Well here we are in Tilbury Juxta St. Clare, yes it is all of these but is really only the one tiny village, in Northern Essex. The villagers prefer that it was thought of as Suffolk, but Essex it is and that is that. The cottage we are in has a bit of a Kiwi feel about it being in a little group of bungalows, it has everything we could possibly need together with full sky.......but NOT SPORT! With the cricket on too, still we are not doing so good, so maybe better off not seeing it all.
We arrived from Louth on Saturday stopping off at Burghley on the way south. Burghley is quite remarkable and is known to most Kiwis for the Horse Trials which are held there.
We arrived from Louth on Saturday stopping off at Burghley on the way south. Burghley is quite remarkable and is known to most Kiwis for the Horse Trials which are held there.
Burghley
The estate covers an area of over 30,000 acres and it is hard to imagine how this is all for one family, admittedly they employed quite a staff and these people owe a great deal to the the Cecil family, but....Anyway the unfortunate Cecils ended up the way of most of their peers with heavy estate duties (around 80% of all assets) making continued ownership together with maintenance beyond their means and, as is now common, they were forced to go into partnership with the public to make ends meet. Now, this is a partnership which works very well for everyone, the public gets to nose around these magnificent buildings (and gardens, this one by Capability Brown) together with the art treasures contained therein and the Nobles continue to live in the way to which they have become accustomed.
Lady Jane and Sir Christopher Whichcote.
(As seen by Gainsborough)
In the above picture, to the right, can be seen a red canopy and this was over a small bed, especially installed for the then Princess Victoria who was thought to be coming to visit. The Princess never turned up that night but a queen of the same name happened along some years later and was housed in even grander surroundings.
As with most of these grand homes access to each room is gained from it's neighbour , so to get to ones own bedroom one would by necessity have to pass through all the others, hence the heavy drapes surrounding the bed to offer some degree of privacy.
The art is a matter for personal taste, but if one was to have a collection of pictures on ones computer such as may be seen on some walls in stately homes then one would be arrested as a paedophile, and rightly so.
There are rooms such decorated which are supposed to depict Heaven and the Staircase to Hell.
Whatever you may think of the aristocracy, they really did know how to live.
Burghley's Dining Room (Small gatherings)
During our visit preparations were well under way for the Burghley Game and Country Fair (or is it Fayre) starting the following day. They must have been expecting a fair old crowd as there were more tents than you would get at Mystery Creek for the field days.
In the grounds were two Gardens of Surprises, one water featured the other of quirky sculptures and the usual walled gardens etc.
Sunday dawned bright and sunny for a change and seemed just the right day for going to Bury St Edmunds. The Saxon "Bury" has the same meaning as Burgh as is Edinburgh and is used quite extensively e.g. Canterbury and is nothing to do with burying anything. Anyway Bury St. E. proved to be an excellent town, well deserving of a visit with all the fun of the fair going on. One really nice thing (Maybe inland Palmy could take a note here) was they had brought in a couple of truck loads of sand from France or Spain or somewhere (actually most likely the local coast) and arranged some deck chairs around it, provided lots of buckets and spades and then just add heaps of kids and what a great mixture you have.
Beach, Bury St Edmunds style
Nah, it would be a bit radical for Palmy. Apart from the beach there were street performers market stalls aplenty and a kids petting zoo and it was neat. Oh and Morris Dancers, but then nothing can be perfect.
England's smallest Pub
Oh and the counties smallest pub and what you see is what you get.
Bury St E. also has it's history which centres mainly on the remains of it's magnificent monastery which was probably only second to Glastonbury in it's magnificence.
Bury St Edmunds' Monastery ruins.
The cathedral is also noteworthy. An unhurried lunch at a country pub filled most of the remainder of a very nice summers day.
Today we have taken to the road once more, we have become quite fond if these road trips and cover quite a distance in a typical day. We will have travelled around 10,000 km in the Astra by the end of our two months in England, a little more than Messers Thrifty and Co think reasonable in their definition of "unlimited mileage", but we knew this so shall have to pay a little more when when hand the trusty Astra in. Anyway, so it was that we travelled around the villages and towns of Essex and Suffolk and really nice it is too.
The Quaint and the Wiggly Wobbly
And so with another lunch in another pub in a village called Long Melford we whiled away another day and have put on another few kilograms, oh boy.
Take care and goodbye from Tilbury Juxta St. Clare, Essex.
David
PS Apologies to any strong advocates from the "Royal Society For The Protection of Morris Dancers" movement, a donation will be in the post........................Yeh right!
No comments:
Post a Comment