Thursday 25 March 2010

Heritage Britain 2009, Part 3

My goodness, what a wanderer I was last year! Even after I came back from holiday in the north of England, there was no holding me. In June I was off for a day out into Hampshire. The first stop was the Devil's Punchbowl at Hindhead, but the main destination was Butser Iron Age Farm, near Petersfield (see photos above and below). If my memory serves me well, we even managed lunch at Uppark House, the former home of Regency rake Sir Harry Featherstonhaugh, a lover of Emma Hamilton who later in life married his young dairymaid.

On the way back home we decided to take in the wooded area around Farnham, hoping to visit a Rural Museum, not far from where the opening scenes of 'Gladiator' were filmed. Unfortunately, the museum was closed. But our journey wasn't wasted because it took us through the lovely village of Tilford, with its medieval bridge, which spans the River Wey (see below).
The weather that day was absolutely fantastic, as it was later in the month at Mottisfont Abbey, near Romsey in Hampshire. This picture was taken in the gardens. And no, that isn't me on the bridge.
Before the month was out I managed also to visit Quebec House in Westerham, Kent (the home of General James Wolfe who died at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham), and St John of Jerusalem, a surviving Knights Hospitallers' Chapel which now forms the end of this house at Sutton-in-Hone in Kent. Just look at that blue sky in the photo below! And that was June. July took me mudlarking on the Thames at the Tower of London and to the Coombe Conduit which once supplied water to Hampton Court, but more of those visits later.

3 comments:

  1. Oh! All your beautiful pictures of Britain make me miss it sooo much. My hubby and I did a year at the University of Warwick in Coventry where we met as exchange students from the States. Britain holds a special place in our hearts.

    Thanks for the reminders.
    Suzanne

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  2. Just Beautiful, Maggi!
    I know that if I ever get to go to the UK I won't want to come back.
    Sigh.
    G.

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  3. These are just gorgeous!!! Thank you so much for posting them!!!

    And HUGE congrats on Pure Silk!!! :)

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