Like all great vacations that have taken a long time to plan and save for, half the fun is in the anticipation. Then there is the worry - will everything go OK? Janet is the great cup half full person, June is the cup half empty so you can guess which one of us did the worrying and which one did the anticipating and you'll probably be right.
The first day of our trip, June 19th, definitely had a few ups and downs - like once again being bumped by Horizon Airlines. Luckily, I had anticipated this could happen and booked flights early enough so that there should have been alternatives and in this case, there were. We were bumped between Portland and Seattle, but by taking a later flight - we could change what was to be two legs to one. We got into Vancouver 2 hours later than the original itinerary, but we got there directly from Portland instead of having to go to Seattle first, so it wasn't all bad. As for the other glitches along the way - I almost left a camera on a chair in Portland and then almost left my Termpurpedic seat cushion another time. Janet dropped her passport but luckily it was on the plane a row ahead of us. Our luggage arrived in Vancouver possibly two hours ahead of us, but there it sat, at the end of the luggage carousel, just waiting for us and saying, "Come on will ya? We've been waiting for you for hours!"
This guy pretty well sums up how we were feeling before we got to Vancouver. Once we got there, it was smooth sailing. The Air Canada flight was great - both of us believe it to be the best flight we have ever had - the seats were comfortable, reclined nicely with lots of leg room and since we were right in front of a bathroom, we didn't have to worry about annoying anyone behind us and it wasn't far to go when we needed to - if you know what I mean.
We arrived at Heathrow a bit early on June 20th, but by the time we landed, we were on time. We sailed through customs, found the rental car office and in a reasonable amount of time we were on our way to pick up the car. Janet drove us out of Heathrow, but I did most of the driving after our first rest stop. I recalled being in round abouts in New England which has made driving here a little easier. Waiting for cars to show up in one lane or the other also helps us remember what side we are supposed to be driving on. The streets are very narrow though, so that is a challenge.
It took us until 5:00 p.m. to get to Lincoln and find our home at Bishop Grosseteste College. We have a very nice room in this old 17th century building and we have been enjoying breakfast and at least one other meal a day at the dining hall on campus. The food is good and the prices are quite reasonable.
Our first full day here (June 21st ) we spent getting acclimated to the time change - it hit a bit harder than we expected. But since the college has wi-fi and we got the password on our first morning, all has been well.
Janet finally got to meet her pen pal, Bev Deakin. Bev made the arrangements for us to stay at the college. She handles all the housing arrangements for guest groups among her duties. She very kindly took us around to meet the people in the dining hall so they would expect us for breakfast as well as to get our computers set up with the wi-fi. We have been here for several nights now and have yet to settle the bill. They don't seem overly concerned about it. We have two lovely ladies, Patti and Margaret, who stop by to straighten out our room each day and we've also made friends with several of the people in the dining hall. One of them, Claire, is off to Disney World next week for her 3rd visit there.
Longsdale House
Thursday, June 22nd, our 3rd full day here, I went exploring while Janet rested up to meet her cousins in the afternoon. I found several interesting landmarks like the Newport Arch, Lincoln Cathedral and Lincoln Castle. I didn't go into them on this trip as I want to share that with Janet.
Lincoln Castle
Lincoln Cathedral
We just saw the DaVinci Code before leaving on our trip and as you may know, the scenes that were supposed to be in Westminster Abbey were actually filmed here at the cathedral. So we are looking forward to taking a tour of the interior on another day.
But of course the main reason for this trip was for Janet to be able to work on her genealogy. About two years ago, she mailed a bunch of letters to people with the name Horton who were listed in the on-line Lincoln phone book. She mailed out about 13 letters and had one reply, from the gentleman seated here. He wrote to Janet that his sister thought they had a Benjamin in the family and sure enough, this Benjamin, who is the great-grandfather of John and Pat is also the brother of Janet's great-grandfather John.
Today June 22, 2006 Janet finally got to meet her British cousins and share with them copies of her work on their family tree.
After meeting Pat and visiting for a bit, John took us to his home where we met his wife, Thelma and had a chance to enjoy real English tea with them.
John and Thelma have kindly offered to take us about town on Monday and then on Tuesday evening we're going out for a pub lunch with them, Pat and her daughter, Claire. It will be a lovely time indeed.
Patti & Margaret
Our Housekeepers
Janet & Bev who made our stay at BGC possible
This is a 3 photo composite shot of our room which is why there is a wedge in it and things may be slightly askew.
Friday June 23rd Janet was ready to go the the Lincolnshire Archives. We grabbed our trusty map and headed off in what we thought to be the right direction - to go downtown. John had driven us past it yesterday, so if we could get down to that part of town, it shouldn't be too hard to find. We actually did quite well and I dropped Janet off in short order and actually found my way back to the college within only 5 or 10 minutes. Pretty good!
I was quite surprised when Janet arrived back at the room shortly after noon. As it turned out, the Archives didn't have any more in the way of information than what Janet had already been able to find by using her online resources and the Mormon library. It was disappointing, but she also feels good about what she had found previous to this. So now we will concentrate on visiting the actual towns where her ancestors "hung out" for a time.
So we decided to play tourist and go see Lincolnshire Cathedral. I was feeling pretty sure of myself at this point and basically retraced my steps from the day before. I knew how to get to a parking area that wasn't too long a walk and once we got our parking sticker, we were in good shape.
The cathedral is definitely the most majestic building you can imagine. It sits high on the top of a plateau and overlooks the whole area. It is truly magnificent. We did a self tour, but we saw everything we wanted to, including the tomb of Katherine Swynford, a newly restored "Rose" window called "The Dean's Eye", "The Lincoln Imp" and the Chapter House where they did some of the filming for the Davinci Code. We would have missed the Imp if we hadn't asked someone. It's up on a pillar and probably only 9 inches high, if that. The photo isn't good, but the best we could get.
We were truly lucky to be able to see the cathedral while someone was playing the organ. It is a magnificent pipe organ and what a treat to be able to hear it while we wandered around.
The Dean's Eye
Katherine Swynford Tomb
The Lincoln Imp
Fake frescos for the movie. They are so well done and the canvas is so well trimmed that you have to look very closely at the bottom of the pillars to see the edges of the canvas.
Fake statuary for the movie - plywood and plaster painted to resemble marble. It really looks authentic at first glance.
Saturday the 24th was our day to look for Janet's ancestral roots in the English countryside. We headed off to Horncastle as our first stop. That is a pretty good sized village and after finding a place to park we headed for the Tourist Info shop. Two ladies in there did their best to be helpful, but they couldn't find the street Janet wanted from the information we had so they sent us on to the library. Another lady there gave it her best shot as well and finally came up with an Alfred St. rather than Alfred Rd. Of course over several hundred years, it could have been changed from Rd. to St. so off we went in search of what we hoped might be a street with some very old, old homes.
The numbers on the houses didn't go nearly high enough on this dead end street, but Janet had a nice chat with a man who lived in one who told us the house across from him was 1890 vintage. Janet found one she thought was older - it could be from the time frame she was looking for - the 1850's.
Next we were off to Bucknall and Waddingworth. These two towns are practically non-existent. Perhaps they are known as parishes for a reason - the church is about the only thing there. But we did find them and saw some lovely thatched roof houses on the way.
What was really neat was we didn't see the church or village at all as we drove by so we turned around. The church was hidden by some tall trees from one direction, but was very easy to spot on our return. There was a man walking a dog by as we went up to the church. We said hello and passed on by. He turned around and was coming back and he heard us talking and realized we were foreigners. He asked if we happened to be looking for the Hortons! Janet had sent out a search request online and her info had ended up in their parish newsletter! Better still, he says to us - "I'm a Horton." His name is Michael and though he doesn't think he and Janet are related, who knows for sure?
Perhaps this is
cousin Michael Horton...
Michael told us the other St. Margaret's was now privately owned and he gave us general directions on how to get there. When we passed the sign for Waddingworth - we never came to any group of buildings so we were stumped. We turned down this one lane that was indicating a home that was a B&B or something similar and as we approached, we realized we could see a church steeple. It was pure luck that we found this second St. Margaret's.
This little church was used for storage or as a warehouse for a number of years and had fallen into great disrepair. Local people started a restoration project in 1998 and they continue to work on it as they raise additional funds. It doesn't look like much, but there is a photo album inside and they have come a long way from where they started.
Their next project is to replace the roof - but they have to wait for the nesting bats to vacate first after the breeding season.
Janet scooped up a bag of "ancestral soil" from each of these sites. Now all we have to do is get back into the U.S. without them confiscating it.
Saturday evening, we took a cab back to the area where the cathedral is to go on "The Lincoln Ghost Tour". They run these tours five nights a week and have many, many spectral visitors to talk about so I guess you can take the tour several times and not hear repeated stories. It was very interesting and who knows - if we go back there another day perhaps we'll feel someone tapping on our shoulder and turn around to see no one is there.
Ghost tales galore will keep you listening.
The red brick pub is said to have
frequent ghostly visitors
Sunday June 25th saw us put over 300 miles on the car - or at least it seemed like 300! It was well over 1 1/4 tanks of gas, so that must be pretty close. We took off a little after 10:00 a.m. for Yorkshire and the towns in Yorkshire where my ancestors were born and married. We drove through York on our way to Northallerton, but we didn't see anything of the Calendar Girls though we did see signs about James Herriot.
North Hallerton is a fairly good sized town where my greatgrandfather, Thomas Willoughby, was born. We didn't have any information about where he lived so all we did here was get a photo of the church. Then we went on to Darlington where my great grandparents "tied the knot". We do know they got married in the church there - St. Cuthbert's.
Out of my way!
We're going to Darlington!
From Darlington we wanted to head over to the coast so Janet could put her toes in the North Sea. She said she hadn't realized that the North Sea was right on the English Coast. I hadn't thought about it one way or the other, but it seemed like a good idea, so off we went. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't very helpful. Now we were in a fairly steady rain and the fog was getting lower and lower. Even if there was a sea there, we weren't sure we'd be able to see it. Imagine how magnificent it would be on a sunny day!!!
From the North Sea, we headed back inland, through Scarborough. We are told this is THE Scarborough from the song, and it is a fairly good-sized city. And yet, we were taken by surprise when we came upon a man and a boy guiding this group of donkeys up the city streets. We had to take our turn going around them and it just gave us a chuckle to see them out there.
Monday June 26th was spent with Janet's cousins, John and Thelma. They picked us up at 11:00 a.m. and we headed for the Burghley, an old English estate that has been used for movies like Pride and Prejudice with Dame Judi Dench. It is a magnificent estate, filled with beautiful works of art, and exquisite pieces of furniture and tapestries. The family has elected to keep a member overseeing it rather than have it be turned over to the country to maintain because the contents of the home would probably be broken up and spread out were that to happen. Unfortunately, we were unable to take any pictures in the house, but we have a beautilful souvenir book which has better photos than we would have been able to take. A couple we did get though:
These folks are the current owners of this estate. We don't fully understand how this all works, but we were surprised to read that they actually live in Oregon. When Janet "Googled" them, it looks as though he is involved with the instrument company in Oregon that makes some of the weather instruments I have to keep track of the rain and such. We're guessing they live in the Portland area though we don't know for sure.
From there we went into the town of Stamford. This was also used in the filming of Pride & Prejudice and we bought a packet of postcards that shows scenes from the movie and then we went outside to look at the buildings. This was the area where the movie was shot.
After spending a little while looking at the buildings and comparing the postcards, we strolled through a park and back to a lovely establishment called The George of Stamford where we had afternoon tea.
Tuesday, June 27th and today was laundry day and take care of the bill. England, like Canada, has a VAT (Value added tax) which is like a sales tax. At 17.5% it really adds up. We Oregonians should consider ourselves lucky that we don't have a tax like this on all our goods and services though I must say the state wouldn't be in such a pickle all the time if we had a small sales tax. Can't believe I just wrote that!
I went to the Lincoln Castle this afternoon while Janet rested. I guess I'm just not into history all that much as I only spent an hour there. Could it be the school tours of prepubescent boys had anything to do with my beating a hasty retreat? Hmmmm. Anyway, there are 4 copies of the Magna Carta left in existence and one of them is here. I was surprised to learn first of all that there was more than one and then that there were originally 41 copies and they weren't signed, but inscribed with the seal of the king. I did see the original, but no photographs allowed as they would damage the paper and ink. It was amazing to me how small the writing was - perhaps a 14 size font on today's computers. It was written in Latin. I hadn't thought about the document in years, but given the craziness of our current administration, it brings back the importance of what was signed on that plain in 1215.
Entrance & Gift Shop
After seeing the document, I walked through the prison and then around the grounds. In addition to the jail which was also used for torture and executions, there is another fairly grand building in the compound that is still used today as a court. I walked in there by accident, but soon found out it wasn't part of the tour.
And by climbing the stairs to the top of the wall, I got a spectacular view of the Cathedral once again.
John and Thelma picked us up a little after 6:00 P.M. for dinner at an English Pub. Before we took off they had a chance to see this web page and some of the pictures we have taken of the time we have shared. As Thelma says, it is memories to which we say, "A Lifetime of Memories!"
They took us to a place called the White Horse Inn on the Dunston Fen. (A Fen is a lowland area.) This place is by a small river and they have a Caravan (RV) Park adjacent so there is a lot of fishing here on the weekends.
Well come on! This is going to be fun!
This is the life!
Real British Curry - yummm
Traditional Bread Pudding with Cream.
The Cousins - Pat, John, Claire
(Pat's daughter) and Janet
Enjoying an English Pub Dinner with New Friends and Family
John and Claire
Our hosts and the owners of the White Horse Inn, Louisa and James Stout. We had a marvelous time thanks to their hospitality and good cooking. Our compliments to you both!
As we drove back into the city at 11:00 P.M. there was still a faint glow in the sky. Night comes late in the British summer. The closer we got to the city, the more magnificent the view of the cathedral which was also lighting up the night sky. Thelma kindly drove us around the cathedral one last time so we could get these magnificent shots of it at night.
Tomorrow morning we leave for London. As we went back to our room we commented that had we known how much fun it would be to meet the cousins, we would have come here after London. It's sad to be leaving our new friends behind, but we are also very happy to have met them all and we hope they may make the trek to Oregon at some point in the future.
Because this page is getting so long, we'll continue the trip in London on a new page. Click the button to move to that.
