Thursday included our latest and longest drive of this trip. 1015 Departure from Inverness in Scotland and 1915 hours arrival in the midlands of England at our friends house: Rosie Rogers who we have not seen since about 1984 or so here in the UK.
We gased up in the town of Lockabie in Scotland....remember Pan Am flight 793 way back when?
We are now running 48.8 mpg running a v-6 diesel with automatic trans. 72.50 Pounds for the fill up.
Friday included a historical trip to Mr. Straw's house in Worksop, a National Trust property where the donated house contents owned by William and Walter Straw were donated to the National Trust.
The brothers who never married and who never discarded anything from their home kept the house contents as they were since 1929 when their Dad died and 1939 when their mom died. Pack racks, compulsive excessive are terms that come to mind but the house contents reflect how things looked in mid England 1920s and so on. Quite fascinating and beautifully preserved.
We stopped at a pub for lunch, and I had my first bangers and mash! The sausages in Inverness were better, but it was quite good.Palatable.
Next stop was Hardwick Hall the Tudor home of Elizabeth Shrewsbury. She was a very influential lady during the reign of Elizabeth 1 . She outlived four husbands and each time she married up.She had 8 children by one husband, 6 of whom lived to adulthood. Any way you slice it, this Lady was a survivor and must have been one tough cookie to survive the intrigues and treachery of the Elizabethan era! I have great admiration for her!! The stately home is amazing, especially since she designed and directed the building of it . It contains many of the original furnishings and tapestries. It is like walking back in time. If you are a reader or student of the Tudor/Elizabethan era you will know what I mean when I say I could feel the people who walked these fabulous halls! Lady Bess had a complete inventory of all in the house, that is how they know that the present furnishings are genuine. Imagine, over 500 years of history encapsulated in this beautiful house (The Straw Brother had nothing on Bess) right next door to the manor house in which Bess was born.. Now I know some of you are going to go and Google this and find out more about Lady Bess! It will be worth the journey. She and her husband were also the custodians/jailers of Mary Queen of Scots for 15 years. That in itself would have been a very difficult undertaking! However they survived and Bess lived until 80 years old, an amazing age for that era! As you can tell, this woman fascinated me. What a fabulous, fabulous house. Once again Thanks to David for the heads up on the Royal Oak Society!
On the way home we stopped at a Victorian Water pumping station which has been converted into health club and fabulous restaurant. The Victorians really knew how the build a pumping station!
Now we are getting ready to eat so, more action tomorrow. Saturday will be our short and last journey down the heart of England to Henley on Thames (Dave & Joyce Murray).
