We’ve had a full week with my folks still here. We went to Wakehurst Place Gardens in West Sussex. The mansion seems to be unoccupied, but the grounds are gorgeous. The place is kept up by the Royal Botanical Gardens of Kew and administered by the National Trust. I liked the water way where the little stream fell over rocks in many falls and rested in pools before continuing downwards. One pool had the largest goldfish I’ve ever seen in my life.
One afternoon we got the girls from school just as they finished lunch to go to a National Trust house that is close to here. [Judging by the photos, we must have seen Polesden Lacy.] Since the place only opens at 2, we couldn’t see the house and get back to Reigate by 3:15. Lisa was thrilled to be getting out of school even though they missed no classroom work; on Tuesdays they have triple games, meaning three periods that the whole school troops up to playing fields for organized games. Kate was a little concerned that she would miss a break in school, but she enjoyed changing out of her uniform and looking like a tourist. We had seen the house when we first came here, but my folks hadn’t. I saw things this time around that I’d missed before – traveling cosmetic box and a lady’s “necessary” (tiny sewing and repair kit). $ liked figurines displayed on his level and pushing his own stroller in the garden. He didn’t last too long in the house, so we went out to the entrance hall and chatted with the lady collecting tickets. She and her husband do the cleaning of the place! She was filling in for a vacationing ticket taker. She said, “We give it a proper do every Monday and Friday when the house is closed to the public.” The roses and the peonies in the gardens were superb.
John and I both passed our stiff English driving test one day before the law stated that we had to. If you stay here for more than a year, you are supposed to have taken your test before that first year is up. We now feel like quite superior people! Mother and Dad have now “done time”; they kept $ from 9:15 – 11:45 during the tests and from 3 – 5:30 while I was getting Lisa’s new Dunottar uniform from the outfitters who supply the school. That poor baby would have become glued to his push chair if I’d had to drag him everywhere. At left is a photo of our having tea outside at our house.
We went a second time to the open air market, buying a few things for them to take home and enjoying seeing all that is for sale. We ate lunch at a National Trust house, Clandon Park. The lunch was delicious; $ behaved nicely until we went through the house, and my folks got a chance to wander through an historic building by themselves while $ and I gamboled on the lawn. His attention was soon riveted on two horses; he practiced saying “horse” until I think anyone could understand him.
Yesterday we drove to Bath (be sure to put “ah” in that name) and first went through Bath Abbey. For over 1200 years a Christian church has been on that site. St. Augustine was in Bath in 603! The present church was begun in 1499 and completed in the 17th century. Further back in history, the Romans built baths to take advantage of the only hot springs in Britain soon after AD 43. Amazing! These buildings were covered over with later construction and not discovered until 1878. We could see where excavating continues today along with displays of Roman coins, statues, and mosaic tiles. Most of the rest of Bath is Georgian – the time when it became a spa for the upper classes. The streets are unusually wide for England and the buildings much like those in the Federal style in the U.S.
Punch and Judy show 
Family in Bath 
Bath Crescent 
A bridge in Bath
I particularly enjoyed seeing the Pump Room where people gathered to drink the waters and socialize and the Assembly Rooms where dances and concerts were held. These two places feature in almost every Georgian and Regency novel. I felt like I was seeing places where my friends had been! We tasted the mineral-laced water and were glad we didn’t have to drink much of it. Under the Assembly rooms is a museum of costume. Clothes were displayed beautifully on models, and many were grouped in room settings. The old court dresses looked as if yokes had dropped from shoulders to hips and were covered by the fancy dresses. Some were over a yard wide flaring out from 18 inch waists; from the side they appeared to be only five inches wide. There were quite a few things from the 1700’s up to winners of last year’s fashion awards. I thought the dresses from Queen Mary, the Queen Mother and the Queen were most interesting.
The ancient Roman baths were fantastic. We understand people are allowed to swim here one day a year.
On the way home we stopped to see a country mansion, Dyrham Park built by a minister of William III. The feature the children enjoyed most was a couple of 3-day-old peacocks. [At some point we saw a hand-cranked merry-go-round. I think this was near Hampton Court, and therefore out of order here.]
Mr. Clewes had told us that there was to be an air show this weekend, but of course we made no attempt to find out where it was to be. We saw some of it! Out on the open road, we happened to look round to see six to nine planes performing fancy stunts in the air.
Today we went to Westminster Abbey for the morning service. We sat in the second row in the nave; I was first in and so almost on the steps to the altar. I could have reached out and tickled the feet of the man reading the scripture lessons. The choir was superb, as usual. We did notice the novice choir boys dressed in red robes, but without the white tops, sitting near the organ console. We haven’t seen them there before. I saw the man in charge of them tap one boy on the shoulder during the service. Wonder what he did wrong. John said these very young boys were brought out of the service after the anthem was sung; they had black capes to wear over their red robes as they were marched back to their dorm.
The shortest and quickest way to London on Sunday mornings goes just on the edge of the suburb of Wimbledon. John kindly drove us by the tennis club since there were no games today and no traffic. Our neighbors who had seats on the center court said they spent an hour trying to get out of their car park! We noticed signs at the stadium stating the price of admission is two pounds. That is really cheap. You wouldn’t be allowed in the center court, but could wander around to any of the other 12 to 18 courts where many of the famous players would be playing. Of course, the best way to see tennis is to sit in front of the TV set where they broadcast hours and hours every day. I think they are on live from 2:30 until 7:30 and then begin the reruns of all the important games of the day. It was fun to see in person where all this activity takes place.
Mehrling Muse 
You packed a lot in while your parents were there. I have yet to visit Bath but plan to. Since it is a place my favourite author, Jane Austen, lived for a while, I really do want to see it.
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You MUST see Bath!! We loved the whole city.
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I also loved the picture of everyone having tea in the garden. We took my parents with us to England in 1989. My dad, a cowboy who drank coffee from a big mug, went for tea with us. I have a picture of him having tea in a china cup. It is an iconic picture.
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Your dad was bigger than life! That photo sounds hilarious.
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You were lucky to have your parents for 6 weeks! Sounds like a great time!
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I think my parents were with us for two weeks, but I probably referred to our adventures over a 6-week period.
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Anne, I’ve always known your family is tightly-knit, but, a “family in bath” hits a little over the top, eh?
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Ha! Ha! I didn’t read the caption that way!
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This was a great visit today! I love the photo of the bridge and the outside tea. I have the kitty cat tea pot, only mine is brown with a green collar! I think you must have found your sassy side on Sunday service! 🙂
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I went back and clicked on the photo to find the cat teapot. It must have been broken a long time ago, because I had forgotten about it. I’m thankful to still have two we bought in England plus one that my mom bought there. I should get that one out the next time someone agrees to share a pot of tea with me.
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Perfectly timed post since ‘Wombledon’ started today.
Huge Hugs
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Thanks for that tidbit. I wasn’t aware that the matches have begun this year. We certainly enjoyed them 40 years ago.
Match Point Hugs
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Beautiful bath place
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You dropped off my feed somehow! I have no idea what happened but I wondered why you hadn’t posted in awhile and noticed that you have, I’m just not getting them anymore! I refollowed. I hope that is okay and I wasn’t dropped on purpose!
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I would NEVER have dropped you!!! Thank you for noticing that I was missing. Our house has been extremely busy lately, and I’ve struggled to keep up on WordPress. Our daughter was here for five weeks to get the COVID vaccination. She was working, so she stayed on Danish time, getting up around 2 or 3 am. Last week John’s sister and husband were here. I hope all has been well in your household. I must look to see what happened that I’m not getting your posts. Thank you again for reconnecting.
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You were missing from mine, too!! I’ve followed you again. There were two — one had WordPress in the name and the other just blog. I hope I picked the right one.
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I’m so glad you didn’t drop me on purpose! I thought I might have said something offensive without realizing, but I couldn’t figure out what it was! And at first I was just worried that something happened because you haven’t posted. I was glad to see that you had, I was just not getting them. How weird, right? Glad to hear you were with family the whole time! All is well again. Thanks.
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I’m so happy to have you back. Thank you for noticing our break and letting me know
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The trip to Bath! I can just see the movies that have been filmed either there or in a replica set….Persuasion, Amazing Grace…I know there are others too.
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This letter is like you’re a travel company casually name-dropping their fabulous destinations. The photos are wonderful, too. You were smart to get your driver’s licenses, even if it was down to the wire.
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That English driver’s license was good until we were 70 years old. Too bad we got only one year’s use out of it.
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I had no idea it was B–ah–th. The things one learns after all these years. That bridge pic looks like it should be professional. Gorgeous.
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Lise did not want to sound English. To tease her, two-year-old $ would stand at the top of the stairs and shout to Lise, “I take a bath.” He was pronouncing it the English way, and she was reliably annoyed.
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Very pretty pictures Anne – I really liked the reflections on the water and many more of this picturesque area. I also like how you labelled the photos with the white lettering. I wonder why we didn’t visit Bath during our stay in England in 1979?
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There were many things to enjoy in Bath.
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