Hiya I have been busy (and maybe a little lazy too) but am tuning in to report back. Hear it's getting warmer in Michigan- about time! Have had many a conversation about weather as English people love talking about the weather…. Yet, they're never happy with it; it's always too cold, too wet, or my favorite too hot (I don't think it ever gets HOT here). Hey ho!
I will try to give my best recap the highlights of the past two months. BEWARE this is REALLY long… Probably TOO long… Oh, dear.
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| Hunt followers |
Kate and Ian took me Beagling, something so British that most English people don't even know what it is. Based along similar ideas as Foxhunting, Beagling is where Beagles chase Hares and the 'hunt' is on foot not horseback. So yes, that means the whippers-in, and master of the hounds are all on foot controlling and following the pack. Which means they must run, and run…. and run- in proper full hunt attire (hunt cap, wool coat, white breeches). The hunts usually last ~3-4 hours and as a hunt follower you walk cross-country on foot trying to keep up. Luckily, this was a hunt on hilly ground which means that visibility is much better as you can stay in the center and watch the hounds move around. Post hunt, a village member hosts tea. I assumed that meant a nice cup of tea and chat... Oh, it was a beautiful Afternoon Tea feast; tea sandwiches, sausage rolls, numerous types of cakes, and tea. A hard earned meal for all after a long days walking. It was in a lovely old home in Seaton in the Welland Valley, some of the most beautiful countryside I've ever been in.
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| Garden of the home where we had tea post-hunt |
My last days at Brampton Stables, which already feel so long ago, were spent eating very well. One of the little girls Sophie made me cakes, Pauline (the French girl) made a quiche, and Julie one of the instructors made me crispy cakes. So sweet of everyone- pun-intended!
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| Sophie's cakes |
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| Pauline's quiche |
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| Kenilworth Castle |
The week in between finishing at Brampton and heading up to Yorkshire I zipped around much of southern England. Starting with Jill and John Davis is Solihull, Jill took me on a 'blast from the past' tour of her and Mom's childhood homes in Kenilworth, and also through Warwick, Stratford-upon-Avon, and many more. We did all of this cruising in her convertible- the ultimate tour car! Spent the next day with second cousins Jack and Lizzie Turney who are both at University of Birmingham. Birmingham is a red brick university which refers to six civic universities founded in the major industrial cities of England. There are about 30,000 students and it's a top sport university. Jack and Lizzie are both on the Squash team, so I got to have a taste of Squash from the pro's themselves. Although it's a similar racquet to tennis, you have to hit the ball MUCH harder to make it bounce back- poor Jack and Lizzie very kindly humored my attempts to play. In the evening we went to Fab, an on campus party for only Birmingham students at the Guild which is like a Union by day and by night two levels of bars/dance floors and an outdoor patio.
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Jack (not the blurry straws), Lizzie (note cat shirt),
and myself (note multiple One Direction heads all over me) |
Lizzie and I had gone shopping at the Bullpen in Birmingham town centre in the afternoon and bought some cheap, silly cat and One Direction shirts from Primark to wear out that evening as a joke. However, Lizzie rocked her cat shirt too well, and people thought I was just the typical American girl that loves One Direction…. So sadly our joke was misunderstood but at least we thought we were funny! Jack has mastered a 'straw act' in which he takes straws from the bar and proceeds to stick them in peoples hair as they walk by. Sounds simple, but I speak from trying it myself that it's an art, one that Jack has definitely mastered; a key resume builder for sure. Good fun looking around the bar and seeing people dancing unknowingly with straws on their heads!!
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| Baby Annabelle |
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YUM roast dinner
(the green is mint sauce) |
In the morning I rushed home for my first proper Sunday roast at Park Farm, which consists of roast meat, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, gravy, and vegetables. Essentially, heaven on a plate. It's an English tradition to have a roast dinner on Sunday's and carveries are typically the only restaurants open on a Sunday. Spent the rest of the afternoon digesting this delicious meal basking in the sun, and playing with the kids on the green. I then set off to visit Louisa (Mom's cousin) and Craig in Winchester. They live in a nice army barrack just outside of the city with fields on either side- a perfect mix of city and country. I got lots of cuddles from the sweetest baby Annabelle and had my workout running around playing with little Oliver. We spent a day in Winchester, where all the buildings are made from Flint- much different then the Northamptonshire sandstone.
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| Flint building |
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| Westminster Abbey |
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| Royal Horse Guards |
From there I met Richard Wallington in Reading where we headed into London for the day and he was my personal tour-guide. We zipped around much of London on multiple forms of transit- by foot, train, underground tube, and boat. Richard did a great job capturing a series of 'Where in London is Sydney?' photos. Naturally, I found horses even in the city, at the Royal Horse Guards. We made a stop at Buckingham Palace where the Royal Standard flag was flying, meaning the Queen was in. I texted her, but she was in the middle of afternoon tea so couldn't come out… ;) We went to the Canary Wharf, one of two main financial districts in London, located in the West India Docks that was once one of the busiest ports in the world. It is more recently redeveloped, so felt very much like an 'American City'. To get back to city center, we took the Thames clipper along the Thames. Until the 1960's the Thames was a popular and busy working river, with numerous wharves and what used to be docks, lining the river. These wharves have since been converted into multi-million pound flats and office space. Each wharf building is still labelled with the type of dock it used to home. I got to see the iconic Tower Bridge and go under it for the first time too!
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| On the clipper nearing Tower Bridge with the Shard to its left |
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| Nevill swimming!! |
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| On the grass gallops |
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| Little lambs |
From London I hopped on the train to Shipsfleet, Kent to see Abby's cousin's granddaughter (did you follow that?) Georgie Sheppard and fiancé Charlie. They run Hook Green Farm, which has cattle, sheep, a small livery yard, 3 dogs, and many a fields. Georgie trains a few point-to-point horses as well, and as pre-race preparation we took her horse Nevill swimming. Yes, swimming. He walked down a ramp into a 12-ft deep round pool, with two grooms holding ropes on either side of his halter; they were only their to help keep him straight. He went around 10 times each direction. These horses can do it all I tell ya!! We woke up early the next morning to head to New Market, known as the World head quarters of Thoroughbred flat racing. It has over 50 training stables, two racecourses, over 3,000 horses, and is surrounded by over 60 breeding studs. The center of town has 3 large sections for training purposes. There are all weather gallops, grass gallops, some on flat and some on a slight incline. Trainers can pay in to use the gallops for training purposes. The town has many special horse routes so the horses can reach the gallops safely from the many different training establishments; there were more horse paths than sidewalks! It was an incredible site seeing horse, after horse going up and down the gallops, especially since each string of horses was decked out in matching gear and colors for respective trainers. We even got to see Sheikh Muhammed's string of horses! Sheikh is the Prime Minister of United Arab Emirates and owns Darley Stud and Godolphin Racing, the biggest horse breeding operation in the world and one of the most famous flat racing establishments, respectively. In the afternoon I helped Georgie ring the lambs tails- so as you can imagine, I was loving it all.
I spent the following two weeks in Yorkshire living with Lynne (Mom's cousin), Phil, Emily, Bethan, and Chloe in Lockington. They have ever so kindly welcomed me into their home and once again I'm being fed like a Queen! They have chickens, two dogs, guinea pigs and bunnies in the garden, and a horse in the next village so there's lots of excitement here!
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| After the 1st jump |
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| Standing by beecher's brook |
Emily and I went to the Grand National, which is a National Hunt race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool. It's a 4 mile 3 1/2 furlong race over 30 fences, and is known as the "ultimate test of horse and rider". With a prize fund of $1million it's the most valuable jump race in Europe. There are a series of 7 races throughout the day, and we were allowed to walk the course prior to the race to get a feel for how massive the jumps were; HUGE! The Grand National had 40 horses racing, and unlike flat racing, they do not start in starting gates. All 40 horses must cross the start line as the flag is raised- merely impossible but they manage to do it (although there were two false starts…)! Knowing nothing about betting, we both managed to bet $5 (big spenders, I know) each way on two horses and Emily ended up winning $3.75- not bad for a first bet! FUN FACT: in 1982, Grandpa's cousin and Bill Saunders (who I have mentioned in previous blogposts) brother Dick Saunders was the oldest jockey (48) to win the Grand National!
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| Emily and I at the National |
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| The lovers in Edinburgh Castlet |
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Haggis neeps & tatties
(turnips and potatoes) |
Met up with Lisa Masini and her boyfriend Dan in Glasgow- SO EXCITING to have friends here! We toured around Glasgow, trying haggis (which I probably won't be trying again) drinking Guinness, and trying to understand the lovely Scottish accent. We spent a day in Edinburgh touring the Edinburgh Castle, the churches of St. Giles, and the New Town. Edinburgh is a City of Literature so there were many tributes to great authors. They are now touring Europe, but it was great to have a little piece of home here and I will be seeing Lisa again when she arrives back in London on May 6th!
Made a solo trip down to Newquay, Cornwall which is the surf capital of the UK. Picture English surfer dudes and fisherman- weird or should I say, different- at least for me, it was a side of England I didn't even know existed! I stayed in a sea side hostel and ended up having an 8 bed-room to myself for 3 nights! Not too shabby for my first hostel experience, but luckily I met people at breakfast otherwise it would have been a lot of alone time...
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This represents the 3.5 tons of
WEEE (Wast Electrical and Electronic Equipment)
the average person living in the
UK throws out over their lifetime |
Kate, an Aussie, and I convinced each other we had to go in the sea. Kate was quite upset with how cold the water was as she's used to the warm Aussie water, but I didn't think it was too bad- just too salty!! The town of Newquay wasn't very special itself but had some beautiful coast lines and we had great weather. I'm definitely partial to those Great Lakes though! I ate lots of fresh crab, had a Cornish pasty, and a Cornish cream tea. I never realized that the pasty originated in Cornwall, I felt like I was in the U.P./with the Marquardts! For you Americans, a cream tea is a pot of tea served with a scone, jam, and clotted cream- heaven in your mouth. One day I ventured to the Eden Project which is an old clay pit that has been converted into an environmental visitor attraction. It has two covered biomes, one tropical and one Mediterranean, and the uncovered outdoor biome. Their goal is to teach visitors about our relationship with nature. Extremely educational about creating a sustainable way of living. It creatively combined plant life with art and culture; inspiring.
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| Eden Project |
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| Add caption |
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| Nicy (in white vest) and Lizzie (in blue next to me) |
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| Imogen, Sam and Harry |
I celebrated Easter at Park Farm with the Turney crew. Fun to be with little kiddos who were all about the Easter egg hunts, mainly because they wanted the chocolate at the end, but who doesn't?! We had a delicious meal, fun hunt, and a nice stroll around the farm to wish the moo-cows a happy Easter. Schools and Universities have 2-4weeks off at Easter time and Good Friday and Easter Monday are both bank holidays. A few Easter Monday countryside traditions I was exposed to include tug of war and bottle kicking. Tug of war is between the villages of Ashley and Medbourne. There are a children's, men's, and women's category and it's won best out of three. I'm pleased to announce that the Ashley men and women are your 2014 tug of war champions!
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Anchor Mike (Mom's cousin) gettin low
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| Lizzie and I were teased for smiling while pulling |
The afternoon was spent at bottle kicking. This event dates back to the 18th century in the village of Hallaton where Medbourne and Hallaton each try to move the bottle (mini-keg), on a best of three basis, across two streams a mile apart by any means possible. I envisioned a strategic game being played by running with and throwing the keg….. Oh no, no it's a rough one having to move the keg over fences, hedges, and barbed wire. Any one can participate so it's essentially mass amounts of men piled on each other, occasionally escaping the pile for some air. As a spectator you follow the pile but must be on your toes because before you know it you can have a crowd of men rolling towards you at high speed with no intention of stopping. It has turned into a huge event with at least 2,000 people arriving on the day and is of course, an excuse to enjoy some beer in the countryside. At the end of the game players who put in an especially good effort are helped on to the Buttercross in the village center and the opened bottle is drank before being passed around the crowd. WHAT an experience to say the least. Cousin Jack and friends proudly participated- and unsurprisingly no ladies partook.
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Post bottle kicking celebrations
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| Bottle kicking (I never saw the bottle) |
I am SO VERY EXCITED because I will be meeting up with Sarah Gadway tomorrow and Molly Marx on Tuesday when we will together embark on our English road trip!! If you have made it this far, all I have to say is THANKS and hope you enjoyed????
Lots of love
xxx
Syd
A few extra pics below if you can bare to go any further:
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| Hound lovin |
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| Hack on the last day at Brampton |
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| Jack, myself, and Lizzie playing Squash |
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| University of Birmingham clock tower |
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| Park Farm |
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| Imogen, Sam, and Poppy- an early Halloween |
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Winchester Cathedral (note little Oliver in
the right hand corner) |
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| Bubbles and a baby |
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| Oliver |
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| Big Ben! |
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| Selfie with Richard and the Shard |
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| A string of horses on the Gallops |
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| Sheikh Muhammed's horses! |
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| One of the many horse paths in New Market |
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| Riding into the yard |
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| Pizza date with second cousin Abigail! |
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| Add caption |
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| Jack, Lizzie, myself, and Rosie (all second cousins) |
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More Turney's (being watched over by the spirit of Jack ha!)!
Grandpas sister Marg in green and brother John on far right. |
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| CREAM TEA! |
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| Newquay harbor |
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| Newquay coast |
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| River Gannel Estuary in Newquay |
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| More Newquay coast |
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Catching up on sleep at
Park Farm with Richard (Grandpa's brother) |
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| An afternoon stroll around Park Farm with the dogs |
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| Bethan and I made a cheesecake |
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Having a Fat Rascal at the
infamous Betty's Tea Room in York |
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| Bethan, Lynne, and Chloe at York Minster |
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| Village tea party |
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| Easter cuddles |
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Celebrity sighting at bottle kicking:
Tom Flood (England rugby team member),
Jacks friend, Jack, and
Tom Croft (England rugby team member). |
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| Bill at Peterborough Cathedral |
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| The plaque commemorating the origins of Rugby Football |
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| Canon's Ashby, a National Trust |
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| An idyllic croquet course at Canon's Ashby |
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