Day 9 - EDINBURGH - BRONTË COUNTRY

Travel through the Borders region to Abbotsford House, the 19th century estate of Sir Walter Scott which now serves as a museum for the Scottish memorabilia and artefacts collected throughout his lifetime. Head south past Jedburgh Abbey and over the border to visit Hadrian’s Wall, boundary of the civilised world in Roman times! Stay for the next two nights in a historic, grand Victorian hotel, set amidst a landscape that fuelled the imagination of the Brontë sisters in writing their classic novels.

Our first stop this morning was Abbotsford House. This was the only time on the tour we had a "conducted tour" of an included House or Garden (excluding the tour of the private apartments at Blenheim which we paid extra to do). The tour was wonderful and we were shown Sir Walter Scott's home in some detail. We got tales from the tour guide and were shown all kinds of memorabilia - including early editions of Scott's books and early medieval manuscripts. The study and library were wonderful, but mum's highlight was the Baronial Hall Scott had built to his idea of the perfect Medieval Baronial Hall. We were given time to explore the gardens but it was raining and not the nicest day for it, and time to shop. I found a glorious paperweight - clear glass with white, gold and silver insets and a fantastic white, pink and gold gecko on the side and top of the glass ball. As we have lots of geckos at home (wild - they just wander over the property) I was tempted and took it home. The artist has been commissioned to make a paperweight for Barack Obama which will be put in a museum in America - he plans to make one featuring the stars and stripes - I bet it will be stunning, going by my fantastic gecko! I do have to admit though this was one of my most expensive purchases at 65 pounds!!!! It is lovely though and it got home safely to sit in pride of place on my dresser. Mum found a great book on the Border Reivers so she was over the moon. Apparently it is very hard to find books on life on the Borders so she grabbed this one.

We returned to the coach and headed off for our next stop - Jedburgh Abbey for a photo stop - Mum walked up to the Abbey to take a look at the ruins and then went to the information centre. She said the information centre was one of the best we had seen. She picked up a great guidebook to the abbey and a book about Mary, Queen of Scots there. She had the opportunity to go through the house of Mary, Queen of Scots but she had to choose between the abbey or Mary's house she preferred to explore the ruins of the abbey instead.

On a nice day the views would have been fantastic but this was the worst day, weatherwise, of the entire tour - it just rained and rained and rained!

Next stop was our last chance to pick up Scottish goodies before hitting the border. We went to Moffat Woollen Mills - this place was fabulous. You could have bought almost anything! We went looking for a magnet of a haggis to go with our Haggis Hunter magnet, but there were none. We finally chose a stuffed haggis toy. No wonder the haggis hunter was never successful! There were no haggis magnets for him to find! LOL

We drove on to the border where we stopped for a few moments for a photo opportunity and then we drove on to Heddon on the Hill for a lunch stop and an opportunity to see Hadrian's Wall. We were taken to a sweet little pub where they had lunch all ready for us (soup and a sandwich for 5 pounds). After lunch we were invited to head on up to the church. It was raining and I opted to sit by the open fire instead, but mum went (mum won't miss a church ever! She is really into history and loves exploring England's religious history). This church (St Andrew's) was a major thrill for her. It was very early Saxon church, and it had been mentioned by the Venerable Bede in his History of the English Church. It may have been the baptismal site of two early Northumbrian Kings too. Well, apparently the church had been opened up on our arrival, but after only one person had gone through the church (before coming down to the pub for lunch) the warden locked it all up thinking that no-one else was coming, and headed home. Big mistake - everyone else shot up to the church after lunch only to find it was locked. Stephen had to contact the warden and have him come back to unlock the church. Every one huddled under the umbrellas outside the church waiting for him to come back. Several people took photos of everyone so eager to get into church!

When finally the warden arrived and opened up the church everyone shot inside. Mum said it was stunning. She really enjoyed it and was delighted she had gone. The warden told stories about the church's history and it's place in local history - so much that some people were concerned that they would be late back to meet the coach. However, Pat had brought the coach up to the church to collect the group and then headed back down to the pub to pick up those who had stayed there. By this time mum had been such a long time I was commenting on how she had been kidnapped by a church! LOL I had taken the time to buy a few postcards and magnets. We got a magnet from everywhere we had been - such a cheap souvenir and yet put on the fridge brings back so many memories as I do the washing up or cooking. Magnets make a great travel journal!

We were then taken to see Hadrian's Wall and it was just amazing. To see this wall that had been standing for nearly 2 thousand years was fabulous. I got some great photos.

We then drove on, and on, and on to York.

I slept the whole way and missed out of seeing the industrial scenery of Northern England, however mum got to see some of it and she enjoyed it. She was particularly thrilled to see industrial scenery like that immortalised in the paintings of Lowry.

On the other hand, while I was upset that I had felt so ill that I had slept the whole way others were telling me that it was a good day to sleep and I had not missed much. It was better that I had slept and allowed myself time to heal as I was determined not to miss Castle Howard the next day. But then, I would have dragged myself to Castle Howard even if I was dying!! I was not missing out on the epitome of neo-classical architecture!

We drove through the outskirts of York and through the village of Shipley on to our hotel in Bronte Country.

I have to say that the Marriott Hollins Hall Hotel was the best of the entire tour! We got two double beds instead of twin beds, heaps of pillows, and the staff were just perfect! I could have stayed there for weeks! And that was before I caught sight of the rabbits outside the window! Throughout the tour I had seen rabbits everywhere, but had been unable to get photos. I had been rather upset about this and suggested that as mum had not seen the rabbits (coach travelling too fast) she probably thought I was hallucinating rabbits! LOL At the hotel we looked out of the window only to see rabbits munching on the grass! I finally had the chance to take photos of rabbits! Woohooo!

This evening we had an included dinner which was just amazing. We had been given our menu on arrival and had been asked to nominate our choices. There were about 5 choices per course. The dinner was great!

The hotel was full of lovely paintings of people, areas, houses etc associated with the Bronte Sisters, but we were not given the option of visiting the Parsonage. So while we see the scenery that inspired the sisters that is about all you get in relation to them.

Nevertheless, mum and I enjoyed our stay in the area.

Day 10 - YORKSHIRE EXCURSION

After breakfast, drive to the walled city of York. See the huge Minster, Britain’s largest medieval cathedral, and explore the maze of narrow streets, including the Shambles. Continue to the fabulous 18th century Castle Howard, one of Britian’s grandest historic houses with its fine furniture, paintings, tapestries and extensive gardens.

Today was a magical day! In fact this day was the best of the entire tour for mum and I, but for vastly different reasons! We started off the day driving to York. We were dropped off at a coach stop just outside the main area and walked up over a bridge into York proper. Stephen gave us an orientation walk showing us some of the more spectacular features of York we could explore. We got to see the Minster and the Shambles before being let loose for about 4 hours.

Mum and I hot footed it towards Yorvik - The Viking Settlement and exhibition - as this was our must do activity in York. We did get distracted along the way by a craft shop (Duttons for Buttons) and its perfectly preserved Medieval attic room built in 1422. This shop sold beautiful embroideries and mum stocked up! I bought a very interesting tapestry which came with plain canvas and a chart. As I have only ever done preprinted tapestries before this was a new challenge I just had to try.

30 minutes later we made it to Yorvik. We paid our entry and went through the gate into a time machine that was to take us back to Viking times. It was entertaining. Once through the time machine (and Tardis it was not!) we were taken through to a ride that would take us through the Viking life displays. These were fabulous (although a little um too realistic smell wise!) All the items on display were genuine artefacts excavated on the site of the Viking settlement. After the ride we went through interactive displays of Viking life and times and we even had the chance to have Viking coins made on the spot. They were the perfect souvenir and for 3 pounds 50p they were cheap too!

We were in Yorvik for ages and when we finally left we made our way to the Shambles for lunch and a wander. We found a great little tea shop for lunch and had a toasted Tea Cake (another regional specialty I just had to try). We then went wandering though the Shambles shops and found a great place selling wooden toys and models. We found a resin model of a conker which, when we took it home to Australia (no seeds or leaves permitted - a real conker would have been confiscated for sure), made Customs scratch their heads. It was so realistic that they thought we had brought home a seed pod, we had to show them it was made of resin. The customs lady said it would have fooled her.

We wandered on through the shops and found some antique dealers. They had some nice stuff, but the prices were out of this world… and if anyone can convince me that Smurfs are antiques I will buy them one! Collectible yes, antique - not on your nelly! But there they were in all the antique shops! Go figure! We found a bookshop and I brought home Joanne Denny's fictional biography of Anne Boleyn.

York was a personal highlight for mum - she just loved Yorvik.

After leaving York our next stop was Castle Howard. I had been looking forward to seeing Castle Howard ever since I had seen a photo and realised it was a neo-classic castle. The photo I had seen was of the exterior which was great - I had no idea of the interior, it was a real surprise.

Now I have to admit that while I was gungho over seeing Castle Howard, even before we got there mum was calling it a neo-classical monstrosity. No big fan then! LOL

Had Stephen told us the day before, or even early that morning, that we were returning to York late afternoon for our evening meal mum would have made arrangements to stay in York and meet the coach later. However we were not told this until quite late in the day.

Nevertheless, we headed on to Castle Howard and I was getting really excited. I was snapping photos left and right! LOL Castle Howard + me = kid in candy store!

We arrived at Castle Howard and were driven up to the Castle itself by miniature train/tractor. It looked like a train but on wheels. It even had cute carriages I checked to see if I could take photos and nearly fell over when they told me I could photograph anything and everything. I checked my back up battery was with me and got set for a photographic spree. I bought the guide book and got started.

I was not prepared for the interior of this castle. The first thing to know about Castle Howard is that it has a lot of ancient Greek and Roman statuary (or reproductions thereof). Much of this is unclothed! You have been warned! LOL

There were magnificent busts and statues and works of art everywhere. The camera just never stopped snapping. I saw some amazing frescos on the walls and up the stairwell. I had never really thought about the interiors of these neo-classical creations, but I suppose it makes sense that if the exterior was a reflection of the ancient Greek and Roman world then the interior would be as well. Doh! The whole castle was set up as almost a temple to the perfect human form - male and female. It was utterly overwhelming. Some of the statuary was so impressive, and the miniature bronzes were amazing. I found one of these bronze miniatures in Portobella Road Antiques market in London, they wanted a mere 7,200 pounds for it. Needless to say it did not come home! LOL.

Even Henry VIII made an appearance here at Castle Howard - in a sitting room there was a wonderful large trinket box with miniatures of Henry and his family inset into the lid. It was amazing. Had there been a replica in the shop I would have taken that home for sure! But I settled for some photographs. Strangely though, Katharine Howard and Anne Boleyn (both firmly attached to the Howard family) did not make an appearance. The historic focus was on others in the clan.

In the next room there was a cabinet in the corner where you could open up all the drawers and take a look at (and play with) curios from the house. These included calling cards, a peacock feather fan, gloves, curling tongs, and a wide range of domestic memorabilia. These were so much fun as they showed off the human side of the Castle. It was very hard to imagine actually living in Castle Howard. I would be too scared I would break something.

Strangely enough, although I thoroughly enjoyed the castle I found it cold and hard (probably something to do with all that marble!) - it was nowhere near as welcoming as say Hever Castle. Hever Castle drew you in and welcomed you, Castle Howard was somewhere you visited and then left. It was not the most friendly of places in feel. This is not to say the staff were offensive or cold, they weren't, it was just the chill of the antiques and the sense that the place was full of precious items that one had to be careful of. It was not like Blenheim where the family played football in a room full of precious crockery and dinner services.

The Castle also featured an area devoted to the TV Series Brideshead Revisited which had been filmed onsite. This was great and made me determined to see the show. There was also a wonderful display of mid-Victorian illustrated children's books. Mum enjoyed both of these displays. She spent ages looking at all the books (my mother is a total book fiend - I have described our home as a couple of small bedrooms set in a large library) so she was in her element examining them.

The final display before the gift shop was a wonderful array of William Morris wallpapers and an exhibition of how these were being slowly restored. These were fantastic and it was nice to see them as although William Morris designs are throughout the house it was so easy to be distracted by the artworks and completely miss them.

I had come to Castle Howard hoping to bring home some books on Neo-Classicism but they did not have them! I was stunned to find that not only were there no books, but the staff even asked me what Neo-Classicism was! I could not believe that they were not told about the house, its architectural style and the fact that it is the epitome of the style and people were coming from all over to see it as the perfect example of Neo-Classicism. I had to give a mini talk to the sales lady on what Neo-Classicism was. I was so stunned that they did not know, nor have books to buy on the subject, that I filled out a customer comment card asking that they redress this massive failure.

In the end the only book I came home with, was the guide book! How disappointing! Castle Howard needs to learn from Blenheim - 25 books on the house, its history and the history of the Churchills, And that was only in one of the many shops Blenheim had!

While I did focus a great deal on the house, the gardens too were spectacular. They again had the gardens broken up into rooms and the ones we saw were stunning. There were statues throughout the grounds which was very nice and provided a link with the style of the house. We saw some peacocks in the gardens and got some lovely photos.

The exterior of the house was very nice, but it was hard to see who was being represented on the statuary on the skyline. My camera - as good as it had been up to now - could not zoom close enough to make out the features of these statues so I have no idea whether they were Greek and Roman gods, or representations of the family and aristocracy of the time the house was being built. I must read the guide book - it is on my list, but I haven't got to it yet!

I could have spent all day at Castle Howard, it was stunning. I really enjoyed it. Mum on the other hand was not exactly overwhelmed. It was not her cup of tea! All those naked male bodies …. Not really her thing! LOL

When we left Castle Howard we drove through the countryside back to York. Stephen let us stop for a photo opportunity at Clifford's Tower before driving us on for dinner at the Monk Bar. We had an included drink and then dinner. It was nice, filling too, but there were mutterings that there had been no choice. I personally did not have a problem with this but others were unamused. I found the first and second courses were good, but the Bread and Butter pudding was not to my liking. It was the first dessert I had not liked on the entire tour so I was doing well all things considered.

After dinner we were driven back to the hotel where I spent an hour photographing the rabbits. Oh they were so cute, and they did such cute things!

Day 11 - BRONTË COUNTRY - LONDON

Travel south to visit Warwick Castle, with its magnificent medieval towers and ramparts. The chilling dungeon contrasts with the splendour of the State Rooms and baronial Great Hall. Continue to London and bid farewell to your Tour Director.

Our last day on tour

We headed out towards the main road (with a few minutes stop so I could photograph some wild ponies - thanks Stephen!) and were soon on our way to Warwick. We had a coffee stop on the motorway at a little motorway café where we found a wonderful coffee shop selling the largest coffees I had ever seen (and we only asked for a regular coffee!) and the most amazing hot chocolate I have ever tasted. It was great but it was so large mum had to leave half of her coffee so she could get to the coach on time!

There were lovely market stalls there as well and we found some sweet little clocks for only 5 pounds. Mum got a gold clock shaped like a post box for herself (yes well with all the postage we did we needed a souvenir of the post office! We posted home 65 kilos of items by the end of our 50 day vacation!) and we found a clock shaped like the Eiffel Tower (where we had been on our European Breakaway Tour - tour tale on its way!) which we bought for a friend who was looking after the house for us. He is very hard to buy for and this clock was just perfect! He loved it!

I found a great double CD of the Monkees to take home so I was happy. My music collection was definitely doing well on this tour!

We drove on to Warwick Castle for lunch and were given 2 and a half hours to explore and get lunch. Mum was determined to see the Warwick the Kingmaker Display - out came the trusty camera to take heaps of photos. If you find yourself at Warwick Castle and going through this display turn off the forced flash on your camera - you get way better photos!

I photographed every inch of that display for mum! She was very happy.

After seeing the display we wandered through to a little restaurant for a devonshire tea - only we opted for coffee with our scones and clotted cream. It was very nice and the scones were huge!

After lunch we headed into the state rooms to see the Henry VIII display. More waxwork figures of Henry and his wives (yes Anne of Cleves looked beautiful here too - no reason for Henry to give her the flick!). There were portraits and paintings everywhere and the works of art were wonderful. We had a great time in the state rooms and, like the Warwick the Kingmaker exhibit, we highly recommend taking the time to see this.

Finally we headed off to the Peacockery (honest, that's what it is called! LOL) but it started to rain heavily and we sat down under shelter near a van selling coffee and ice-cream (what a mix!). Within seconds a wonderful peacock came towards us waving his tail feathers. More photos!

Our time at Warwick Castle was coming to an end so we reluctantly headed towards the exit and gift shop. I found a great book on Heraldry and how it is used in art and architecture to reflect the allegiances of the house owner. That came home too!

We drove on to London and the end of our tour. We arrived back at the Thistle Marble Arch around 5 pm.

We said goodbye to everyone, only to bump into them all upstairs checking in LOL. We had found the group to be full of fun people who (for the most part) were really interested in the history and architecture of England. We had heaps of good chats with people and made friendships we hope to continue in the future.


A few final words on this tour. This tour is definitely a winner. We loved it, for vastly different reasons of course! LOL.

I would not have missed this for the world, it was a great experience with even those places I didn't know too much about before the tour thrilling me. I loved to see the different architectural styles and the different ways in which the Houses and Gardens were presented. Mum loved seeing the history of England come alive before her. While she tends to be an amateur historian of church and state history of England, her main love is domestic history and the history of the "common man" who she calls "the man on the Clapham Omnibus", and to see the domestic side of the Great Houses was a thrill for her. I could barely drag her out of the kitchens in some of these houses. She loved seeing the kitchen gardens and the knot gardens of these great houses.

For both of us this tour was a real treat. It was certainly different from the other tours of Britain. We both recommend this tour.

And finally - a word or two about the Thistle Marble Arch.

When we returned to London we began our 3rd stay at the Thistle in our 50 day vacation. We had done fine on the first 3 day stay, however issues began to emerge on our second 10 day stay.

We were staying on the third floor and we found that we seemed to have a chambermaid (every second day) who did not like to leave us wash cloths (face washers, flannels, face cloths - whichever term you like to use). Every second day we would return to our room to find no wash cloths. I was a little reticent to complain so we headed off to Boots to buy our own (do not take white ones with you, they get mistaken for hotel linen and off to the wash they go… they do not come back!). We bought a stack of coloured wash clothes and used them throughout our trip.

When we returned after our tour we were put back on the 3rd floor only to walk in - no wash cloths. I immediately phoned down to housekeeping to ask for some. I had to put in a standing order for wash cloths as I was not willing to go through the same malarkey as last time. Still I had to phone down to housekeeping on 2 more days (out of 12) to ask for my wash cloths. If you find you have this problem at the Thistle Marble Arch do not hesitate to make that call!

Other than that we had a great time at the Thistle Marble Arch and I would not hesitate to stay there again. The staff were friendly and helpful and they fell over themselves to meet our needs.

Towards the end of our stay we had decided to send 50 kilos of books and stuff home by Mailboxes INC situated on the Strand. We went down to them and bought the empty boxes and returned them to the hotel ready for filling. I packaged up the boxes and called the Porters to come collect them. They took them downstairs and had them ready for collection by Mailboxes Courier the next day. The Thistle could not have made this process any easier! It was great! And when we got home the boxes were waiting for us, undamaged and in excellent condition.

We were very happy.

So that's my tale… if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. I am always happy to answer any questions.

Hope you enjoyed travelling through the English countryside with me - I enjoyed sharing this tale with you

Hugs
Jeni

Jeni, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your tale.
This is one tour I would like to take one day and I hope Insight will keep this one in future years.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Your tale is fabulous and detailed! It will help me a lot with my planning for my tour this September. What a wonderful tour, and it's good to know about all the little extras like your optional in Stratford where you get to see Cotswold villages.
I am very grateful to you. I will read and re-read it over the coming months.

Jeni, your "tale" is so detailed ... I am really glad I signed up for this tour especially after reading the details of your trip. Glad that you were not sick for very long. Thank you for taking the time to post such a complete account!

Jeni-I chuckled when I read about your problems with wash cloths European hotels are usually not in the habit of supplying them, only hand and bath towels. I traveled to 8 countries in 2007 and didn't come across one hotel that had them but I was warned beforehand that they wouldn't, so took my own. I leave for my 38 day European Heritage tour in less than two weeks and already have my travel wash cloths ready to be packed

Jeni,

Thank you so much for your wonderful Tour Tale.

Thanks for such a wonderful tour tale Jeni. We're on the Britian and Ireland Explorer in August so I'm gathering as much info as I can from the various tour tales that go to the same locations.

I travel with my sister and there are many times that I have had to drag her away from something to get back to the bus on time. She loves to look at all the intricate details of any artistic work on buildings, in pictures etc.