Holiday Time

Evening all! Before I get started on the main part of my post, thanks for your comments on my last post. I think I may perhaps drop New Look an email if I can find a way to word the whole boob flashing issue without making it sound odd. And I did try the dress on before I bought it but I genuinely didn't notice the over revealing top part in the changing rooms - mad huh?

And so onto the fun stuff.

My pal Lee and I are both complete history geeks. He had terrible history teachers at school so basically doesn't know much but he is very interested in lots of areas, especially the Tudor period. The result of this is that I'm having to dredge up all my knowledge on the subject which I find suprisingly fun. Many an email and excessively long text detailing the line of succession in the royal family or how and why someone got executed for treason has been sent.

So the plan was formed to go on a bit of a Tudor road trip. Unfortunately lots of the significant buildings no longer exist but there was still a lot to fit in. Funds didn't allow us to start off in Madrid and visit Katherine of Aragon's birthplace so we commenced the trip in the rather less glamourous surroundings of Peterborough so that we could see her burial site instead and lay some red roses there. It may not be glam but it has a fine cathedral, the weather was v. sunny and I bought a new hat so I'm disposed to like the place.

Then we headed down south, left the car at my auntie's house and went to London. And what did we do there? Visited the Irregular Choice shop (not Tudor but I couldn't go there and not see it), basked in the sun on the South Bank and then went to see Henry VIII at The Globe. It was wonderful! We went to a really interesting lecture beforehand as well and I'm definitely going back. I never really got on with Shakespeare in English lessons at school but seeing the plays properly performed makes them so much more real and gripping.

The next day was spent at Hampton Court which is just fascinating. Early sixteenth century Tudor palace at the front, late seventeenth century Baroque palace at the back and just an amazing warren of courtyards and towers and little gardens. Plus anywhere that has thrones you can sit in and pretend to be all regal and important is all right in my book!

Then on we went to Kent, bound for Hever Castle. We couldn't do Katherine of Aragon's birthplace but we could do Anne Boleyn's. I think it's now high up on the list of my favourite places. Castle? Yes. With a moat? Yes. And mazes and beautiful roses in the gardens? Yes indeed. And even some topiary snails and pigs? Yup. Even the faux Tudor village extension that the Astors built at the back in the early 1900s is charming rather than twee. The feel of the whole place is just lovely - so atmospheric and friendly.

And for the final day, over to Somerset to visit Montacute, a lovely National Trust house which has an outpost of the National Portrait Gallery (Tudor and Stuart portraits) in the Long Gallery. Apart from me flapping madly and thinking that I'd lost my car keys and then discovering them in the ignition of the car (I'm not prone to this sort of behaviour as a general rule), it was a lovely day out. I've been before but it's the sort of place I could go to once a month and not get bored.

The loooooooong drive home was livened up somewhat by the fact that we got crashed into on the motorway. Weirdly but luckily there wasn't a scratch on either car but it didn't make the rest of the 4 hour drive particularly pleasant. I am always stressy about my car dying as it doesn't have a good record so was very twitchy until I'd got home and it was safely parked. And then I had a massive glass of wine.