WEEK ENDING APRIL 13th
Monday April 7th
Yesterday afternoon we enjoyed another delightful drive through the country lanes which abound in the Cotswolds. This drive took us to a village called Minster Lovell and the ruins of an old manor called Minster Lovell Hall. I had to ask a woman for directions and she told me, then said; You sound like that bloke..you know, the one that does the pictures. What’s his name?
I thought for a second then it dawned on me.
“You mean Rolf Harris?”
“That’s the one”, she replied.
I guess it must have been the beard.
Minster Lovell Hall was built in the fourteen hundreds and the village goes back to Roman times. The name minster means the church here was of some significance. The present church was built in 1450 and is named St Kenelm’s after the Cotswold prince whose effigy lies inside.
There is also a lovely old pub set on the banks of the Windrush River at the bottom of a street lined on either side with thatched roof cottages. Of course we had a quick one there.
On the way home we passed through the village of Chadlington which boasts yet another very old church, St Nicholas’ famous for its gargoyles. By then it was threatening to snow again and we headed back.
Today after lunch we visited the site of the “Rollright Stones” There are two villages, one Great Rollright and the other, Little Rollright. And nearby you find this remarkable circle of limestone rocks looking like rotten teeth, 77 of them, embedded in the ground. They’re believed to date back to 3000BC and legend says they were once human beings, and are known as “The King’s Men”. There is another legend which says that
on New Year’s Eve they all go down to a spring near Little Rollright for a drink.
We drove another few miles to the town of North Leigh to look at the ruins of a 4th century Roman villa. What’s left today is a huge L shaped set of ancient foundations, but you can identify sixty different rooms, including heated baths, and a magnificent red and brown mosaic floor. The complex lies beside the River Evenlode, not far from a major Roman road from what was once Corinium to V
erulamium. Today that’s Cirencester to St Albans.
Tuesday April 8th
A quiet day today. But we both joined the local gym because we’re getting out of condition. We’re getting ready to head off to Norway next Monday.
Wednesday April 9th
Not far from Chipping Norton is a marvellous old house called Chastleton. It stands in open parkland just over the border from Oxfordshire in Gloucestershire.
You walk down a rambling pathway and there at the bottom of the slope is this stone mausoleum of a building that is Chastleton House. Though it’s set in the centre of manicured lawns and surrounded by stone walls, the place looks like what it is, a typical Jacobean pile.
The walls are lichen covered and a bit grim. The place has seen better days. Inside, the grimness continues, large cavernous rooms with dark panelled walls, and roundhead armour and helmets for decoration, between portraits of seventeenth century aristocrats. There are also worn and in some cases tattered tapestries, bookcases filled with dus
ty tomes. The floors creak with age and the staircases too.
The house was built in 1602, replacing another house which was owned by the Catesby family. In 1605 Robert Catesby mortgaged that place in order to finance the Gunpowder Plot, which he organised, along with Guy Fawkes and others. The new owner Walter Jones, demolished the place and built the present Chastleton House. In later years the housed gained further fame because they drafted the the present ruled of croquet here.
Thursday April 10th
At last we are online. Did a lot of emailing and booked a trip encompassing Prague, Vienna and Budapest. But first Norway.
Friday April 11th A wet day so stayed close to home.
Saturday April 12th
Phone calls from home. Gym in the afternoon. Packing. Lunch with Fritha and Anthony tomorrow then London then Norway on Tuesday.
Monday April 7th
Yesterday afternoon we enjoyed another delightful drive through the country lanes which abound in the Cotswolds. This drive took us to a village called Minster Lovell and the ruins of an old manor called Minster Lovell Hall. I had to ask a woman for directions and she told me, then said; You sound like that bloke..you know, the one that does the pictures. What’s his name?
I thought for a second then it dawned on me.
“You mean Rolf Harris?”
“That’s the one”, she replied.
I guess it must have been the beard.
Minster Lovell Hall was built in the fourteen hundreds and the village goes back to Roman times. The name minster means the church here was of some significance. The present church was built in 1450 and is named St Kenelm’s after the Cotswold prince whose effigy lies inside.
There is also a lovely old pub set on the banks of the Windrush River at the bottom of a street lined on either side with thatched roof cottages. Of course we had a quick one there.
On the way home we passed through the village of Chadlington which boasts yet another very old church, St Nicholas’ famous for its gargoyles. By then it was threatening to snow again and we headed back.
Today after lunch we visited the site of the “Rollright Stones” There are two villages, one Great Rollright and the other, Little Rollright. And nearby you find this remarkable circle of limestone rocks looking like rotten teeth, 77 of them, embedded in the ground. They’re believed to date back to 3000BC and legend says they were once human beings, and are known as “The King’s Men”. There is another legend which says that
on New Year’s Eve they all go down to a spring near Little Rollright for a drink.We drove another few miles to the town of North Leigh to look at the ruins of a 4th century Roman villa. What’s left today is a huge L shaped set of ancient foundations, but you can identify sixty different rooms, including heated baths, and a magnificent red and brown mosaic floor. The complex lies beside the River Evenlode, not far from a major Roman road from what was once Corinium to V
erulamium. Today that’s Cirencester to St Albans.Tuesday April 8th
A quiet day today. But we both joined the local gym because we’re getting out of condition. We’re getting ready to head off to Norway next Monday.
Wednesday April 9th
Not far from Chipping Norton is a marvellous old house called Chastleton. It stands in open parkland just over the border from Oxfordshire in Gloucestershire.
You walk down a rambling pathway and there at the bottom of the slope is this stone mausoleum of a building that is Chastleton House. Though it’s set in the centre of manicured lawns and surrounded by stone walls, the place looks like what it is, a typical Jacobean pile.
The walls are lichen covered and a bit grim. The place has seen better days. Inside, the grimness continues, large cavernous rooms with dark panelled walls, and roundhead armour and helmets for decoration, between portraits of seventeenth century aristocrats. There are also worn and in some cases tattered tapestries, bookcases filled with dus
ty tomes. The floors creak with age and the staircases too.The house was built in 1602, replacing another house which was owned by the Catesby family. In 1605 Robert Catesby mortgaged that place in order to finance the Gunpowder Plot, which he organised, along with Guy Fawkes and others. The new owner Walter Jones, demolished the place and built the present Chastleton House. In later years the housed gained further fame because they drafted the the present ruled of croquet here.
Thursday April 10th
At last we are online. Did a lot of emailing and booked a trip encompassing Prague, Vienna and Budapest. But first Norway.
Friday April 11th A wet day so stayed close to home.
Saturday April 12th
Phone calls from home. Gym in the afternoon. Packing. Lunch with Fritha and Anthony tomorrow then London then Norway on Tuesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment