The grandmother and grand daughter bake team
a view from the condo grounds
Dave outside of the 'castle' condo
the sweet people who were in charge of the raffle tableFor our second week in England we would be staying in Lancaster. It was a five hour drive from Cromer, but I am happy to report we did not hit any curbs on the way. I love our GPS – it has a female British voice and she guided us right to our new front door. The front door of a castle! When we arrived we could not believe our eyes – it looked like a real English Castle, complete with a fountain in front of the circular gravel drive. – We stayed at Thurman Hall, actually an old residence. We were fortunate enough to be able to stay in the main house (the castle part) instead of one of the sprawling condos on the grounds. When you look at the photos, we had the three windows on the right hand side of the top floor. We originally thought that our daughters Lyndsey and Jennifer would be joining us, so we booked a two bedroom condo – now what would we do with all of this room? Once inside of the condo I couldn’t believe how enormous it was. Two of the stone walls in the living room were original and had not been replaced; they were old, uneven and rugged. The kitchen was a complete redo and was very modern, but still had quaint English charm. One thing I have to tell you – every place we have stayed in Europe has a hot water kettle that plugs in to heat water for tea or coffee. The electrical wiring here is 220 and the whole water kettle heats the water to boiling in less than a minute – I don’t know why but I just find this amazing.
The grounds of Thurman Hall were spectacular too – lots of low stone walls with greenery flowing over them, hanging baskets filled with flowers all bursting with color, green lush grass, a small fishing pond, there were ducks waddling around that you could feed and bunnies in the grass – all of this just ambles softly one into another all dispersed around the large grassy area. This outdoor expanse was so tranquil and relaxing – you could pull up a chair or lounger and sit there resting for as long as you felt like it – or of course until it began to rain. Beyond was the gym – an indoor pool with the original family crest inlaid in tile - so large it took up the entire shallow end.
We were there for Father’s Day and didn’t feel like driving to town – so we stayed in our castle for most of the day. Down a lane, you could walk to the Catholic Church. We were told that it was a short walk, we walked there in the morning and met the Father of the church, he was kind enough to give us a private tour and wholeheartedly invited us back for the rummage / bake sale at 2pm. So after lunch we took a walk back to the church – the first person we met there was the Father and he promptly sold us raffle tickets for a few bottles of Whiskey! We meandered around and each found treasures – Dave bought a small antique bottle for 50 pence (about $1.00 US) and I bought 2 small plates and a pin of lily flowers. Next it was time for some indulgence – Dave bought a homemade scone that was topped with cream and jam – I ordered a hot tea and was asked if I wanted it weak, medium or strong, I said medium because I had never been asked that question before. The tea was quite good and I have become a little British by adding a wee touch of milk. We bought some homemade cookies from a grandmother and granddaughter team of bakers – I knew this was a surefire way to really taste some home made goods. There was a table being hosted by the loveliest English women –she was adorned in her straw hat with a proper silk scarf tied around it. All in all it was a charming event – we did not win whiskey in the raffle, but that’s all right, we don’t really care for the stuff.
The grounds of Thurman Hall were spectacular too – lots of low stone walls with greenery flowing over them, hanging baskets filled with flowers all bursting with color, green lush grass, a small fishing pond, there were ducks waddling around that you could feed and bunnies in the grass – all of this just ambles softly one into another all dispersed around the large grassy area. This outdoor expanse was so tranquil and relaxing – you could pull up a chair or lounger and sit there resting for as long as you felt like it – or of course until it began to rain. Beyond was the gym – an indoor pool with the original family crest inlaid in tile - so large it took up the entire shallow end.
We were there for Father’s Day and didn’t feel like driving to town – so we stayed in our castle for most of the day. Down a lane, you could walk to the Catholic Church. We were told that it was a short walk, we walked there in the morning and met the Father of the church, he was kind enough to give us a private tour and wholeheartedly invited us back for the rummage / bake sale at 2pm. So after lunch we took a walk back to the church – the first person we met there was the Father and he promptly sold us raffle tickets for a few bottles of Whiskey! We meandered around and each found treasures – Dave bought a small antique bottle for 50 pence (about $1.00 US) and I bought 2 small plates and a pin of lily flowers. Next it was time for some indulgence – Dave bought a homemade scone that was topped with cream and jam – I ordered a hot tea and was asked if I wanted it weak, medium or strong, I said medium because I had never been asked that question before. The tea was quite good and I have become a little British by adding a wee touch of milk. We bought some homemade cookies from a grandmother and granddaughter team of bakers – I knew this was a surefire way to really taste some home made goods. There was a table being hosted by the loveliest English women –she was adorned in her straw hat with a proper silk scarf tied around it. All in all it was a charming event – we did not win whiskey in the raffle, but that’s all right, we don’t really care for the stuff.
we had a good time with these people.
1 comment:
Like a scene out of one of my Harlequin Romances - going to the rummage! That cream scone is making my mouth water - thank heaven that dinner's in the oven.
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