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Published: April 21st 2012
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We’re in a campground near Whitby, (4/14/12) looking out over the North York Moors National Park, in northern England. When we were enjoying the gorgeous warm weather in late March, the locals warned us that this same weather pattern happened las year and that was IT for the summer. June and July were cold and rainy. Oh, no we thought, it can’t get that cold. Well, guess what, it has and is and has been predicted to be. The temperature was minus 7C. in Edinburgh this morning and 4 C. in our MH at first light. We were even caught in a hailstorm, while out wandering around a village. The local kids loved it of course, even though they were chasing Easter Egg clues all over the National Trust sites during that 2 week vacation. The prize for each was a huge Cadbury Egg.
We’ve continued to move North and have tried to visit as many of the National Trust sites as possible. Although the garden beauty is just beginning, the colors of tulips, daffodils and occasional bluebells are just lovely. The different species of trees, some deformed 500-600 years olds (Sweet Chestnut) and oddly shaped hardwoods (Weeping Ash) and
the mature Lime Trees with ectopic central overgrowth have intrigued us.
Each property has a detailed and wonderful story to share and one the most ornate and intriguing was that of the Pope’s Cabinet, originally built for Pope Sixtus V. The cabinet is approximately 48”x48”x 48””and is an intricately constructed cabinet made jewels, gems, marble, wood, etc.: that contains 150 drawers of every imaginable convolution. Some three layers upon layers and all of course magnificently decorated and hidden. It was purchased by the owner of this Stourhead property, Henry The Magnificent Hoare and transported from Rome by horse and cart centuries ago. The price was also ‘magnificent’’and unknown to this day. The stand upon which it sits has been restored and is in itself a marvel of craftsmanship. Legend has it that a family with a few curious children who once lived here in Stourhead, took all of the drawers ot and apart. A specialist from London had to be hired to restore the drawers and integrity of the cabinet.
We’ve found that many of the English countryside roads are not a happy fit for our larger MH and some of our travel time is used to find
repair facilities for American MHs. Most of the National Trust sites are not on A or M roads, but rather B or little white lines on the maps.
Our campground in Bristol was right on the harbor, enabling us to walk into the city along the “floating harbor”. Bristol has the 2nd highest tidal bore in the world and to meet the shipping reed, the city had to create first a “floating harbor”and eventually build a series of locks into several harbors that now can accommodate any of the largest ships of the world.
While there we toured the Dry Docked and restored SS Great Britain, the first iron world Class Ocean Liner. It was designed by Brunell who also built the first iron suspension bridge, also here in Bristol. After millions of miles of travel, the SS Great Britain was scuttled in the Falkland islands, to be salvaged after 30 years, floated back to Bristol, restored and is now a tourist visitation center.
We are enjoying shopping at the many Farm Shops, some at the Natal Trust sites, but most in the rural areas, where we continue to enjoy the antics of the newborn lambs and
calves. In some fields it looks as though there are sections of the field where the sheep have “lanb day-care centers. Lots of lambs scampering around one or two Moms.
As the Easter holidays have passed, pitches at campgrounds are more available, sites have less families attending, but the weather has also turned colder. As we visit cities or even larger older towns, we are using public transportation and found York and Scarborough to be much easier to tour that way.
The Northern part of England was a refuge for the Cisterian Monks that broke off from the Benedictine orders and there are three major Abbey ruins within fairly close proximity. A tour of the Fountain’s Abbey by a very knowledgeable retired engineer, not only gave us a flavor of the life of the monks at that time, but also an understanding of the building techniques and materials used at different points in the history of the Abbey, before it began to deteriorate so badly.
At the publishing of this Blog #3 we are overlooking the Firth of Fourth near St. Andrews in Scotland. Our next blog should bring us up to date
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