For years I’ve had requests from my pattern customers to lead a historical costuming tour to England. As a busy homeschooling mom, I just didn’t see that on the near horizon. But last year, my husband brought it up and said there’d probably never be a better time to go — one silver lining in the black cloud of a failing economy is the falling of travel costs and a better exchange rate for the American dollar. We also now have lots of older children who help run the household and need little help with their schooling, so my husband urged me to consider going in the fall of 2009.

I started researching the options and was surprised to find what an amazing, cost-effective travel package I could work out. My husband enthusiastically cheered me on, urging me to post on my message forum to see if there was enough interest to get together a good-sized group. Lo and behold, three days after posting, I had a completely full tour list and a waiting list to boot!

So this fall, I’ll be leading a group of 24 enthusiastic participants for a week in London. Half the participants will be staying on for a three-day extension to Bath for the opening of the Jane Austen Festival. My oldest son will be accompanying me as my assistant (and a very excited first-time visitor to Great Britain!).

To help cement all the items on the itinerary and make sure everything runs smoothly, I’m popping across the pond on March 5th with my baby, Benjamin, and our sweet 15-year-old neighbor, who will serve as my helper. We’ll be in London four days to meet with curators, hotel managers, and such. On the Saturday, we’ll take the train over to Bath to meet with folks there. It will be a whirlwind journey there and back, but I’ll be posting pictures here as often as I have WiFi access so my fall tour participants can see what’s coming in five months’ time!

Stay tuned for lots of fun images!

After the wonderful tour of the castle (and a quick stop in the gift shop for treats for my children!), we headed back down the hill toward the Cathedral. Through a side door, you enter the ruins of the old abbey, seen in the photo at left. There is a beautiful garden through the lower archway, complete with splendid English roses. Somehow we didn’t manage photos of those, but we were in a hurry for tea and a little rest, so we continued across the broad, green lawn into the cozy little tea room.

We knew we wanted to see the two big used bookshops in Rochester before heading back to London, but we weren’t sure where to start. The main street isn’t very long, so we wandered back down it until we stumbled across the first place, a little hole in the wall absolutely crammed to the ceiling with books. The proprietor let us browse, and we found many bargains (100-year-old Dickens’ editions for a pound!). Purchases in hand, we moved on down the street to an OxFam shop–akin to an American Goodwill. There were a few books, but nothing really tempted us there. We were beginning to wonder if we’d find the big store our hostess had told us about when we bumped into it at the end of the street. We entered two stories of antique book bliss! I found several volumes of 19th-century adventure stories for my son and regretfully walked away from expensive, leather-bound editions of favorite classics. It was dreamy just to browse!

But time marched on, and we knew we had to catch the bus back to our train to make it to London before it was too late. We bade a fond farewell to lovely Rochester and enjoyed a drowsy journey back to London, looking over our literary treasures and storing up memories.

Next morning we attended church with my friends in Dulwich, then joined them for lunch in their home and a restful afternoon of visiting and (of course!) tea:

Sitting with our wonderful hostess, Sarah J.

Lindsay and Sarah sip and rest.

Enjoying a marvelous afternoon.

Here are Sarah and Lindsay with our friends Carol and Dawn. The lovely young lady between Sarah and Lindsay was staying with our host family as a helper after the birth of their baby. A native of Australia, she was a delight to get to know!

All in all, we had a wonderful time. We headed back to Southwark for a late afternoon meal with Suzi, then began packing up for the trip home next day. Before turning in that night, though, we had a wild hair to go see Piccadilly Circus at night. I admit the idea was mostly fueled by fun images from yesteryear when the circus was akin to Times Square with all its lights and shops. So Carol, Dawn, Sarah, Lindsay, and I hopped a night bus and took off. Piccadilly didn’t quite live up to that vintage mental image, but we still had fun, doing some last-minute shopping for family and friends at the tourist traps all around us.

Next morning the girls and I said our good-byes and headed to Heathrow, and I posed for a last-minute picture with Dawn, Carol and Suzi:

The only other funny incident I must record is that Lindsay decided to wear flip-flops to the airport and ended up losing one between the tube and the station platform — it does say, “Mind the Gap” everywhere you look, and Lindsay’s flip-flop went straight down, never to be seen again. She spent the rest of the ride going through her suitcase for another pair of shoes! It really does pay to wear a good, comfy, sturdy pair of shoes for all journeys through London’s transport system.

At any rate, we did make it to our gate at Heathrow (after one wrong tube choice and long check-in lines) and flew back safe and sound to the US. And all of us look forward to future adventures in Great Britain!

I’ve managed to let months slip by without posting the final days of our 2007 trip. I promise to bug Lindsay for the Saturday pictures so I can finish up! It is fun to look back and remember the trip highlights. My dear husband will be stopping through London on his way back from Africa later this month, and he plans to hit some of the same sights we enjoyed, including the British Museum! Fun!

Well, we made it. Our flight over was delayed two hours, which put us at Heathrow past the time to catch our train up to the Cotswolds. We managed to breeze through Customs (no line) and haul everything to the train station to catch the Express to Paddington. Once there, we found that the next train up to Moreton-in-Marsh would leave in 45 minutes. We decided to call Barry (the Keens’ cousin) to see if he was still planning to meet us at the station in the Cotswolds. No answer. What to do? Well, we did what any intrepid American tourists would do: We hopped the next train, not knowing what we’d find at the other end but determined not to give up our trip to the Cotswolds! After 1 1/2 hours, we stepped onto the platform and were thrilled to see Barry’s smiling face. He had already met three trains to see if we were there, bless him. He promptly packed us into his car and drove us the 8 miles to Chipping-Campden for our whirlwind tour!

We walked the village, meeting up with Monica (a cousin-in-law), who had stayed behind in case we might show up. Barry and Monica are such a delight to be with. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as we explored nooks and crannies, and we had a special treat when we visited St. James’s Church–a group of “bell ring changers” had showed up to ring the eight bells. If I remember correctly, they were ringing a Treble Bob Major, which involves mathematical changes of the eight notes to produce a very celebratory set of rings (if you’ve read Dorothy Sayers’ mystery, The Nine Tailors, then you know all about these famous ringers!). They rang the bells for three hours without slackening. It sounded like a wedding was taking place! I got the bells on video, and I’ll try to post that later when I figure out how to format it! At right is a picture of Lindsay and Sarah with their English relations!

And below is a photo of Lindsay and Sarah inside the town sheep market. Barry is looking up at the roof!

St. James’s Church is where several Keen ancestors were baptized and buried. Many other persons of note are buried there beneath elaborate effigies. We enjoyed viewing some altar hangings that had been embroidered in the 1300-1400s. They had faded considerably (no photography allowed), but the handwork was still beautiful to behold. We chatted with the rector on duty and his wife, both of whom knew much about the church and those buried there. After leaving the church, we visited the antiques shop that is in the site of the old “Live and Let Live Pub” (famous in Keen ancestry!). We purchased some gifts and thoroughly enjoyed poking about in all the corners. Finally, Barry treated us to a delicious dinner at the Eight Bells pub. The girls and I had bangers and mash (sausages and mashed potatoes in rich onion gravy–oh, it was so good!).

Finally, Barry drove us back to Moreton-in-Marsh to catch an evening train into London. After waiting for a few minutes at the station, we heard the bell change ringers start up in the nearby chapel! They had followed us. Delightful! Finally, our train for Paddington showed up (late). We had to change trains at Oxford, then pulled into Paddington around 10:30pm. I’d already called Suzi (our hostess) to let her know we were running late, and she was able to tell us which bus to catch to reach her house. After missing our stop, we jumped out at the next one to find my friends Carol and Dawn waiting to escort us to Suzi’s. Hurrah! We crashed into bed around midnight (at least I did–the girls were up a bit longer!).

Later I’ll tell you what we did in London today! We’ve walked and walked and seen so many things. Here’s one teaser:

This is the “Golden Dome” of St. Paul’s Cathedral. The girls and I climbed 420 steps up to the very top for a 360-degree view of London! Oh, my, are we worn out! And it was 420 steps back down, you’ll remember! Whew!! But well worth it…even if just to say you’ve done it! More later!

Finally! I’ve got the last of the pictures in the gallery. Hope you enjoy seeing our last day in wonderful England! Click below to access the album:

Chipping-Campden

And I can’t resist sharing a photo to demonstrate how our trip to England has already influenced some changes here at home. They are simple but have really made a fun difference in our house! First, I painted our front door a deep, rich blue. Then, I had my dear husband hang two baskets that I filled with flowers. Finally, I planted some shrub roses (which you can’t see here). I took this picture shortly after this was completed; I’ll have to take a more recent one so you can see the flowers in the height of their glory! Little bits of England cling to us still….

Now I’ve uploaded the pictures from our drive through the hills and dales of Derbyshire and our visit to Chatsworth House. I hope you enjoy all the incredible scenery as much as we did!

Derbyshire Scenery

In and Around Chatsworth

P.S. – Whoops! I got a note from someone who said the Chatsworth photos would not enlarge. I figured out why and fixed the problem. Now you can click to get enlarged photos in that gallery. Thanks for letting me know, Lisa!

I’ve finally gotten through our photos from the Jane Austen Centre, Museum of Costume in Bath, and the interior of Warwick Castle. There are lots of delicious things to drool over in these galleries!

Click below to go directly to them:

Inside the JA Centre and Museum of Costume

Inside Warwick Castle

I’ve gotten two more galleries up with pictures from days three and four. Click below to enjoy!

Sunday in Bradford on Avon and Bath

Monday morning in Bath and drive up to Derbyshire through Gloucestershire and Warwickshire

Have fun!

Well, it is taking a while to resize and upload pictures to the online galleries. Thank you for your patience! I do finally have three galleries on line and am working on the others as time permits. Let me know if you have any difficulty accessing these links. Here we go:

Scenes from our day in London

Inside the V&A Museum (lots of historical costume shots!)

Jane Austen’s House and Hampshire

I hope you enjoy looking at these! I’ll try to get the rest up soon. It is fun to relive the memories!

At last we’ve gone through our pictures, and I’ve finished the blog post I started while at Heathrow! Here are the details of our last day in beautiful England….

We packed up our belongings Wednesday morning and loaded the car around 9:30. Melissa and I dashed into some of the shops in Bakewell to see if we could find some more gifts for family and friends. There are so many charming little stores in this tiny village. What interested us the most was seeing how vastly different the fashions in the windows are compared to those in London and Bath. There we saw much more avant garde clothing–lots of trendy, skimpy things. Up here, where the temperature is a good 10-15 degrees lower already, the fashions in the windows are far more sensible! Here you find woolen shops with tweed jackets and long skirts. We admired lots of beautiful sweaters made locally and further north. After picking up a few things, we headed back to the car and set off for Chipping-Campden, which is where Melissa’s father’s family came from.

The day started out overcast and windy, but as we approached Gloucestershire, the clouds scattered, revealing a bright blue sky and brilliant sunshine. By the time we reached Chipping-Campden at 2:15, it was warm enough to leave off our jackets for our walk about town. This place immediately won our hearts as our favorite village. Its buildings are of a yellow limestone even warmer than the color seen in Bath. There are doorways in shades of royal blue, forest green, and deep red, and flowers hang in abundance from wrought-iron baskets. Melissa’s third cousin, Barry, waved at us as we drove up, then greeted us warmly with kisses on the cheek and a handshake for Matt. We immediately liked him and felt at home. Melissa’s father visited Chipping-Campden almost a year ago and took the “grand tour” of Keen family sites, and Barry had offered to give us the same tour. We started out at the Eight Bells, a B&B and public house that served lunch. Unfortunately, we were too late by half an hour for lunch, so we walked down High Street to a small bakery that served lunch until 3pm. Barry treated us to a delicious meal and afternoon tea.

When we finished, we began our tour by stopping to look at a building that used to be the Live and Let Live Pub, which Melissa’s great-great-grandfather owned in the early 1900s. It now houses an antiques shop. We decided to return later to look through the antiques. Further down the street we visited the town’s market stall, built in 1679. It is an impressive edifice for a “stall!” Melissa’s great-grandfather etched his initials somewhere inside the building, but there are so many carvings that it has proven impossible for Barry to locate those particular initials! We gave it a good try and saw carvings dating to 1737–others without dates were deeply worn and had no doubt been there much longer. The uneven floor was made of worn stones and dipped in the center of each aisle, showing where years of foot traffic had gone.

Looking for initials in the market stall!

Next to the market stall is a tall memorial for WWI. Melissa’s great-grandfather designed and carved the memorial. He had apprenticed as a woodcarver and stone carver in a town guild and used his skills to ornament altar pieces for local churches as well as gravestones. We walked across High Street and headed back toward the town center to see the house where Melissa’s grandfather was born. The house is called the “twine house,” since it is next to an alleyway where men made ropes. Below you see the house, then Melissa standing in front of the house with the alleyway to the side.

After taking several pictures, Melissa and I decided to visit the antiques store before it closed. Matt and Barry walked on to St. James’s Church, which is where many members of the Keen family were baptized and buried. The antiques store proved to be one of those that you cannot skim! Melissa and I browsed all around the upstairs, which was filled with all kinds of fine china, silver, pewter, and more. Then we spied the stairs to the basement and headed down. There were three rooms jam-packed with more china and pewter, with scads of mugs and cups hanging from the rafters. It was unbelievable. Boxes on the floor held mismatched saucers and cups at 30 pence each. We poked around quite a while, then went upstairs to make our purchases. By then, the shop was closing, so we hurried on our way once we had our bags in hand and saw Matt hurrying toward us from the opposite direction. The churchwarden was on the way to lock up St. James’s, so we’d have to dash if we wanted to see the inside.

This beautiful parish church was built by Sir Baptist Hicks, who also built the market stall and a huge estate in Chipping-Campden. His name shows up all over the town, in fact, and plays a large part in the history of the area, as do the names of his parents. Inside the church is a tomb for his parents, who lie in marble effigy atop. Next to this are statues of Sir Hicks and his wife, along with a bust of their daughter, Penelope, who “died a mayd.” Sir Hicks’s wife commissioned the sculptures after the death of her husband and had them portrayed holding hands:

On the left you see the bust of Penelope.

The interior of the church is lofty and grand. We spoke with the churchwarden (who was actually running late–very fortunate!), and Melissa was able to look up her Keen ancestors in the church’s record book. Barry told us he had not been able to find the grave of Thomas and Elizabeth Keen, since its marker had been moved some time in the past. But as Matt walked out of the church, he saw the marker opposite him in the low stone wall next to the walk! Here is Melissa next to the tombstone:

We walked through the churchyard, marveling at the many stones (some of which may have been carved by Melissa’s great-grandfather), then we looked across a field to the ruin of Sir Baptist Hicks’s grand estate. The great house burned down a long time ago, and several gate houses are all that remain behind the high wall of the estate. The gate houses themselves are so huge that they’d easily contain a large family! Some mullioned windows stand partly open, and you can see remnants of curtains inside. Torture for the truly curious! Wouldn’t we love to see what was inside those 400-year-old houses! Here is the main gate into the estate, which stands next to the church:

We finally wended our way back down to town proper, passing the church’s almshouses on the way. These are as neat as a pin and beautifully kept, a testimony to a church that cared for its poor and widowed parishoners. Would that the modern church shared the same vision! It was now nearing suppertime, and we hoped to grab a bite before heading back to Heathrow, but the Eight Bells did not serve food until 6:30. Melissa took some last-minute pictures of the inn, which was originally built to house the men who built the church’s bell tower. It is a beautiful place, so warm and inviting! These pictures can’t do it justice, since a flash takes away from the warm glow of its atmosphere.

We bade Barry a fond farewell, hoping we’d see him again in the future. It really is amazing how you can “go home to a place you’ve never been,” but that’s just how we felt in Chipping-Campden and in Barry’s company. He is a delightful English gent, and we were so glad Melissa was able to meet one of her Keen relations across the Pond! We drove back to Heathrow through Oxford, finally reaching our hotel around 8:30pm. Thankfully, they were still serving supper until 10pm, so we were able to get a bite to eat! Then we repacked all our luggage to cram everything in, did some blogging, and took a brief nap. The hotel desk forgot to call our room to wake us up at 3am, so I awoke with a start to see 3:45 on the clock and leaped out of bed! Thankfully, they had called Melissa, who was already up and had gotten a cart for our luggage. After some wrangling to get things down the narrow hallways, we managed to get into our taxi and made it to our gate well in time. Security in Britain is far more strenuous than it is in the US (and you thought it was bad here!), but we made it through and boarded our flight without any delays. An uneventful flight across the Atlantic brought us back to DC, then to Atlanta, where Melissa’s mother picked us up and drove us home. It has taken until today (Monday) to get over the jet lag, which is far worse coming back than it is going over! But now we are happily settled back into our regular routine, enjoying memories of wonderful days in England and hoping for a return visit in the future.

Thank you to everyone who has left kind comments on the blog! It has been a pleasure to share the trip and all our fun with everyone. What a blessing to be able to go on such a journey with so many friends cheering us along!

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P.S. – Yes, I will upload the rest of our pictures and post links to them — watch for those in the near future!

P.P.S. – Someone wanted to know what kinds of “sculptures” were on the grounds of Chatsworth, but we didn’t waste camera memory on them! Just as an example, here are some brief descriptions: An upside down “boot” that looked like it was made of melted and burned marshmallows; a tall, skinny bunny beating a tambourine with a stick (looked like the Energizer Bunny after a diet–LOL!!!); various pieces of twisted metal painted bright, obnoxious colors; a waxwork (or latex or something) sunburned woman in a bikini lying on a lawn chair (I kid you not). We just tried to airbrush them out of our sight as we viewed the otherwise heavenly scenery all around! Perhaps some day the grounds will be returned to their former splendor and rid of the silly pop “art!”