as more of a hall or meeting place and stone seats were around the edges for the weak and infirm. This church puts out plastic chairs for concerts etc bit the feel is of a grand hall. Behind the organ was the choir stalls and proper pews for those who sat at services. The choir was practising, and it was delightfully pure! (I was impressed with the singing, and as Beryl said, they put it on just for their Kiwi visitors! Don’t think so!).
Anyway – it was nice to meet Margaret our guide, and she and her husband came back for supper (tea) afterwards so we got to have a lovely discussion about our two countries.
Last day was a bus trip with lots of oldies (organised by the before said Margaret who invited us) including Beryl and Richard and took us over the Humber Bridge (near Hull and Leeds) and onto a gorgeous medieval town of Beverley two hours away in Yorkshire. We stayed in Beverley for two hours, so Dave and I explored on our own, another church - they call it the Minster, - and the tiny town main street. We even had our first English pub lunch – fish and chips and pie, mushy peas and spud! Very yum with a cider!
After that it was back on the bus to another stately home – called Barton Angus. This was full of art works collected by the late Lord, so we got a arty-farty guided tour about all the art works. I was fascinated (there was a Renoir, manet, gaughin and some English painters) but Dave wandered off! The rooms were lovely as well. It had a walled garden with a maze – all the right things an English home should have! The present owner couldn’t keep it up, so set up a charity trust to which he donated the house, gardens and artworks and it gets looked after by this trust. He lives on the estate somewhere with his family and helps run this trust. There is a woodlands on the estate where they have Easter egg hunts and hundreds of kids turn up to search in the woods! Cool eh?
On the way back it was Nana nap time, me and all the oldies. I think they all thought Dave was wonderful (again) cause he helped them with their bags etc. good PR for our country I suppose.
All in all, a lovely time had with such nice people, who shared their rural England with us. They took us to all these places, fed us and gave us running commentaries - it was just wonderful. (plus the bed was soft and cuddly too). Many many thanks to them for a pleasant few days.
PS we all went to the supermarket – Dave checked out the freezer and chiller cabinets, I went with Beryl to the produce part and checked out the veges and fruit. Most of it comes from other countries, the nicest looking apples camefrom Italy – there were cox orange apples from NZ and they looked disgusting! Brown spots and small – was so embarrassed! Told Beryl next time she comes out we would show her proper HB fruit! The prices were same as ours (pound for NZ dollar, which means they were double our price – interesting eh?) and that was for meat too.
Then we travelled along some gorgeous country roads with narrow lanes and hedgerows, horses etc and cottages – just what you think of rural England – and came to ……. Sherwood forest! I was so excited! The woodlands were lovely and not many people around at all. We stopped at the visitors centre and went for a 25 min stroll through the forest to check out the ‘Major oak” which is one of the last great oaks left over from Robin Hoods time (they think). It is propped up on poles to stop the branches breaking and to preserve it. App. It has been only recently they decided to start protecting these trees from visitors who want to climb them, pull off branches to take home etc. We saw a squirrel running up a tree, so was very happy. Didn’t see Robin Hood, but had photos taken by statues of him, and him and Little John. They have joustling competitions and archery etc there over the summer, so could see that as being lots of fun!
Second day was a look around Lincoln itself, with a start at a lovely rural church (Norman times) where their daughter got married. Set in a paddock of cows, mounds around the fields where the medieval village used to be, and some very interesting old gravestones in the yard of the church.
Then we moved on to Lincoln Castle which is Roman/Norman (built around 700 AD) set up on the top of the high hill in Lincoln overlooking the town. Lincoln became important because it grew around the crossroads of two roman roads, one going from London up and one going from East to West, and Lincoln was where they met.
The castle had a town around it up on the hill, so we explored that before looking around the castle and walking around top of the walls. App. They took their prisoners up to the top of the tower and hung them over the tower and hanged them so the village could all see them dangling. There is a pub still going from those times call The Strugglers, where villagers would sit and watch these hanged men struggling on the noose for entertainment! Some would go over and haul on the feet of these struggling, dying people to help break their necks and so death came more quickly! Talk about morbid!
In the castle there was a chapel for the prisoners, who were taken there every Sunday. They were seated individually these closed off boxes with a hood over their head, with slits for eyes, so other prisoners did not know who they were, and they didn’t get to know other prisoners. (they were held in isolation in the cells). Very small room, Dave pretended to be the minister and we were in the boxes being the prisoners! You could only see the minister and nobody else. Very spooky.
After that we walked over to Lincoln Cathedral which is an arrows throw away! So the castle could defend the cathedral.
The cathedral is gorgeous. We were lucky because nice Beryl and Richard asked their friend who is a guide for the cathedral to take us on a personal tour. She was a lovely lady, and we had a great guided tour with explanations of the carvings and the layout etc.
Did you know knave was where the word ‘navy’ came from?? The beams up above a church ceiling meet in the middle like an upsidedown ships hull, hence ship/ navy. See I am not just a pretty face!
Anyway the door was where you entered your spiritual journey (which is why a lot of fonts for baptism are near the back where the door is). This font is one of the oldest in England made out of black marble, and they ended up putting covers over fonts to stop people in the medieval times from stealing the holy water!.
There were no chairs as in a normal church, as in the old times people actually used this as more of a hall or meeting place and stone seats were around the edges for the weak and infirm. This church puts out plastic chairs for concerts etc bit the feel is of a grand hall. Behind the organ was the choir stalls and proper pews for those who sat at services. The choir was practising, and it was delightfully pure! (I was impressed with the singing, and as Beryl said, they put it on just for their Kiwi visitors! Don’t think so!).
Anyway – it was nice to meet Margaret our guide, and she and her husband came back for supper (tea) afterwards so we got to have a lovely discussion about our two countries.
Last day was a bus trip with lots of oldies (organised by the before said Margaret who invited us) including Beryl and Richard and took us over the Humber Bridge (near Hull and Leeds) and onto a gorgeous medieval town of Beverley two hours away in Yorkshire. We stayed in Beverley for two hours, so Dave and I explored on our own, another church - they call it the Minster, - and the tiny town main street. We even had our first English pub lunch – fish and chips and pie, mushy peas and spud! Very yum with a cider!
After that it was back on the bus to another stately home – called Barton Angus. This was full of art works collected by the late Lord, so we got a arty-farty guided tour about all the art works. I was fascinated (there was a Renoir, manet, gaughin and some English painters) but Dave wandered off! The rooms were lovely as well. It had a walled garden with a maze – all the right things an English home should have! The present owner couldn’t keep it up, so set up a charity trust to which he donated the house, gardens and artworks and it gets looked after by this trust. He lives on the estate somewhere with his family and helps run this trust. There is a woodlands on the estate where they have Easter egg hunts and hundreds of kids turn up to search in the woods! Cool eh?
On the way back it was Nana nap time, me and all the oldies. I think they all thought Dave was wonderful (again) cause he helped them with their bags etc. good PR for our country I suppose.
All in all, a lovely time had with such nice people, who shared their rural England with us. They took us to all these places, fed us and gave us running commentaries - it was just wonderful. (plus the bed was soft and cuddly too). Many many thanks to them for a pleasant few days.
PS we all went to the supermarket – Dave checked out the freezer and chiller cabinets, I went with Beryl to the produce part and checked out the veges and fruit. Most of it comes from other countries, the nicest looking apples camefrom Italy – there were cox orange apples from NZ and they looked disgusting! Brown spots and small – was so embarrassed! Told Beryl next time she comes out we would show her proper HB fruit! The prices were same as ours (pound for NZ dollar, which means they were double our price – interesting eh?) and that was for meat too.
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