If I were asked to name the chief benefit of the house, I should say: the house shelters day-dreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace.
– Gaston Bachelard
Happy weekending to you.
The Old Mill Stream
Pictures are piling up again. Spring is finally here it seems though, and we have been enjoying it so very much. So while I promise Bath news is coming, meantime I leave you with the old mill stream – literally. Before breakfast I walked along the stream beside the old Beckington Mill in Somerset which dates back to 1086.
It was a frosty morning but the sun quickly warmed things up. The days have been successively more seasonal and sunny since, pulling us outdoors. This is as it should be.
The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us, and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone.
– George Elliot
Don't let it rush past.
going places
I had a long rambly post about mid-life redirects and change and daring to reinvent oneself. And Typepad ate it.right.up. Not meant to be apparently. Suffice it to say if I have talked to you lately, and you are looking at a curve in the road, you probably know who you are. I hope you know you have all kinds of untapped potential, that the world is a fascinating place full of unexplored corners and side trails, and that you can do things you never thought you could.
Here's to new destinations, yes?
I left them for a second and she ran off with my props <g>
English Breakfast
“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"
"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"
"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said.”
My older daughters and I spent a long girls' weekend in Bath with friends. I hadn't made the reservations nor really investigated much ahead of time so our inn was a delightful surprise. We decided not to stay in Bath proper but rather at a farm not far away. That of course is a real treat for a farm girl. : ) It is fascinating to see the many variations there are on this theme throughout the world.
The mornings begin with a full English breakfast. I was familiar with the tea, but honestly never gave much thought to the term itself, much less how it differed from a continental breakfast. The continental breakfast, common in hotels in the States as well as on mainland Europe, tends to be served buffet style and is on the light side. Cereals, bagels, yogurt, and maybe cheese or cold cuts are common. A full English breakfast is exactly that – full. Huge. Hot. Awesome.
First came the steaming French press, brought out by the lovely gentleman who ran the place. Jugs of fresh local cream sat on the tables topped by weighted doilies, presumably once meant to keep out flies but there were certainly none around. Teapots joined shortly. On a side table there were already bowls of chopped fresh fruit and yogurt waiting.
Then the courses began arriving. There were eggs – boiled, fried, scrambled. Bacon rashers and sausages. A side note on that too is that Americans tend to use side cuts for bacon resulting in what the English call streaky rashers. The more common bacon here is back cut, more like Canadian. There was then toast and croissants. Fried mushrooms and tomatoes. Hash browns.
The farm was bustling early in the day as farms tend to be. Horses were exercised and fed. Chickens, ducks, peacocks, and turkeys meandered just outside the conservatory windows. A little slice of heaven.
B & B
“Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for.”
– Maya Angelou
sense and sensibility
Any guesses where my girlies and I are this weekend? : )
Sanctuary
Inside Oxburgh
While the scavenger hunt held the attention of the children this weekend I was every bit as excited to see Oxburgh since the hall is now open for the season. It has a bit of a split personality, decor wise, being part medieval castle and part Victorian manor house. This is because the manor has been used as a residence continuously – and by the same family – since it was built in 1482. That's ten years before Columbus discovered American, for reference. A really long time.
The hall is built in a U-shape around a large open courtyard. There is one entrance, across a drawbridge over the moat. A moat is a very cool thing. Until you find out what was in there. Turns out medieval toilets were placed in the four corners of the hall complex. They were essentially shoots and "shot" down open piping into yes, the moat. Ew.
(above – one set of shelves in the library was actually a false door into the dining room)
The family was Catholic which put them in a dangerous position when their faith was banned in England by Elizabeth I. In 1589 the family, like many across the country, created a 'priest hole' in the event that their home would be raided when a missionary priest was saying mass. This one was well concealed…..in the aforementioned medieval toilet shoot.
(btw, that bright blue streak atop the clock is a spoon. The children had to spot colored spoons in each room as they toured)
Many of the interior toilets were constructed in garderobes, precursor to the closet or dressing room. Inside this room there was a narrow set of steps to what appeared to be an indoor latrine. A square of the heavy stone floor was hinged which allowed it to be lifted up so a person could access the shoot and slip down into a small holding area constructed in the tower below the floor. No windows, no water, no light. Once the 18in thick floor was put back into place there was no way to escape and the priest would be at the mercy of the family to retrieve him eventually. It seems that the soldiers that raided would sometimes wait at the property for days.
Another nod to this era was a collection of embroideries by Mary, Queen of the Scots while in exile.
Very sobering, all that. You touch the prayer books and rosaries and know in your heart, that had you made your entry a few years earlier, this could be you. It could be you.
The happy ending is that this family carried on through good years and bad, as we all must. The world changes. The world stays the same. We put one foot in front of the other in faith day by day.
hoppin’ down the bunny trail
Snatches of a very good day at home and abroad.
Or at home abroad as the case may be. : )
Easter weekend was chillier than usual this year but we determined to spend it outdoors nonetheless. We took the children to Oxburgh Hall for a scavenger hunt around the grounds and throughout the hall itself. The especially delightful part was that the event was sponsored by Cadbury which meant there was a hefty chocolate egg at the end of the hunt. That kept them all going though Abbie Rose had a few moments which tested her resolve.
The story of the estate needs its own post and it will have that God willing. For now….
These were responsible for my humming, "One ha'penny, two ha'penny…" all. day. long.
The boys did the easter egg roll while the little girls got their faces painted as what else? Bunnies. There were the ears after all.
We spent a few hours at the estate and then headed home where we had our own egg hunt, because you don't mess with traditions around here.
Dinner, most of which was in the crockpot/roaster deal all day or easily made fresh. Carrots didn't actually happen at the last minute. We didn't make a plethora of food since there was all that chocolate and the pie.
Simple and silly. They had a very good time.
I missed my boys. A lot. : )
carefully trace the tale
"Now close by the church, past which Piccola often romped in her play, there stood a mass of old gray stone, carved with quaint figures that told of the life of Jesus. Stiff and queerly fashioned were the figures, but they had been carved by those who loved the story, and Piccola loved it too. As she carefully traced out all the tale, she said to herself with a heart full of reverence:
'It was Jesus who taught men to know the good God as their Father, to let His Goodness shine in their hearts, and to love one another.'"
So…Piccola had no thought but that all the earth must rejoice."
-American Cardinal Readers book 3
Starry Sky Journal 