England - 2nd Week at Wychnor Park

Well after this week I have decided that I am just a country girl at heart. I have loved the week and everything that we did. It has been awesome. We left London on Saturday, June 6 after Bob picked up a rental car and headed north and a little west. We stayed at a timeshare called Wychnor Park which is north of Litchfield. The directions told us to leave the dual carriageway, go across a bridge and then it will be shortly after the stop light. Well, we did cross the bridge but kept going almost 1 ½ miles before we got to the stop light. And the road was a one lane through the country. The stop light was for the one lane road by a pond and through a type of arbor.






We thought we were in the wrong place but couldn’t turn around. I am glad we didn’t turn around though because we came upon the timeshare. Part of the buildings date from the 1500’s.





We stayed in the coach house on the second floor which had been added in the 1700’s.
Our accommodation was a lovely two bedroom/two bath unit that was comfortable and fun. The kitchen was even fun and interesting. The refrigerator and freezer were separate sort of like our under the counter ones but with more room in them. The washing machine was also under the counter. The hob (stovetop) had four burners and the oven was in the wall. There was even an apartment size dishwasher.

We found a very large grocery (Morrisons) a few miles further up the dual carriageway. There was also a McDonald’s where we got some free internet at the end of the week but there were no outlets so we had to operate on battery. Part of the resort activity consisted of some sort of a quiz each day. We tried to pick them up and found that some we knew the answers for and others were hopeless. One afternoon we had a history tour of the resort and learned about the beginnings etc. of the estate. It was fascinating. It became a time share in 1981. The front desk, office and check in area were located in the main house which dated from the 1500’s. There has been some damage, some fire and some changes but it was lovely. We even saw a pair of pheasant along the road.

We spent a day exploring Lichfield and loved the Cathedral. They said it is the only one in England with three spires.


We saw the homes of Charles Darwin’s grandfather Erasmus and of Samuel Johnson the author of the first English dictionary. The town was a hot spot during the England civil war times in 1642. We went to the street market and purchased our fruit and vegetables.

This building was built in 1510. The architecture was very interesting.
We were both glad that we had been watching a history course titled “England - From the Stuart’s to the Tudor’s”. It helped with a lot of the history.

We went to the British National Arboretum. It is a memorial for those who have lost their lives in service of the country like Arlington is for us. It is very new and didn’t open until 2000. There is a small chapel and the 12 log supports have a disciple carved on each one. This is for James.
And this is Matthew.
This storyteller carving was hand carved by different folks and made from old wood from church pews.


We spent an entire day in Stratford upon Avon the birthplace of Shakespeare.

We toured his birthplace home and the home where his oldest daughter Susannah and her doctor husband, John Hall lived.

We went to the church where Shakespeare, Anne is wife, Susannah and John Hall and are buried.

Then we went to the Anne Hathaway cottage which is the birthplace of Shakespeare’s wife.
It is the one with the thatched roof. The gardens were all beautiful.
We loved the bird chaser made from a potato and feathers.


We explored a little around the area and just drove through the small villages. We are getting dizzy from the round-a-bouts! Not really. Since Bob drove on the left with a left hand shift in Thailand it has not been hard at all. I just have to tell him “left” every once in a while. The signs are very easy to follow and we just count which exit out of the circle to take. We visited the marina at Barton under Needwood and looked at the long canal boats tied up at the docks. We are just waiting a couple of weeks until we are on one.

Pictures from London

Bob with all of our luggage at the Paddington Station. We only had two checked pieces, 2 backpacks and 2 carry-ons. I thought that was pretty good.


We loved the Covent Garden area because it was near the theatres and there were many choices of restaurants.




At the National Museum we saw the Rosetta Stone and pieces from the Parthanon in Greece.



Somerset House - mostly for the arts now and kids having fun in the water.



221 Baker Street and Sherlock Holmes



Parliament and Big Ben





Pall Mall Avenue and gates that lead directly to Buckingham Palace. The Queen is the only one who uses the center gate (according to our tour guide).





Changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace





And at Clarence House which is now where Prince Charles lives.


Tower Bridge across the Thames.





The Tower of London





St. Paul's Cathedral


We thought this an interesting structure to live in.


We saw Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre which according to our information the theatre was built in 1834.



Hampton Court and the Gardens

London

We arrived in London tired but doing well. There is a six hour time difference so instead of 4am it was 10am. We proceeded through immigration, gathered our luggage and found the train station to head from Heathrow Airport to our hotel. What an adventure. We each had two suitcases and our backpack. Bob carried the two larger suitcases and I did the carry-ons. We didn’t take the best route to the hotel (we went through Paddington Station) as we had to change too many times and that meant up stairs, down stairs, through the tunnels to more stairs. Since I had trouble carrying both suitcases there were a couple of times someone else volunteered to help. The rest of the time I went up or down with one suitcase, Bob then carried a couple, leaving one at the bottom of the stairs and then he went back for the other. Needless to say we arrived quite tired and hot and sweaty at the hotel. It was about 1pm and we were very thankful that the room was ready. Then it was nap time (2 hours), shower and clean up and then we started to explore a little.

The first two nights we stayed at the Renaissance Chancery Court Hotel on Holborn near the Covent Garden area and all of the theatres. The next 7 nights we stayed at the Marriott Park Lane Hotel which is right across the street from Hyde Park. The tube station was right there and was great except they were making improvements and the very long flight of stairs down was a walk down, not an escalator. I can’t begin to tell you how many flights of stairs I walked up or down during our time there. We had some really special times but overall I really did not enjoy London. We spent time on Friday at the British Museum and that I found very interesting. Friday night we saw Carousel at the Savoy. It was wonderful and of course I cried.

Saturday we moved hotels and went to 221B Baker Street. Since the flat is made to look like what is really just a fictional book we did not pay to tour the flat but did enjoy the gift shop and the outside. We walked by Madam Tussaud’s. We also encountered a huge crowd of fans cheering for their team (Chelsea) which was in the finals of something for football (soccer).

Sunday I discovered that our towels were hanging on a heated rack and that the center part of the bathroom mirror does not steam up because it is heated also. Pretty cool I thought. We attempted to do the city tour by bus. It was rather a mess but we did see some things even though we got dropped off twice at a dead end and were told to walk to another bus. (And I thought I paid for a bus tour, not walking!!!) It just wasn’t quite what was advertised. There was a tour guide only on the yellow route and if you don’t do the blue route early you won’t get to finish it because it stops earlier than the others. Of course we weren’t told any of this and did everything backwards. We did take a walking tour with a guide to watch the changing of the guard at the Palace. It was fun, we learned a lot but it was a LOT of walking.

Monday was our 41st anniversary. I slept till noon and my wonderful husband went out to get some fruit and brought me some beautiful pink & white tulips. I was thrilled. We took the tube and grabbed a pasty to eat. We went to the London Bridge Experience and the tombs complete with a scary maze and awful ghosts. We stopped to do the Tower of London but the girl said it would take 3 hours to do so we went on a river cruise down and back the Thames from the Tower of London to Greenwich and back to Westminster. As we disembarked the bells in the clock tower were chiming 7 p.m. We learned that Big Ben is the large bell not the clock.

Tuesday we got up early and went back to the Tower of London. We saw the crown jewels there. We then walked through All Hallows Church where John Quincy Adams was married and proceeded to tour St Paul’s Cathedral. It took us exactly 3 hours and 40 minutes to do all of it. We spent an hour getting to Shakespeare’s Globe Theater only to find we couldn’t see it. So we hurried to the National Portrait Gallery and viewed some of the items there. We made a quick stop at the Southwark Cathedral on our way. We got back to the hotel at 5:15, tired and very exhausted. Most things are only open from 10 to 5 so by each evening I was quite drained.

Wednesday was a much more enjoyable and interesting day. We went to Kensington Palace and toured it. There was an audio to listen to that explained what you were seeing. This is where Queen Victoria was born. There were also quite a number of Diana’s dresses on display. We stopped at the Build-a-Bear shop in Covent Garden, ate lunch at the White Lion and headed to the Lyceum Theatre. We saw Lion King and it was sooo good. The theatre was built in the 1830’s and was very ornate.

Thursday was another day that I was just too tired. We finally managed (1 pm) to go to Wellington Arch and then the Apsley House. These were well worth seeing and very interesting. The Apsley House was owned by the Duke of Wellington who gave it to the government in 1947 I believe. It still contains many of his items and there were an unbelievable number of beautiful paintings on the walls. We also had an audio guide through it. We hopped the tube to Covent Gardens for dinner and then back to the hotel.

Friday the weather changed. It was hot and sunny the rest of the time and most folks were having a rough time with the unseasonable heat. Friday the cool and the rain came. We took the tube, train and then the bus to Richmond and out to Hampton Court Palace. We really enjoyed this tour also. We saw the area where William and Mary stayed and the kitchens of Henry VIII. There was a great audio guide for this palace and it was very informative. I really enjoyed seeing the rose garden which was huge, awesome and in bloom. Oh was it beautiful. You could smell the roses as you walked into it. This palace was huge and I got too tired to see all of it.

Saturday was moving day and leaving London day. I saw some interesting things in London but unless I want to do the theatre I never intend to come back. Bob enjoyed it a little more than I did but I think it is over rated. Bob picked up our rental car and we headed north out of London and into the country. How glorious and wonderful. Our internet connection is not great so I will try to post pictures later.