More Fun!

The next morning David took us to see....

Chatsworth Estate, which belong to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire.  The Duchess is a direct descendent of the royals and this is her home!  I have some pictures - but I can't find them on my computer, so I will scan the printed copies and show you later.  It is beautiful and the gardens are so fantastic, I have to get the pictures for you!  Keep checking.  After a tour Chatsworth....

.... we stopped at this eating spot for a bite before heading out again.

This gentleman was at the checkout and I took a photo because he was so friendly and nice to "the Canadians"!  We had some time left and our host took us....

..... to do some sightseeing of places he was familiar with and wanted to share with us!

These are condos available on a luxurious plot of land....

 ..... we went for a stroll around, just to see the views....

..... which were beautiful!  If I lived in the UK, I might want to live here!  I think I am ahead of myself by a day, but I will post the next set of pictures in the next post!

This was "our" room while we stayed....

... and if I looked out our window at just the right moment - I could see this vehicle - does anybody know what kind of car it is???

And It Just Kept Getting Better!

That same day.....

 .... David drove us to Hawley Road.  Why you ask?  As some of you probably know Poppa was born in England in a council house at 8 Hawley Road.  The midwife came to Gramma's house for this big event.  Yes!  This is the road.  I sent David the address before we went to visit and he drove us there!  It was about two hours away - and we will always be grateful for his kindness!  It was exciting for me - so you can imagine how pleased Poppa was.

There it is - behind the big blue bin.  The very first door is #8.  It has been modified over the years ....

.... it would have looked like this when Poppa was born - this is the adjacent building, which is more unchanged.  This whole trip sent chills down my spine.  Poppa never, in his wildest dreams, ever expected to be in this spot!  But, that's not all of it....

.... David drove us a few blocks away to this little church....

 .... and this is the aisle that Poppa's parents walked down to get married!

 This is Poppa and me standing in the aisle they carried him down to be baptized!

 Imagine - Poppa as a little infant was baptized in this little church in England - and never dreamt he would ever step foot in it again.

 The stained glass behind the altar is beautiful.

 The church is very well-maintained and everything is so nice.

 As you can see, it isn't very big - but is very majestic just the same.

 The beautiful old wooden doors are polished to a shine.

 Here we are at the entrance to the church - with big smiles!

I took this shot down the side of the church just to give an idea of the size.  While we were travelling through London, Wales and Scotland, we would often try to decide what our favorite thing was, of all the things we had seen.  We were never able to firmly decide.  All the beautiful places, the gorgeous architecture, the exotic old buildings and fun different spots to eat - none of those came close to the impact of being in the very spot where Poppa had been all those years ago!  This was the highlight of our vacation!! We will probably never get back there - the memories will never fade.  Thank you David!

Onward March the Days...

Unfortunately David and Allison's son had to have some emergency surgery done.  His Mom went to the hospital to be there with him.  Poor David!  This situation left him to entertain us - we could have done that on our own - but we had some amazing adventures under his guidance!

We began our day of adventures.....

 .... with a ride in David's car.....if you recall... the driver sits on the opposite side of the car in the UK - so the person waving is ME!  What a blast - we went fast and it was way tooooo fun!

 This is David's Volvo - yes - it is his "everyday" car!  He has several others!

 Then David took us  for a tour of the village.  The sights there were just as wonderful as all those on the previous part of our holiday.  This is the local graveyard, and as you can see - a lot of the graves date back to centures ago!  I would have stopped to read them all, but the men weren't interested in doing that!

 I tried to get a nice closeup shot of the church - but it is kinda blurry.

 Here it is from further back - again not the best photo I've ever taken, but it is beautiful!  It must have been the lighting - see Poppa shading his eyes against the sun?  So, for all you folks who said it always rains in England - here is proof that the sun shines there too!

 A picture of the two Jags (his and hers) parked side-by-side in the driveway!

 In this photo you can see the graveyard and the village school in the background - another lovely building!

 This little sign is located at the end of David's street - welcoming people to the village.  The weather, as you can see, was delightful as was the chance to stroll leisurely (after hurrying around for a few days) and the opportunity to see some delightful old architecturally intriguing buildings.

Interesting Places

There are a few pics I missed in my earlier post - I had lost some files and recently found them again - while madly looking for the pictures of the mini-castle.

This is our first night in the UK at the hotel - Poppa looks a little tired - don't you think?

This is a photo taken from the bus.  These stone fences abound in northern England and all over Scotland.  They were all hand-built by early generations of farmers.  The photo doesn't even do them justice - they were truly amazing and went on for miles.  Click on the picture to enlarge it - and check out the intricacy of their work!

These are exotic sheep bred by the farmer who owns the cows we saw in David's backyard.  In response to a question from my youngest sister, who is an aivd lover of all animals, David sent me this: "The farmer specialises in old/rare breeds which is why they look so different from the usual sheep/cows found in the UK."  According to the information he sent they are Jacob sheep.

A closer view of the exotic yarn factories - what?  I'm a knitter - and they look like wool factories to me!  Incidentally the cows are Longhorns - again "Thank you David".

One more picture before I get back to the rest of our Uk vacay...

This is Hadrian's Wall - disappearing into the distance!  Imagine the man-hours it took to construct this wall - not to mention the number of men!

Next Day!....

We returned to David's home the next day.  This is a photo taken from their sunroom.

This is a picture taken at the back of the yard - behind the fence you can see in the first picture.  These large cows were not afraid of us at all.

Also living in the back yard was this adorable rabbit - the picture is not that great - but I didn't want to scare him - isn't he cute?!

 It seemed that Allison spent a lot of time in the kitchen concocting delicious meals..... and always smiling while she did it!  She has a knack for it - that's for sure - I think we both gained weight!

Poppa was doing the same thing he does at home....sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper!

The Cottage

The next day we went to "the cottage".  Well - that is what David and Allison call it!  I called it......

... the Mini-Castle.  We saw lots of castles on our tour.  They were all made of this lovely rock and I loved every one of them.  This "colltage" reminded me of those castles from the minute I laid eyes on it!  Just imagine this being your cottage!  Here it is......

.... the front entrance up close - isn't it wonderful?!  The interior....

.... is just as charming!  This is the front entrance from inside - you can see the second inner glass-paned door on the left of the picture - it kept out the draft when the outer door was opened.  Of course, David and Allison have it all fixed up now - so the draft is no more significant than it would be in our homes.

This is the formal living room - see the exposed beam in the ceiling?  It was delightful!

And - featured this beautiful original fireplace - which now has a small (more efficient) wood-burning heater in place - but the beauty of the original is still in much evidence, as you can see!

Out the windows at the front you can see the large lawn area (and the charm of the windows themselves!).

This was "our" room at the mini-castle.  Up some narrow steep stairs, just like the big castles - except, thankfully - not winding, to the second floor.  Poppa loved the wing chair and just sat to rest and admire everything.

I snuck in and took a photo of the master bedroom - just to give you a peek.  We stayed the night there and the next morning I went downstairs before everyone else.  The kitchen in the mini-castle is huge and very modern...

.... as you can see in this picture, and....

.... the other angle....

..... the table was huge and had a beautiful view of the outdoors (and the island is to die for!).

Yes - I'm still in the kitchen.  I sat on this two-seater and did some knitting while I waited for the others to join me.  The whole place is delightful and I really didn't want to leave!  But - before we left.....

.... I took a photo of our kind and generous host and hostess....may I present..... Allison and David our beloved friends in the UK!