End of Term Holiday
I apologise that my blog is not yet up to date! Special apologies to Olwen who is still waiting with baited breath for my account of the performance of Jamie Bamber in Dr Faustus (or perhaps she has given up on me…). Rest assured I will get up to date with that and other things such as my visit to Crufts Dog Show, a visit to the Tower of London, my Easter day trips to Blenheim Palace and Dover Castle, my first taste of an English nightclub: The Pink Toothbrush (!?) in Raleigh, and my most recent visit to the theatre to see Kevin Spacey and Mary Stuart Masterson in National Anthems.
But for now you will have to be patient with me! I leave this afternoon for my two-week holiday to Ireland. I am driving to Holyhead today and catch the ferry to Dublin tomorrow morning. I will spend a couple of days in Dublin, a day in Mountmellick, two days in Galway and then will spend a day visiting St Joseph’s Secondary School in Spanish Point, Clare, which is my school’s (Clare High School) sister school. From there I will drive to Kilarney to join my Peregrine walking tour through the Ring of Kerry. It does look like I will get to use the waterproof pants which were in the ‘Very Important’ part of the recommended gear list! Oh joy!
I promise all will be updated soon after my return!
Half Term: Hay-on-Wye to Chester (25 February)
After another quick wander around the town, mainly in search of a postcard to send Jill, the librarian at my school in Australia, I began the leg of my journey to Chester. However before I could get away I had to wait for no less than 40 minutes while the woman parked behind me to come back from what ever took her so long and move her car! I had parked across the road from my B&B in a small parking area beneath the town clock. Parking is clearly at a premium as it seems to be everywhere in the UK, and no one apparently thinks anything of blocking in others as they would be ‘just a minute!’ Hmmm… Good thing I wasn’t in a hurry and was in the mood to be patient and gracious!
I began my journey north, and enjoyed wandering slowly along the twisty ‘B’ roads. The sweetest thing I cam across was a little rickety wooden toll bridge! It cost me the princely sum of 50p, collected by a little old man, for the privilege of having just crossed his bridge – a little cheaper than the Dartford Crossing!
As I was driving along I came across a sign advertising a nearby castle managed by English Heritage. Not holding our much hope that it would be open in February, I turned off and made my way to the car park. To my pleasant surprise it was opened and I made the first use of my English Heritage membership to get in for free. Stokesay Castle was very small and virtually ruined, but enough of the interior woodwork remained to make it really interested. It was snowing lightly which made it pretty cold (enough of the numb ears for heaven’s sake!). The nearby church was open and I quite enjoyed wandering through it.
I arrived in Chester late in the afternoon and again made my way to the tourist information centre to find a map. Chester was the hardest of the places I visited to navigate, but I found my way to my guesthouse eventually. I hadn’t really planned to see much of Chester as I was really only here so I could pop up to Liverpool on the train the next morning so I could see a performance of Dr Faustus at the Liverpool Playhouse.
Half Term: Bath to Hay-on-Wye (24 February)
I didn’t leave Bath straight away the following morning, because there was one thing more I wanted to do. I had found out that there was an exhibition of the art of E.H. Shepard, who did the original illustrations of Winnie-the-Pooh! I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition, particularly the ways in which he illustrated his personal correspondence. His drawings were just beautiful!
I left Bath late in the morning and headed towards Wales. Hay-on-Wye is in England, but is very close to the Welsh border, and the most direct and interesting route was through the Black Mountains. This town had attracted my attention because it is full of second-hand bookshops! Richard Booth, who proclaimed himself ‘King of Hay’ and is the owner of Hay Castle, set up the first bookshop in 1961. He claims it is the largest second-hand bookshop in the world. Now there are over 30 bookshops, plus a few antique and craft shops. I really enjoyed wandering through the winding streets, but didn’t buy anything as I had well and truly blown my book-buying budget in Bath at the Jane Austen Centre!
I stayed in a really comfortable and beautifully decorated B&B called Clifton House with very welcoming owners. It was situated in the centre of town right near the clock tower that let me know what time it was every 15 minutes… all through the night!
Half Term: Bath (22-23 February)
No Comments »7th April, 2005; Category: General
I took my time driving to Bath and arrived in the early afternoon. I decided to have a wander through the town centre straight away, and parked near my guesthouse accommodation. My first port of call, as always, was the tourist information centre where I gathered maps and brochures of places of interest. I also found out about the free walking tours that run everyday and made a note to join one the following morning.
As my main reason for visiting was to continue my Jayne Austen pilgrimage, I decided to waste no time and visit the Jane Austen Centre. I spent half an hour browsing the collection of books and other goodies in an effort to be strategic on what I bought! Frankly I could have gone crazy! I left most of my purchases to the next day, when I planned to revisit, listen to their introductory talk and visit the display they had prepared. By this stage it was getting late and cold, so I decided to check into my guesthouse.
I began the next morning with the walking tour, organised by the City of Bath, and conducted at no charge by ‘The Mayor’s Corps of Honorary Guides.’ My guide was a retired gentleman with a wicked sense of humour; he kept my group entertained for 2 hours with many fascinating stories about the town and its history. He informed us of the history of the Abbey, we walked through the Pump Room, he pointed out the features of Georgian architecture, which I have to say, I really admire, and told many yarns about Beau Nash’s efforts to make Bath a ‘city of fashion’. As the only Australian in the group, he made the point of pointing out to me the house where Captain Arthur Phillip (captain of the First Fleet and first governor of New South Wales, for those of you who didn’t pay attention in your Australian History lessons) died, apparently falling from the first floor window – I believe he was ill at the time! Of course, there was the obligatory walk past the Circus and the Royal Crescent. Very elegant buildings of course, and the Circus was quite the who’s who of English society, with all the plaques stating who had lived where! The walking tour also took us past the Assembly Rooms and Great Pultney Street, the grandest street in Bath, and really quite impressive!
After the walking tour, I did the ‘Roman Baths’ thing, along with 50 screaming Year 5 students and about 30 rude American teenagers… It was interesting, but to be frank, I am less interested in the Roman history of Bath as I am in the Georgian! After lunch I walked up to the Assembly Rooms to visit the Museum of Costume, which I loved. It contained a collection of fashion from the 16th Century to the present, and was fascinating. As interesting for me was a special exhibition of costumes that had been created for the various television and film adaptations of Jane Austen’s novels. My Mum and I had always been interested in how they went about designing and creating the fabrics in particular, so this was really enjoyable! I spent some time wandering through some of the more interesting shops in Bath, and found a little one called Susannah that specialised in vintage textiles. I found the special thing for which I was looking for my Mum’s recent birthday: a patchwork bag made from a vintage Edwardian rose print and French ticking. For the record, she tells me she loves it! As my students here would say, I was well chuffed!
I finished my afternoon with another visit to the Jane Austen Centre. I listened to their introductory talk, given by a very enthusiastic woman (I was pleased to discover that I knew virtually everything she shared about Austen’s life) and then wandered slowly through the museum. I particularly liked seeing Jane Austen’s sampler that she did as a girl. I discovered after that one could buy a cross-stitch kit ‘inspired by’ the sampler; that is, they took a few bits of it and rearranged it slightly to apparently appeal to modern tastes! I confessed I succumbed, but have yet to begin it! I also purchased a number of books, mostly focussing on the background information about the settings of Austen’s novels, which should be quite useful for my teaching in Australia, as well as being of great personal interest.
By this stage it was the end of another interesting, but very, very cold day and I was grateful to return to my guesthouse.
Half-Term: Lyme Regis (21 February)
I arrived at Lyme Regis late in the afternoon. I had a small map of the town in my Lonely Planet guide, and the street on which my B&B was located seemed quite normal – until I turned in to it – it was no more than a glorified footpath! Thankfully only one-way traffic, although I had my doubts to begin with! Lyme Regis is a tiny village tucked into the side of a valley in a little bay. The houses, all white and pastel pinks and yellows seem to tumble into each other. Being mid-winter it was very quiet, and unfortunately a few places I would liked to have visited were closed.
My B&B, Coombe House, was very pleasant, and the hosts lovely and interesting people. Hugh’s comments in their little introductory folder were very entertaining! I stayed for two nights, as I wanted to have a full day to wander about the town.
My main reason for choosing to visit Lyme Regis rather than any other adorable seas-side village was because it was one of the settings for my favourite Jane Austen novel, Persuasion. I had read that Austen visited the place with her family, and really loved the place. I had also enjoyed the film adaptation starring Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds. I wanted to see the places that featured in both the novel and the film.
I spent the day wandering along the seashore, making my way slowly to the Cobb, the protective wall that enables the bay to be used as a port. In spite of the fact it was winter, and it was snowing wildly throughout most of the rest of England, it was a perfect day, with a clear blue sky and sunshine. The beach was pebbled, and I loved the swish the water made on the smooth rocks. I walked along the Cobb until I found the steps Louisa was supposed to have fallen down. The steps Jane Austen had in mine are called ‘Granny’s Teeth’, and were a little too precarious to tempt me to walk down them. A little way further along were another, more stable, set of steps that were used in the film adaptation.
I returned to the town to wander up the high street – a very steep climb to the top! The town seems largely unspoiled by tacky tourism, and there were some charming shops. I found a sweet little second-hand bookshop at which I found a copy of Baedeker about Italy. I had always wanted to see this book since I had read A Room With a View. I couldn’t resist buying it, although at 25 pounds, I have no immediate intention of flinging it into the Arno when I visit Florence! It came in quite cold in the late afternoon, and even began to snow a little.
I left the following morning well satisfied with my visit to Lyme Regis. I really did fall in love with the place and should love to visit again some day. My B&B host encouraged me to visit one of the local charity shops to buy the copy of Persuasion she had seen there for only a pound, particularly as I was now heading to Bath. I am glad I took her up on the suggestion as I devoured it in two weeks – being able to picture the places Austen writes about really does bring the novel alive!