Chapter 19
Castles, Pubs, Castles, Pubs and the odd historic home........

We have now joined the National Trust and English Heritage of Britain, as we want to explore as many places of interest as we can. This may be boring for those reading this, but we are excited! Have tried to be brief.
First stop, Windsor Castle, in Berkshire.
It was a very, very wet day, but we pushed on and it was well worth it. This is the oldest and largest inhabited castle in the world covering 13 acres and is the official residence of Her Maj the Queen with a history spanning 1000 years. It was absolutely amazing!  We have previously toured through "Buck House", but we both decided this was better. We could only take photos outside, so with the damp day they are less than perfect. To warm up we had a wonderful pub lunch at The Carpenters Arms.

 

Ightam Mote, (pronounced "item mote"), situated in Kent was next on the list. This is a medieval moated manor dating back to 1320. There are over 70 rooms in the house which are arranged around a central courtyard. It even has a Grade 1 listed dog kennel!
Pub lunch, this time at The Plough in the village of Ivy Hatch.

Now to Scotney Castle, near the village of Lamberhurst in Kent. This English country home sits on 770 acres, including a 25 acre garden, farm and brewery. The original castle was built in the mid 1300's.  The current castle nearby was built in the mid 1800s and was lived in until 2006 when the owner passed away aged 99 years and 11 months! It was bequeathed to the National Trust as she had no descendants.

Original castle at Scotney, downhill from current castle, now a folly

Current castle at Scotney

We headed off on a 10 day road trip to do a bit more exploring, basing ourselves back in the Cotswolds (with Annette), while Pip was still around. We thought Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and a few other "shires" was a good idea as they are all so close.
I made a list of castles and historic homes to visit, but a nice surprise was to stumble upon Woburn Abbey on the way.  Although the name suggests it houses monks or nuns, it is today a private home.  It WAS originally built as a Cistercian Monastery in 1145, but the site was given by Henry VIII to the Russell family in 1547, who built today's home on the same site. It has passed from father to son, and today's current Duke is the 15th. Free roaming deer on the 3000 acre property made it all the more picturesque. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Elizabeth I and Charles I all stayed here.

Our pub of choice for lunch was The Griffin in Toddington, not far away.

I have tried to mix up the types of accommodation, so I thought a farm stay was a bit different. Church Farm Lodge, a barn conversion in a cute village full of thatched cottages called Harrington, was comfortable and cute, with views across the fields. 
A walk around the village and surrounds worked up an appetite, so off to the Tollemache Arms, a 16 century thatched roofed inn, the only one for miles, quaint and full of life. 

The weather had been in our favour for our road trip. Warm and sunny which was a nice change from some challenging cold days.
A full day awaited us with our first place of interest Kirby Hall. This is one of England's greatest Elizabethan and 17C houses earlier owned by the Lord Chancellor to Queen Elizabeth 1.  Construction started in 1570 and is now in a semi-ruined state. The audio tour was helpful in painting a grand picture of days gone by.

Next stop was Burghley, (pronounced Burlee) reputed to be THE

greatest Elizabethan House in England. Built between 1555 and 1587 by William Cecil, Lord High Treasurer to Elizabeth 1. It is still a family home, and each room we entered had us picking up our jaws.  Inspirational and breathtaking.  Was the treasurer squirrelling away some gold coins to build and decorate this?

Lunch at a pub called  Collyweston Slater, in the village of Collyweston!  An old slate mining village.

Last stop for this day was Rockingham Castle, which enjoys views over the Welland Valley in Northamptonshire. Built on the instructions of William the Conquerer in 1066, shortly after the invasion of the Normans, it is now the home of the Watson family. The castle was a popular haunt of Chas Dickens, who visited the ancestors of the current family. 
It is so nice to visit all these wonderful homes that families still live in and share with us.

A visit to Pip's Godparents in Ockbrook near Derby was wonderful, as we have not visited Shirley and Eric for 10 years. Cake and cups of tea and lots of reminiscing!  Even old photos were there to be discussed and carbon dated. On the way there we visited Calke Abbey, near Ticknall.  Built around 1701, and  described as an "unstately" home, was intriguing to us. It was given to the National Trust in 1985 to settle death duties owed.  The state of disrepair of the building has been halted, but won't be reversed. Nearly every room had display cases crammed full of stuffed animals, relics, momentos - from floor to ceiling, from tiny sparrows to buffaloes. Bit weird.

A  drive out the next day in the Cotswolds, in a different direction, had us in the area of Lower Quinton. We ended up in the cute pub called the College Arms for a half pint of Guinness and lunch!  A quaint 500 year old stone inn. We arrived just after the bus load of Japanese tourists left, thankfully, as they like to listen to Johnny Cash the publican said.  Imagine that, sitting in the Cotswolds listening to "A Boy Named Sue-shi"?

We can't stay away from all these cute pubs, it's becoming addictive! So two in one day is great. So, same day as the College Arms, we went to Henley in Arden to a wonderful pub called The Bluebell. A gastro pub with many awards.

Steeped in history, our next stop was Sudeley Castle near Winchcombe. Built in the 15C it is now home to Lady Ashcombe. With royal connections spanning thousands of years, it has played an important role in England's past. Once home to Queen Katherine Parr, wife number 6 and the last and surviving wife of the serial bridegroom King Henry VIII, it lay for nearly 200 years in a derelict state.  Katherine is buried here, and is the only English Queen to be buried in a private house. The gardens were a picture on this beautiful spring day.

Lunch today was at The Plaisterers Arms in the village. This is an old spelling of plasterer. 300 years old this time. 
Pip now has 20 pubs on his list, and keeps telling everyone he meets that he wants to go to every pub in England!

Good luck liver!

England loves its animals, as this sign that we saw from the road testifies...

Till the next blog
Love Annie
Xxxx