Rambling Rosies

Here we are in our Brunei day-hotel once again. The flight home has gone smoothly so far. We had a little sleep on the last leg plus a couple more hours here at the hotel. Just 9 more hours of flying time and we will be back in New Zealand. Our UK adventure is at an end, but we have many wonderful memories that will stay with us for ever!

We stopped on route to London at Woburn Abbey, the home of the Duke of Bedford. The estate is very large and you approach the house via a drive of several miles thought the deer farm. We had lunch and toured the house and garden.
The house has the most ornate interior we have seen, with incredible gold ceilings, tapestries, mural wallpapers, antiques and vast numbers of paintings. The family were away so some of the private rooms were also open. Their dining room was filled with really valuable painings of Venice and thre were also vast numbers of old books throughout. Then to the vaults downstairs and the most amazing porcelain collection, with a whole room of Sevres dinner sets. Plus a silver and a gold collection.
Apart from the obvious wealth, the story we learnt of the family was interesting, especially about the "Flying Duchess" who was the wife of the 11th Duke. She was not only a nurse who opened a hospital there during WW1, an ornithologist and jujitsu exponent, she took up flying in her 60s. Sadly, her Gypsy Moth disappeared on a solo flight when she was in her 70s and she was never found. I think this couple would have been the Duke & Duchess when my grandfather Bert Holmes went to work on a farm on the estate. We took a drive to the village of Steppingley nearby, where he lived for a couple of years.
I bought a novel based on the life of a previous Duchesses which included a book about the Flying Duchess, so will read up more about her when I get home.
The gardens were large with many huge old trees. There was a sculpture exhibition throughout the grounds which includued some pieces we really liked. Doug finally got to photograph a fox, albeit a bronze one!
And so onto the M1 to Heathrow, where we checked into our hotel and returned the rental car. Jeff came out and had a farewell dinner with us. We were sad to say goodbye to him but he is coming home for Christmas so the time will pass quickly.

Today we went in search of my Drury ancestors. As with our Holmes and Rosie family days, this proved to be another highlight of our trip.
After a below average Little Chef breakfast, we drove south for about an hour to Bury St Edmunds. Eventually we located the beautiful St Mary's church and found the tomb and stone effigy monuments of Sir Robert and Lady Anne Drury - could hardly miss it in its place of prominence at the front of the church. On the other side of the altar was the grave of Mary Tudor.
Sir Robert died in 1535 and was my 12x great grandfather. He was knight and privy councillor to Henry VII and VIII, and Speaker of the House of Commons. (Impressive genealogy!)
We got talking to a local man who then showed us where the Benedictine Abbey and the Cathedral were - right next door. So we explored these as well as the very colourful Abbey gardens. A lovely area with local families picnicing among the abbey ruins. The site is a well used park and centre of outdoor concerts, etc for the town. We thought it really nice that they use and value it in this way. Bury has a good vibe and looked to be a family-focused place with lots of references to education in the local paper.
The Abbey was very large and significant in history as it was where the Magna Carta was initially drawn up (later signed at Runnymead). It was destroyed by Henry VIII, even though his sister Mary was buried there. Her remains were moved to St Mary's church.
On to Hawstead, a small village about 2 miles from Bury, where I knew the Drurys had owned a large amount of land and built a fortified manor called Hawstead Place. We found All Saints church which is packed full of Drury memorials. These take the form of the family shields carved in stone above the door, in the stained glass windows, carved in wood on the pulpit, in brass and even a tapestry cushion in the front pew. Took lots of photos and a couple of brass rubbings.
We found mention of a book published in 2001 by the local people all about the village and its history. The notice said to go to the local pub to buy a copy. So the pub was our next stop. It was deserted and the lone publican knew nothing as he had only been there 3 weeks. He suggested we go and see Pat at the thatched cottage down the road. So here we are, knocking on stangers doors again!
Pat was not home so I went next door and a very helpful chap invited me in and showed me the book. Sure enough, it had information about the Drurys. He directed me to Spinney Cottage down the road to buy a copy.
So we met Sonia and Bruce but they had run out of books. She phoned someone else but they weren't home so in the end she sold me a copy that had been in the church for a while because the original one went missing. It has since turned up again. Sonia was having a meeting with the parish council chap, but Bruce gave us coffee in the garden. A great guy who told us all about life in the village.
We tried to find the site of Hawstead Place, there is just the remains of the moat left on some guy's farm. Photographed the approximate location on the hill with views across Suffolk.
It was too late to go on to Ipswich or back to Cambridge, so we settled for dinner a pub in Bury and headed back to Alwalton. Very satisfying day, and nearly our last! Tomorrow we make our way back to London and our Heathrow hotel, ready to fly out on Wednesday. So this is likely to be my last blog in the UK. Thanks to you all for following us on our travels. It has been a totally amazing trip, exceeding all our expectations. See you very soon!

One of Doug's hopes for the trip was to see (and photograph) a fox, a badger and a squirrel. Hopes were raised when we saw a squirrel on day one in Jeff's back yard. Since then no luck at all on the fox and badger front and only a few grey squirrels, no red ones. So the search for wildlife has been disappointing, despite our many walks.
Even the birds are not very interesting - crows, jackdaws, pigeons, seagulls and thats about it. At least we saw some puffins the sea coming back from Orkney. Doug's photography attempts were sadly lacking....it became an ongoing joke when Jeff joined us and proceeded to successfully snap bird pictures.
There is no dawn chorus of birds here like we have at home. It is quite weird to wake up to virtual silence - apart from the coastal towns where you get the shreiking of the gulls. Even walking in the woods you have to listen very carefully to hear bird song.
I have however really enjoyed the wildflowers. There is lots of tall pink loosestrife in flower at the moment, plus foxgloves, St Johns Wort, meadow sweet, orange poppies and lots of others - quite colourful.

We had an easy drive south today, with just the one stop near Doncaster to visit Brodsworth Hall, another property on our Heritage pass. This is a Victorian country house built in the 1860s and although the house wasn't open until the afternoon, we had a lovely walk around the gardens in the morning sunshine.
The gardens have been restored to their original Victorian design and include lots of topiary, formal flower beds full of colourful annuals and Italian marble statues. Also a rose dell, summerhouse, rock garden, archery & croquet lawns. I loved it of course.
We arrived in Peterborough by lunch time and couldn't check into our Travelodge at Alwalton until 3.00pm (A great example of the way the English are sticklers for the rules - there is hardly anyone here and I am sure our room would have been ready!) We are right next to the A1 but have a spacious room on the non-road side with a view of a large field, so can't hear the traffic.
We sampled the Little Chef next door for lunch and use of their free wi-fi. Food was better than we expected. Although we have to laugh every time we come across coleslaw here - it is not as we know it. Basically it consists of mayonnaise with a small amount of cabbage and carrot in it. I must say their mayo is very creamy so it is quite nice but hardly healthy and barely qualifies as a salad! The whole low fat thing is not as prevalent here, for example we have had some really delicious creamy yogurt - my favourite is champaigne & rhubarb, Doug's is ginger & honey. Beats good old 'Fresh & Fruity' hands down!
We then drove into Peterborough and spent a couple of hours wandering through shopping malls and the town centre. Not a tourist town so it was nice to just blend in with the locals - until we speak, of course. Purchased foam cushions for our flight home - Royal Brunei seats are really firm and our butts suffered on the way over!
Visted Peterborough Cathedral - we are spoilt after York, but although smaller it is still quite impressive. It is surrounded by grave stones from the 18th century that all the names and dates have worn off, but young people were playing volleyball on the lawn which gave it a nice vibe.
It is a beautiful warm summers evening, we are back to temperatures in the low 20s so very pleasant. Our evening walk will be through the pretty village of Alwalton. We read in the Herald on line that it is very cold at home, predicting snow on the Hunuas which must be a first! We sure will feel it when we get home.