Other Holiday Adventures

We spent the week after Christmas going on a few more adventures.

First, to Leeds Castle:

I did not take this picture because it was not even remotely sunny on the day we were there. And I don't have a helicopter. However, I wanted to provide a shot of the castle in all its glory. It was too rainy, cold, and wet the day we were there to snap many good pictures. This castle is alright. I think a lot of its appeal is in its grounds, which were expansive, but very, very wet with lots of dead trees. In the summer, I'm sure it is fantastic.

I think we were all quite keen on seeing some good old fashioned torture chambers and dungeons; however, this castle mostly had old lady furniture and tapestries. Its was okay, but we would like to have seen some dank, dark prison cells, too.

This is how impressed Penny was.

 

 

On New Year's Eve, we drove out to Chawton, the village where Jane Austen lived for the last part of her life and wrote, or finished, most of her novels. Roo and I had been here before years ago, but visiting the second time was even more interesting for me.  I find the lady intriguing.

This isn't Jane's actual piano, but it is like one she would have played. I felt very accomplished whilst playing it.

Roo and Penny by Jane's bed.

The kitchen where I was hoping to be imbued with Jane Austen-type brilliance. Didn't happen.  But I did gain a new-found appreciation for her, and after reading her biography last week, I have an even newer new-found appreciation for her. (That is a sentence Jane would be proud of, right?)

After Jane's house, we stopped at the pub where supposedly the Austen brothers used to drink. They had really yummy food. My mom could have written a novel just about how much she loved her Winter Pie. We were refreshed for our long journey home.

That night we stayed up to ring in the New Year by watching Return of the Jedi, then Pride and Prejudice. While I am admittedly a Jane Austen fan, I don't recommend Pride and Prejudice (the 6 hour version) to help you stay up until midnight. Big Ben and the fireworks woke me up just in time to pretend I wasn't dozing through Mr. Collins' proposal.

New Year's Day was the one clear and sunny day of the whole two weeks. It was gorgeous, so we drove down to Arundel, our favorite castle. It is breathtaking. We couldn't go inside, but walked around the quaint town for a while and visited the cathedral.