Half-Term:Winchester to Lyme Regis (20 February)
4 Comments »22nd March, 2005; Category: General
I left Winchester at about 9.30am and decided to wander slowly south-west to Lyme Regis, a tiny sea-side village. It wasn’t far to Stonehenge, and it is one of those places one must ‘do’ when one comes to England. I was distracted on the way, however, by a sanctuary for birds of prey. Thinking of my father, who is a bird watcher, I stopped for a look.
I spent a wonderful (but absolutely frigid) hour wandering about the displays of owls, vultures and eagles. My favourites were the Snowy Owl (a glorious crsip white) and the Pygmy Owl (so adorably tiny). Particularly fascinating was the Secretary Bird. It is an odd looking bird, so named because they look like old-fashioned secretaries; go to this website to see a photograph. They stand about a metre tall, and have the oddest walk. They really do look like they are wearing old-fashioned breeches. I was persuaded to stay for the demonstration flights (it was so cold, it took some convincing) however it was well worth it! They began with the Barn Owl, followed by a spectacular flight by a Pergrine Falcon. Then they brought out the Secretary Bird to demonstrate how it kills snakes by stomping on it – a very determined bird! They demonstrated the habits of a group of vultures (I confess I can’t remember the species) then finished with a duck race! The children present loved this of course. After the demonstration they allowed the children to hold some of the owls. It was lovely to be so close and be able to take photos.
From the sanctuary, I drove to Stonehenge. I would never have expected to have seen as large a crowd on such a bleak and brutally cold day, but then it was a Sunday afternoon! I am afraid it was a bit hard to get excited about it when my ears were going numb! However I got some nice photos and I was glad to have seen it!
From Stonehenge I headed south towards Dorchester. I decided to take a short detour to Thomas Hardy’s cottage, where he apparently wrote Far from the Madding Crowd among other things. I have to say that after seeing his delightful cottage and walking through the peaceful nearby woods, I might actually grow to like the man (I am still emotionally scarred from having to read Tess of the D’Urbervilles and The Mayor of Casterbridge for Year 12 English!).
I arrived in Lyme Regis late in the afternoon. I discovered my B&B (another gorgeous home with interesting, welcoming hosts) tucked down a tiny path crowded at each side by tall buildings which was apparently a road! It was a bit nerve-wracking driving up it – thankfully it was one-way – although I had my doubts and was expecting to see some nutter careering down towards me!
I fell in love with Lyme Regis, but will tell you more in the next installment!
Half-Term: Winchester (19 February)
Forgive me for having taken so long to update this. I can only access the Internet at school, and life has been so busy lately, trying to mark GCSE coursework and Year 7 exams!
In February I had my first Half-term break. One glorious week to potter about the English countryside! I decided that the focus of this first opportunity to travel should be my Jane Austen pilgrimage. So I planned an itinerary that included Winchester, Lyme Regis and Bath. From there I travelled to Hay-on-Wye on the Welsh border, because I had heard of all the secondhand bookstores there. After a day there, I drove to Chester, mainly so I could get to Liverpool to see a performance of Dr Faustus.
I left early on Saturday morning, ready to tackle the M25 for the first time. I had heard many horror stories about traffic jams (apparantly it has the reputation for being the biggest car park in the northern hemisphere) however today was my lucky day and the trip was very quick.
I arrived in Winchester at about midday and immediately found the tourist information centre and a handy map to negotiate my way around the town. This became my habit in every new place, and I can recommend it – although the towns in England are so well signposted it is generally very easy to find train stations, car parks and tourist attractions.
As my purpose was to begin my Jane Austen pilgrimage, I began at the end, as it were, by visiting her tomb in Winchester Cathedral. The cathedral is quite lovely, and I was able to take photos of her tombstone and the plaque on the wall that mentions her skills as an author (the inscription on her tombstone mentions nothing of her writing).
From the cathedral, it was a short walk around the corner to the house where Jane spent the final few weeks of her life. It is a private home and was painted an unfortunate apricot colour…
There were many other things to see in this elegant city. I wondered along the water meadows where Keats was supposedly inspired to write ‘Ode to Autumn’. Couldn’t see it myself, but then it was a bleak, cold winter’s day – I will have to return in October! I enjoyed walking along the river back into town and past Wolvesey Castle – they have landscaped this area beautifully. Unfortunately castle was not yet open. Many attractions do not open until April – one of the perils of travelling through the UK in the winter. After lunch I wandered up to the Westgate, the remainder of the wall that once surrounded the city, and then to the Great Hall, the last remaining part of Winchester Castle. This contains King Arthur’s Round Table, but don’t get too excited – its a 14th Century forgery! Nevertheless it is beautiful and fascinating!
By this stage it was getting dark, so I decided to find my B&B accomodation for the night. This was to be my first B&B experience in the UK, and I have to say I love it! For a start it is one of the cheapest forms of accomodation – only youth hostels are cheaper. In addition you are usually staying with really interesting people in lovely homes. In Winchester I stayed at the home of Stephanie Boden, the recently widowed wife of an artist whose paintings covered the walls of the home. She lived just around the corner from the local cinema, so I popped around to see The Magic Roundabout, which was as surreal as I remembered it as a child! After the film, I had my first experience of eating alone in a restaurant – not my favourite part of travelling alone! Thank goodness for a good book. In the morning, over chunky slices of homemade bread and tea, Stephanie told me that Colin Firth (aka Mr Darcy) lived near Winchester, and that his parents lived ‘just up the road’. Hmmm… Could have been tempted to do some stalking, but I rose above the impulse and headed off for the next leg of my journey – the drive to Lyme Regis.
Snow!
No Comments »4th March, 2005; Category: General
My apologies for not having written for a while. I was on half term holiday last week, and have heaps to write about that – but it might end up having to wait until next week…
Today the school was closed at lunch time because it was snowing! Beautiful, soft clean snow – it actually makes the place look attractive. That is, until the kids got out into it at break time. It very quickly turned into a murky grey mush! And needless to say, the students were impossible between break and lunch. It was such a relief to get rid of them! In addition it gave me a chance to catch up on my emailing! In a minute I will head home, where hopefully there are a few piles of white fluffy snow (and yes, it really is fluffy!) to play in. Unfortunately I am in the middle of my second cold for the year… This is just a mild sniffle though, not the disgusting lung disease I had last time!