Over Hill, Over Dale

This was written Saturday, 29 August.

On Friday, it was raining when I got up, but only lightly. I considered putting off my planned trip to Haddon Hall, but decided to wait until later in the day to decide.

I went into town, browsed a few shops, and got directions to Haddon via bus, just in case the rain wouldn't let up. The hall doesn't open till noon each day, so at about 10:30, when the rain had stopped, I started my walk. On the guide-map-brochure-thing, it said this walk could get “slightly muddy in areas, after the rains.” More like: disgustingly muddy, be very careful not to fall flat on your face, it's so slippery! But once I passed through the muddy lane and got up onto a grassy hill, I was stunned. There was a great view of the medieval fortress surrounded by trees, and the sun was hitting the grass in such a way as to intensify the greenness of it. Overall, it was quite an enjoyable walk.

I went through the hall, and toured the grounds as well. Haddon seemed a much more liveable place than Chatsworth, and it was really neat how preserved it was, because it's belonged to the Manners family since the 16th century, and before that, it had only belonged to one other family, the Vernons. The oldest parts of the property date back to the 11th century, but most of the structure is from the Tudor period. The Manners family chose not to live there (they had another castle they lived in called Belvoir) until the early 1900's. Now they've started some restoration work on it, and even used it in some movies (Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, and The Other Boleyn Girl). It was only on my walk back to Bakewell that the clouds came through again on their threats, and it started to rain.

I picked up some fish and chips for dinner, and let me tell you-- WOW! That was my first time to have fish and chips, and they were incredibly delicious! I got them with traditional salt and vinegar, and I didn't even need ketchup, they were so tasty! Then I came back to my room at the B&B, to do a bit of studying of French grammar. It's finally hit me that I'm going to be living someplace where they don't speak English (at least not as a first language), and I really don't want to freeze up and not know how to say anything! So I'm doing a review to help me freshen up on my french. We'll see how effective it is...

This morning, I walked into Bakewell to do a proper tour of the town. There was a farmer's market and a craft market, so I checked both of them out. I enjoyed looking, but didn't end up buying anything. Mom, you would have loved it though- all those locally grown products! If I actually lived here, I would do all of my grocery shopping there. I picked up a Bakewell pudding from one of the local shops. It's a local specialty, created by mistake over a hundred years ago! Apparently, the cook at the Rutland Arms misunderstood the directions she was given about how to make a certain pie, and instead, came up with this. The pudding is a pastry with a custard-like filling, and very good!

I then went to visit the Old House Museum, which was interesting. I learned that the reason Barber Shop poles are red and white striped is because barbers used to also be surgeons, and they would hang their cloths from covering bloody wounds out to dry on the post. The cloth would then get twisted around the pole, in red and white stripes. Grotesque, eh?

Then I decided I wanted to go for a walk, so I thought I would try the only one in the walking brochure that I hadn't done yet. This one directs you to Ashford-in-the-Water, a small town just west of here. I probably got about half way there, before I had to give up. The directions were quite vague. From the map, it seemed like I had gone in the proper direction, but I could never find the road that I was supposed to cross. Eventually, I turned back, and came back to take a nap before dinner.

Tomorrow is my flight to Paris. I can't wait!!! I've really enjoyed traveling on my own, but it'll be nice to meet the other people in my program, and I really can't wait to meet my family! I'll probably end up scheduling this one to post in a day or two, as I won't be able to get internet access again till I reach Grenoble on September 3. Much love!

For your enjoyment:
being silly, Haddon Hall, River Wye and the Bakewell Bridge, fields I walked across