Tootling Through the Countryside

Everybody likes flake 99!
A musician in Melton Mowbray
You'll notice that I wouldn't let Ken take a picture that included the sign and my hips in the same shot.
Ken says "middle school" kids are the same everywhere.
Another irresistible face!
Such a cutie :)
Flake 99 with syrup. Yummmm!
This lady approached us and asked if she could take our picture. We ended up in a long talk with her.

Burghley House
Burghley House

Sally and I have put seperate posts today. Hers is after mine.

Yesterday we spent the day tootling; we think that it means a small tour according to the locals. We went from Oakham to the town of Stamford, which is about 10 miles south. It was a beautiful drive on a quiet road where we enjoyed the yellow grape seed fields and the rolling hills. As we entered Stamford, the streets began to narrow as we entered the heart of the town. Once again we were lost, but we didn’t panic because we knew that it wasn’t’ too big. Sally saw a sign to the Burghley House so we navigated our way out of town to the castle. As a side note, there is another spelling of Burghley, which is Burleigh, which is the spelling of my former principals name. Charlie, are you really Lord Burleigh, a descendent of English nobility?

The Burghley House is one of the most famous houses, if one can call it a house in England. William Cecil, the Lord High Treasurer and Secretary of State for Queen Elizabeth for 40 years I built it. Queen Elizabeth liked him and gave him land for his loyalty to her. We toured the Burghley House with John our tour guide who was a wealth of knowledge. We learned that we should always take advantage of tours as you learn so much more when you can interact with the people. Peter, one of the gents who was a tour guide of the chapel in the Burghley House gave us a vivid description of the art and the furniture, much of which was bought in Italy? Some very ornate chairs that were in the chapel were bought from the Dodge Palace in Venice. I think they were purchased a basically a garage sale in the late 1500’s for about £12.12 which is about $25.00 each. They are priceless today. The thing that the Burghley House is famous for today is that Pride a Prejudice was filmed there, and the DaVinci code that is being released later this month was filmed there too. On our tour, we met a young woman from West Virginia, who is teaching a year at Cambridge. She teaches art history and architecture, so she was full of great questions for Peter. After the tour, we had a nice lunch outside next to the main entry to the Burghley House.

After lunch, we continued our tootling going through some small villages and hamlets. This adventure was even on less crowded and narrower roads. Many times there were only one way bridges; it would not have been too back except that with the high arch of the bridge I couldn’t see the other side. So, I closed my eyes and said a little prayer before I drove over. The most famous village that we drove though was Fotheringhay, which is famous for two things. First, Richard III was born there. If you have been following the theme that I have in most of my entries, the second one is of course a beheading. Queen Elizabeth had Mary Queen of Scots beheaded because she posed a threat to her. At the end of the trip, we used the GPS to guide us back to Barnesdale, and it actually worked! The drive to East Midlands, I have been assured is easy. The trip is supposed to take only about 1 hour, but I’m allowing at least 4, just to make sure. Cheerio, Ken

We went to Melton Mowbray this afternoon. We were told there would be lots of shopping and cafes. They were right. It had a great car free area. We ate our way through the whole town. I can't look at another sausage roll or pasty. Of course we had to share another flake 99 ice cream! The ice cream and chocolate cadbury stick are just delicious. We split things to eat all through the town, but I definitely will need to put on a backpack to hide where the sausage rolls have landed. It is another beautiful day...it must be near 80. It's been a relaxing day and we are off to do laundry and pack for the next leg of our journey. We don’t know what Venice will bring for internet access, so don’t be surprised if we don’t update for a few days. Sally