Diana Petterson England, European Continent, Scotland, Wales

Bonnie & Diana’s Great Britain Journey – Part 1

Bonnie and I at the Roman Baths in Bath, Somerset, England. May 4, 2008

Take two friends who have traveled solo but never together and put them in a foreign country, in a car with the steering wheel at the opposite side of the vehicle and driving on the opposite side of streets, motorways and now roundabouts all while trying to navigate around unfamiliar geography, signs and customs…and for a minute feel the adrenaline, excitement, fear and exhilaration Bonnie and I felt during our 28-day jaunt through England, Scotland and Wales. The experience pushed both our boundaries and yet it was an adventure of a lifetime.

Bonnie put together the lengthy and incredible May 2-30, 2008 itinerary. For England our itinerary included Glastonbury, Bruton, Old Sarum, Stonehenge, Bath, Avebury, Glastonbury, Polperro, Tintagel, the Cotswolds, York, Bakewell and London. Wales included BetwsYCoed, Portmeirion, Caernarfon Castle and Snowdon National Park. In Scotland, we drove through the Scottish Highlands to the Isle of Skye, spent a night on Iona and took in the history of Edinburgh.

There are so many things that caught my attention on this trip, like Bonnie’s green sweater; the crisp Scotland air; washing clothes in London; meeting the gatekeeper in York; speeding, yielding and laughing on the single lane Scottish Isle roadways to Iona; Julie’s humor and Peter’s breakfasts at the Avalon in Tintagel; sucked by Harrod’s over the top and outrageously expensive opulence; driving in the left lane for the first time; meeting the kindly Spratts at Fairy Glen in North Wales; cream tea, scones with clotted cream and strawberry at the Cotswolds; everything Jane Austen especially Chatsworth and her home in Chawton and sharing the experience with a like-minded explorer.

The journey may have begun when we took off from DFW Airport in Dallas and landed at Heathrow Airport in London, but the drive, me driving on the left side of the road with a steering wheel on the left side of the car,  to Glastonbury is truly how this adventure began. Sarah Oliver, our charming B&B hostess at the Melrose House, wondered what had happened to us. It’s just a two hour drive from the airport, but it took us five hours to get there. And, even though we were tired, we were also hungry so we walked to High Street for dinner and yes those are the same clothes we boarded the plane with in Dallas, slept in on the plane, landed in at Heathrow and went to dinner in at Glastonbury. (May 3, 2008)
Glastonbury home to our first pub experience at the Rifleman’s Arms is also the place where we called home from May 3-7 at the Melrose House B&B. This is a spectacular view of the Tor, a conical hill topped by the 14th century roofless St. Michael’s church tower. Glastonbury is a magical English town and even though we were exhausted after our arrival and dinner the first night, Bonnie had to walk up to the Tor. I’m honestly not sure how we managed to walk up the hill and then up the pathway and steps to the Tor. What I do know is that it took about 45 minutes. It was windy, dark and magical. But, Glastonbury is definitely a New Age, hippie-esque community of truly lovely people and I enjoyed  the chance to be here. (May 4, 2008)
The ancient stone circle of Stonehenge in England. The monument evolved between 3000 BC and 1600 BC and is aligned with the rising and setting of the sun at the solstices but its exact purpose remains a mystery. (May 4, 2008)
Although the sky was overcast and it drizzled most of the time we were there, everything about Stonehenge felt magical, powerful and enduring. (May 3, 2008)
Bonnie and I left Glastonbury early in the morning for our drive to Bath arriving before the crowds and leaving as the city was closing. (May 4, 2008)
The beautiful city of Bath, England, showcasing its ancient Roman Baths. (May 5, 2008)
Founded in the 17th Century, the Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, more commonly known as Bath Abbey, is a former Benedictine monastery in Bath. (May 5, 2008)
Me at the Circus in Bath. This Georgian architecture began in 1754 and was completed in 1768. The name circus is a Latin word meaning a ring, oval or circle. These Georgian homes are featured in a number of Jane Austen and other period English movies. (May 5, 2008)
The Pump Room (the building to the right), in Bath was mentioned in Jane Austen’s books. Before this trip, I scheduled my Sunday evenings around the PBS aired Masterpiece adaptations of the Jane Austen novels, along with a new biopic of her life in “The Complete Jane Austen” series. A part of this series also included the re-broadcast of my favorite Austen 1995 adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice,” with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, although the 2005 movie with Kiera Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen is beautiful to look it, the 1995 version a fuller telling of her story. Then for my birthday in March, Bonnie gave me this wonderful little book by Maggie Lane, “A Charming Place: Bath in the Life and Novels of Jane Austen.” The book is about how the city of Bath impacted Jane’s life and writings. And, the historic Pump Room was prominently mentioned in Northanger Abbey during Catherine Morland’s visits there with her benefactors, the Allens. Although Jane Austen’s work caught my attention, the woman behind the words and stories was drawing me in. A woman who never married but wrote so convincingly about love and who, in a time when women could not work for a living, wanted to do more than marry into money, she wanted to earn her own. (May 5, 2008)
The Pulteney Bridge crosses the River Avon in Bath and was completed by 1774. It connects Bath to the newly built Georgian town of Bathwick. Bath is the epitome, to me, of British high style. The city is best known for its creamy warm-tone limestone called “Bath stone,” that creates this distinct Georgian style architecture. It blends the ancient Roman touches and history with a wonderful British nuance and flair. It is the home of the mineral hot springs, the architecture of local John Wood, Italian Andrea Palldio, the aristocrasy of Beau Nash and the romance of Jane Austen who used Bath as the backdrop in several of her novels. I was lured to Bath by Jane Austen. I didn’t really find Jane, but I did find a city with a great deal of history and charm. (May 5, 2008)
Me at the natural spring of the Chalice Well in Glastonbury situated at the foot of the Glastonbury Tor in the county of Somerset, England. The Chalice Well gift shop clerk said she lives in the town of Street, about five minutes outside Glastonbury, because the energy in Glastonbury can be overwhelming. “You don’t know if you’re feeling because it’s coming from you, or if its coming from somewhere else, the ancients,” she said. (May 6, 2008)
The Vesica Pool’s Avalon red spring at the Chalice Well in Glastonbury. “The Chalice Well has played an important role for centuries in the legends of Glastonbury. On a practical level, it was Glastonbury’s main supply of fresh water until the 19th century, and as late as 1921-22 saved the town from drought. The spring has never failed: 25,000 gallons of water flow from it everyday. It’s source is unknown. Possibly it originates in the Mendips, or even in South Wales. The water is crystal clear, but it does contain iron and this has turned the stone over which it flows a deep red, adding strength to the legends that surround it. Indeed, it is also known as the Blood Spring,” according to the book about Glastonbury by Polly Lloyd. (May 6, 2008)
While in Glastonbury, we visited what was said to be Joseph of Arimathae’s staff that sprouted into this tree on Wearyall Hill. (May 6, 2008)
The ruins of the 7th century’s Abbey in Glastonbury, England, was a rich and powerful monastery. It became associated with the legends of the Holy Grail and King Arthur in the 10th century. There is a site on the Abbey grounds that is said to be King Arthur’s ‘former’ tomb. (May 6, 2008)
Bonnie standing in the shaw of the Abbey ruins in Glastonbury, England. It became associated with the legends of the Holy Grail and King Arthur in the 10th century. There is a site on the Abbey grounds that is said to be King Arthur’s ‘former’ tomb. (May 6, 2008)
Passing through the City of Wells, with is street market, on our way to Tintagel, England. (May 7, 2008)
On our way to Tintagel, we stopped at the City of Wells for a visit. The Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew, commonly known as Wells Cathedral, is an Anglican cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England. The cathedral, dedicated to St Andrew the Apostle, is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells. It was built between 1175 and 1490, replacing an earlier church built on the same site in 705. The medieval cathedral’s architecture presents a Gothic and mostly Early English style of the late 12th and early 13th centuries. (May 7, 2016)
Another step into King Arthur’s court was our stay in Tintagel, England, from May 7-10 at Peter and Julie’s Avalon hotel. Here’s our King Arthur and Knights-themed room at the Avalon. Tintagel is a village situated on the Atlantic Ocean coast of Cornwall and is steeply associated with the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Cornwall is the place where Bonnie found her people and I felt the power of the Arthurian legend. It is where we drank cream tea, Bonnie at a Cornish pastry and it is where a night’s drive through the Bodmin Moor fog gave new meaning to scary. (May 7, 2008)
The ruins of Tintagel Castle in Tintagel where history and the King Arthur lore are inseparable. (May 7, 2008)
Merlin, the wizard’s, cave by the remains of the Tintagel Castle in Tintagel, England. (May 7, 2008)
We actually walked the manmade causeway to St. Michael’s Mount, before the tide came in, and took a boat ride back. The rocky island is located five miles south of Penzance in Cornwall, England and surmounted by a fortress-like abbey dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel. This atmospheric sacred site has much in common with its namesake across the channel, Mont-St-Michel in France. (May 8, 2008)
Mousehole is a village and fishing port in Cornwall, England. (May 8, 2008)
Me at Dozmary Pool, a small lake on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall where legend claims the lake as the home of the “Lady of the Lake.” According to the legend, King Arthur rowed out to the Lady of the Lake and received the sword Excalibur. The pool is also the place where Bedivere returned Excalibur as Arthur lay dying after the Battle of Camlann. (May 9, 2008)
Bonnie making her rounds touching the ancient stones at the Hurlers, a group of three stone circles in the civil parish of St Cleer, Cornwall, England. The site is half-a-mile west of the village of Minions on the eastern flank of Bodmin Moor. (May 9, 2008)
The Cheesewring is a granite tor in Cornwall, England, situated on the eastern flank of Bodmin Moor. It is a natural geological formation, a rock outcrop of granite slabs formed by weathering. The name derives from the resemblance of the piled slabs to a “cheesewring”, a press-like device that was once used to make cheese. Local legend says that the Cheesewring is the result of a contest between a man, Saint Tue and a giant, Uther, regarding the introduction of Christianity to the British Islands. A rock throwing contest led to the saint winning. (May 9, 2008)
The quaint Cornish fishing village of Polperro with its sloped cottages in Cornwall, England. (May 9, 2008)
Bonnie in the doorway of “Joan The Wad and Piskey Shop” in fishing village of Polperro, Cornwall, England. Joan is a Cornish piskey queen. (May 9, 2008)
Bonnie and I stopped here for dinner. It’s Jamaica Inn, considered Cornwall’s most famous smuggler’s base. Made famous by Daphne du Maurier’s 1936 novel, this greystone hotel and pub dates from 1750, when its remote Bodmin Moor location attracted smugglers. (May 9, 2008)
Before leaving Tintagel to make our way to the Cotswolds, we stopped at St. Nectan’s Glen. It is an area of woodland in Trethevy near Tintagel, north Cornwall stretching for around one mile along both banks of the Trevillet River. (May 10, 2008)
Me at a waterfall through a hole in the rocks at St. Nectan’s Glen’s, a woodland in Trethevy near Tintagel, that stretches about a mile along both banks of the Trevillet River. The glen’s most prominent feature is St Nectan’s Kieve, a spectacular sixty foot waterfall. The site attracts tourists who believe it to be “one of the UK’s most spiritual sites,” and tie or place ribbons, crystals, photographs, small piles of flat stones and other materials near the waterfall. (May 10, 2008)
The honey-colored stone buildings of the Cotswolds has quaint towns and villages, like Snowshill, down to an art form. (May 11, 2008)
In the Cotswold’s Burton on the Water I’m enjoying cream tea and scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam. (May 11, 2008)
The river Windrush and the saddles toned walk-way in Burton on the Water in the Cotswolds. (May 11, 2008)
Here I am in the Slaughters, another Cotswold village, laying claim to a residence I would enjoy occupying. (May 11, 2008)
Bonnie photographing the sign to the Broadway Tower entrance in the Cotswolds village of Broadway. (May 11, 2008)
The thatched.the Cotswolds are a delightful tangle of gloriously golden villages, thatch-roofed cottages, evocative churches, rickety almshouses and ancient mansions of honey-coloured stone. (May 11, 2008)
Winchester Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It is one of the largest cathedrals in Europe, with the longest nave and greatest overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe. It is also the burial place of Jane Austen. (May 12, 2008)
Inside one of many parts of the magnificent Winchester Cathedral in England. (May 12, 2008)
Sound II statue by Antony Gormley in the flood prone crypt inside the Winchester Cathedral, England. (May 12, 2008)
The Winchester Cathedral tomb of Jane Austen, the English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which provided social commentary on the British gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen’s plots often explored the dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security. Jane was 41 years old when she died in Winchester after living there for only two months to be close to her physician. Her home was in Chawton, England. (May 12, 2008)
I’m standing outside the front door of 8 College Street in Winchester where Jane Austen lived during the final two months of her life. Her home was actually in Chawton, England, but she came to Winchester because she was ill and stayed here so she could be closer to her physician. The oval plaque above the front door reads: “In this house Jane Austen lived her last days and died 18 July 1817.” The plaque was placed there in 1956. (May 12, 2008)
Me, standing outside of Jane Austen’s 18th Century home in Chawton, England, where she spent the last eight years of her life where she lived with her mother and sister, Cassandra, and a long time family friend Martha Lloyd, from July 7, 1809 until May 1817. She died in Winchester on July 18, 1817, though her mother and sister continued to live in the house until their deaths in 1827 and 1845 respectively. When Jane arrived at Chawton she had written three novels in draft form, “Sense and Sensibility,” “Pride and Prejudice” and “Northanger Abbey.” It is possible that she revised these novels at the house, before getting them published. In addition it was here that she wrote “Mansfield Park,” “Emma” and “Persuasion.” The house is a small, private museum dedicated to Jane’s life. (May 12, 2008)
Jane Austen’s writing desk at her home in Chawton where she would productively write almost daily. It was a very calming presence. And, although commercialism, in the form of a souvenir store exists in the house now, I can see and feel how it would have been a fitting place for Jane to write. Jane, who was said to write almost daily, but privately, was also said to have been relieved of some household responsibilities to give her more opportunity to write. The kind woman working behind the counter explained to me that when Jane was buried at the Cathedral, very few people, including her mother attended the service. For her mother, it was a long distance to travel and for others, a woman’s burial wasn’t something attended by many. (May 12, 2008)
Inside of Jane Austen’s home in Chasten, England, which has been made into the Jane Austen House Museum. (May 12, 2008)
Inside of Jane Austen’s home in Chawton is the bedroom Jane shared with sister Cassandra and the quilt top pieced by Jane, her mother and her sister while living at Chawton. As a quilter, I could not pass showing off this pieced quilt on the bed behind a pane of glass. (May 12, 2008)