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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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“Kilometers or miles?” |
Practical Information: The drive from Rye to Salisbury took longer than we'd planned due to a small misunderstanding. Given that England is on the metric system we had the mistaken notion that kilometers were used instead of miles. Wrong...just try driving 15 kilometers per hour in a car with a manual shift. Once we figured out the miles/kilometers thing we made good time. It took us approximately 4.5 hours to drive from Rye to Salisbury, but I'm guessing you could do it in about 2.5-3 hours at the faster speed.
Impressions: Petworth House - The main staircase is a visual feast. You don't know where to look next. We didn't realize that Petworth House is also an art gallery full of paintings and sculpture. I wouldn't go out of my was to visit it, but its worth a visit if you're in the area.
Stonehenge - I wasn't at all sure about stopping at Stonehenge after all it just a big pile of rock, right? Something about it though gets to you..maybe it's the age or its mystery shrouded beginnings, but whatever it is you can feel it as you walk around the stone circle.
Stourhead - It wasn't raining when we first arrived at Stourhead, but it was pouring well before we left. Still it was worth a little damp to see it. What a great imagination it must take to create a garden on such a grand scale. The trees, shrubs and plants are all layered throughout the garden. One thing I've noticed English gardeners excel at is the ability to layer plant material into a living tapestry and Stourhead displays that ability beautifully.
St Mary's Church, Longport - We happened on St. Mary's on our way to Hestercombe. The church sitting in the middle of the old graveyard with it's tilted and weathered headstones appeared to be the quintessential English church. Inside, we learned that the church tower is 500 years old and that the church has been in constant use during that time. As we were chatting with a couple of the parishioners the conversation somehow turned to gardening and garden pests. Snails and slugs being common in Seattle, we exchanged ideas on how to rid your garden of the gooey little pests. One person had a friend who would go into her garden, pick up the snails, stomp on them (she liked the crunch) and say "Snails for Jesus!" each time she killed one. The things you learn when you travel.....
Hestercombe - I don't think I have the descriptive expertise to describe Hestercombe. The house a garden sit on a hill that over looks a valley and the garden is terraced down the slope in front of the house. The drystone walls and terraces are constructed of a flat, greyish stone in which various plants have taken root and grown. It's beautiful and I feel fortunate to have seen it and to see one of the few remaining Lutyens/Jekell gardens.
Glastonbury - Glastonbury is one of the abbeys ruin during the Dissolution. Is that what makes it romantic and mysterious? The ruins of the Abbey sit in a huge, grass park. The ruins still contain decorative details and I wonder what it must have looked like when it was built. It's hard to believe someone could wantonly destroy something so lovely.
Salisbury - Salisbury,the historic center isn't large, but it's an interesting town. There's shopping and a variety of historical sites. The cathedral is marvelous. It is covered with all manner of stone carvings, statues, gargoyles, decorative arches....
One of the 10 copies of the original Magna Carta's is in the Salisbury Cathedral. Copies were made and sent to the largest cities to be read out by the town crier. The resident guide, Edna who is 80, was a wealth of information and it turns out there is a copy of the Magna Carta in the Smithsonian, but it's not an original...it was copied in 1275.
Wells - The cathedral at Wells is a visual treat (well they all are really). The unique scissored arch looks very modern, but it was a solution designed in the 1300s to keep the roof from falling in. Well, worth a visit!
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