London and Beyond

The new year had a special beginning this year as I had the opportunity to lead a sketching tour to England for ten days. People pooh-poohed London in January, but we can testify that it was warm (50-58 degrees F), absent of crowds, and even filled with plenty of blooming flowers!

The trip was a dream hatched with a friend of mine, and seen through two years of planning hurdles and preparations! Five amazing girls joined us and it was our privilege to share in their adventures. 

These roses shocked me into realizing that finding so many flowers in bloom in January in London was one of the two highlights of my trip. These humble blooms are worth the world more in winter than in summer when they are lost to the crowd of every other rose. Each day of our trip was like a treasure hunt, searching the parks, sidewalks, and hanging baskets of London for the priceless gift of flowers in winter.

I think observing my reaction to finding these flowers in London has confirmed in my mind that nature exploration, education, and art is at the core of who I am as a creative person and I must continue to explore how I can use my gifts to bless others in the future.

The trip was a lot of work, but watching it unfold was a bit like watching a piece of art be unveiled to the public and I loved seeing the girls enjoy every bit of what they experienced.

 The other highlight of the trip was sitting around the table with the two other adults and the five girls -- from breakfast, to devotions, to cafe lunches, to fancy afternoon teas, to home-cooked dinners -- relationships being forged around a table touch the deepest part of my heart. The china, the setting, the food, the tea, the atmosphere -- those are all just props for getting down to the real business of interacting with one another.

 I could hardly sit still at this tea -- my eyes darting everywhere, trying to memorize all the details, constantly grabbing my phone so I could take yet another photo and somehow grasp the emotion and camaraderie of the moment.

And the china! The navy blue with white floral pattern? Good thing the hotel didn't have a gift shop because I would have been seriously tempted to buy something.

We eventually had to say goodbye and prepare for re-entry into regular life back in Indiana. School is back in session, I'm back to work, suitcases are long unpacked (but the tea I brought home is still piled up), and plans for the coming year are starting to be made.

Next week I want to share some of my favorite books from 2019 and hopefully I'll find a few more posts to share more about our adventures in England!

Gentle Travels in Britain: The Beginning

Every trip begins with a dream: a kernel of desire, hope, mystery, excitement. My summer trip to Great Britain began as a dream: just two friends, sipping tea, and wistfully imagining what it would be like to travel to England and Scotland together. We sat with the dream for years. But there comes a time when a dream either needs to grow old and retire, or it needs to be acted upon.

Of course there were obstacles. Plenty of obstacles to work out: the needs of my family, the cost of the trip, timing, etc. Obstacles are like beautiful but heavy doors -- they take some pushing on to gain admittance. And sometimes pushing on the obstacles proves to show the dream was not meant to be, or not meant to be in its present form. But sometimes pushing on the obstacles opens the door for a dream to come true.

 Being in my early forties, and having fairly recently lost a life-long friend to cancer, I've begun asking myself, "Why put this off?" to some dreams I have. For some of us there may not be as far distant of a future as we imagine. That's not to create an anxious sense of urgency, rather, I think it should foster a profound gratefulness for each experience, for every dream we are privileged to realize. But each realized dream comes from a decision that was made. A decision to take the risks a dream entails and make it a reality.

At some point, a decision was made. We stopped dreaming and starting planning. And that is the part that I find so fun. I like having 9-12 months to prepare. That gives me enough time to research and plan, to read a hefty amount of books on the subject, and to enjoy the experience of looking forward to something. It is almost (but not quite) possible that I drew more joy from planning this trip through a very difficult winter than in actually living it out. I'm beginning to think the best way to get through a winter is to have something waiting on the other side!

Here are some practical ways I plan for trips:
-- buy an atlas of the country I'm going
-- check out tourist guides from the library
-- scan the library system for novels set in the area I'm visiting, biographies of famous people who lived in that area, movie set in that countryside, etc.
-- find a few hashtags on Instagram pertinent to where I'll be traveling. I get some seriously good ideas for places to eat and visit from random Instagram posts.
-- set up a Pinterest board if I'm in a Pinterest mood
-- read reviews of restaurants and overnight stays on TripAdvisor
-- create a document where I post information pertinent to each day of the trip

Having our airline tickets locked in the dates for us, and gave us the border pieces to the puzzle that was our trip. Carefully we turned the puzzle pieces this way and that until we managed to work each piece into a way that fit the whole. We would start in Glasgow, drive to the Lake District, spend a few days in Oxford, make our way slowly north to the Cairngorms in Scotland, and then end our trip in Airdrie, my old "home town." We would stay in rented houses, bed and breakfasts, and homes of friends. I would paint, my friend, Janet, would knit. I would drive, Janet would photograph. I would suggest daring, Janet would urge sensibility, and every time I took a wrong turn Janet would say, "It's just a long cut, and long cuts are good."

We left on our journey at the insane hour of 3:45am, in order to catch our 6am flight to New York City. One of the ways I overcame the obstacles of this dream was to use frequent flyer miles, and frequent flier miles often require crazy flight times. (Better at the beginning of the journey than the end!) So we had a day to spend in New York City, no matter that we had to drag our carry-ons and shoulder luggage, a camera, and purses with us. We tramped our way from Newark, NJ, to central Manhattan and then way up to the very top of Manhattan to see my NYC friend Christy, and spend the day in her happy places.

I think this was my seventh trip to NYC to see Christy. Ten years ago I would never have imagined myself being able to say I'd been to NYC to visit a friend seven times. I distinctly remember when I made the decision to go for the first time. It would have been very easy to have never made that decision. It was riskier to take it: to invest time and money in myself and in a friendship. The investment brought returns (no pun intended) far greater than I could have imagined. I'm quite sure it also led to me having the courage to attempt the kind of trip I took this summer.

So there we were -- two of my friendships melding as we sat in the place we always go when I visit: the New Leaf restaurant at the Cloisters, tucked into the trees and whispering of Europe. Janet to my right and Christy to my left -- the funny thing is all three of us grew up
in the same square mile in Indianapolis (okay, I only spent a few of my teen years there), the streets and building names so familiar to all three of us. We walked in the Heather Garden which is a pilgrimage we always take, and introduced Janet to the beauties of the Cloister grounds.

A few quick hugs for Christy's boys as they got out of school and then Janet and I were off on our journey back to Newark and the night flight to Glasgow.

As we sat in the United lounge sipping our soda water and eating the free dinner our little passes allotted us, our smiles could hardly have been bigger. Just a few more hours and we would be back in Scotland!

Scotland: Grasmere Gingerbread (England)

I first heard of Grasmere Gingerbread while reading an article in my favorite magazine, Victoria, several years ago. Of course I wanted to go in person, but of course I thought that would never be a possibility. 

But there we were in the Lake District, just a few miles from Grasmere! So we had to stop! 

Sarah Nelson began this gingerbread bakery in the 1850's and her recipe is still used. The recipe is so secret that it is kept in a bank vault! The bakery is located in this tiny little building (which I believe was an old schoolhouse).

Doesn't the window look delightful?

You can see the "queue" forming at the door. Inside there was just enough room for the single-file line and you had only enough time to state your order, pull out your money, and leave! No stopping to drink in the surroundings!

Here's a closer look at the window:

This is the inside -- a tiny little nook for serving the customers! I guess the rest of the building is used for baking! And the rich, deep, gingery smell filled the place!

Here's another look at some of the shelves (if one had time to actually choose something). See that "Farrer's" on the shelf? That's my favorite black tea!!! It's "Lakeland Special" and it is SO good.

One last little look inside -- you can see I was snapping pictures as fast as I could before it was my turn to grab a few packets of gingerbread.

Here we are back at the cottage with our gingerbread:


And this is what it looks like inside! I'm sure the size and texture looks strange to most people. I think of gingerbread as dark and cakey. This is thin and crunchy -- more of a ginger shortbread. If you like ginger, it's delicious! Especially dipped in Lakeland Tea!

Since Sarah Nelson's gingerbread recipe is locked in a vault we can't make our own, but I did find this recipe in "Great British Baking" and it looks quite close!

And that's the story of our visit to Grasmere Gingerbread!

Scotland: Wray Castle (England)

It's time to get back to my trip reports and this time we head to Wray Castle in the Lake District. Our visit to Hill Top Farm was in pouring rain and the day didn't look like it was going to improve so we decided to head to Wray Castle and spend some time indoors.

Since Lucy at Attic24 had posted just weeks before our trip about Wray Castle being such a great place for children I figured there had to be something to it. It turned out it to be the kids' favorite castle of our entire trip! Andrew loved it so much he made a donation on the way out!

The significance of Wray Castle for me lay in its connection to Beatrix Potter. This was the first place she and her family stayed when they began to come to the Lake District for their summer holidays. Beatrix would ever after have her heart tied to this countryside. You can read more about the history of the Castle here.

Today the castle is empty of all furniture and is a giant playhouse for children. Guests are invited to roam the entire building and they will find various activities in each room.

In the former dining room area there were foam blocks for building:

The entryway was perhaps its most impressive area.

Looking up:

And there was quite a grand staircase!

It was funny to think of four people renting this enormous house to live in for the summer. I suppose the Potter's had some wealth and perhaps they would have entertained friends. They did only take the Castle for one summer due to its cost.

Looking out the window one can see Lake Windermere.

Can you picture Beatrix walking these halls?

I enjoyed being able to go any which way I liked with no signs that said "off limits". I could run around and imagine the house teaming with servants and how each room functioned.

The kids loved all the activities. This was a Peter Rabbit room.

The tile floor in the entry hall:

And there was dress up and sword fighting:

And more windows to look out:

The Castle was only built in 1840, so it is a "fake" castle. But it still has some beautiful elements to it.

Dressing up:

And here are the royals:

Maps in one room. You can see "Hole House" where we were staying just to the left of the center. Wray Castle was about a 20 minute walk through the fields from Hole House.

Here's a picture of the Drawing Room at the time the Potters rented the house.

Here is the drawing room today. The National Trust would like to restore the room to its former glory.

The library has a mural on the wall to suggest what it looked like once. Beatrix painted a picture of this room as it looked when she stayed here.

I couldn't get enough of the entry hall.

And there was a craft room:

And a giant checkers room!

And a room with a beautiful ceiling that housed the gift shop!

And the view to the mountains outside was just gorgeous!!!

Up the drive was the Wray Church and the Wray Castle Gatehouse.

After Wray Castle we decided to head to Bowness on Windermere.

To get there we went back to Far Sawrey and caught the ferry across:

It was quite the tourist town on the other side!

We wandered the streets a bit, but most of the shops were closing since it was 5 p.m.

I never tire of these quaint streets!

Couldn't resist looking in the candy shop!

And we did run into this adorable dog:

And I imagined buying a plaid dress for Laura:

Another thing I can't resist is a red postbox.

You can see that on this side of the lake things are so much more built up and covered with tourists.

We found a cozy pub/restaurant for dinner:

It was an education in itself teaching everyone how eating out works! It just doesn't happen here in the States. Everyone had practice learning to read and choose from a menu and make wise choices.

I chose the traditional fare:

And here is the description:

It was a wonderful day and the children still talk about Wray Castle and the fun they had!! I'm so glad we decided to try it out! Next up will be James Heriot Country.