May 15: Bolsover Castle, Haddon Hall, and York Ghost Walk

Today was Alanna and my first day without Ian, Beverley and Dorothy, and we spent some of the day saying “They’ll be heading to the airport now!”  and “They’re all in the air by now.”  I hope they have safe and pleasant trips.  Alanna and I had an intense day of visiting a castle, a hall, and a medieval town.

Alanna and I had a very full day.  First we went to Bolsover Castle, built by Charles Cavendish in 1612.  It was a fascinating look at both a well preserved Elizabethan country home in the Little Castle and a ruin in the Terrace range, as well as the best preserved stables in Britain.  It was raining hard when we got there, so we did the inside sections first, but had some cold but slightly sunny breaks later.

The castle as seen fromthe stables,with the garden wall in the foreground.

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A view across the dales, with every kind of weather imaginable there to behold.

The sodden courtyard.

The ceiling of the upstairs parlour.

My favourite, the downstairs parlour.

The private quarters of the Duke, called the heavens.

Looking down intto the ruins of the Terrace Range, which was the scene of a Royal Visit.  The Duke spent the equivalent of a million pounds in today's money to entertain the King and Queen for a single day.  This included an original play written for the occasion by Ben Johnson.

Exterior of the ruined Great Hall.  The things that look like cannons hanging on the outside wall were incorrect interpretations of Greek columns, as shown in diagrams and described.

We drove through lovely country roads, and I was really glad I had practised a bit with Ian there to give me pointers.  We arrived at Haddon Hall, which is still a private residence.  It is a fortified manor, with the site dating back to 1150, but most of the house that we toured restored to their Renaissance finery.  May movies have been filmed here, including The Other Boleyn Girl; three versions of Jane Eyre; and Pride and Prejudice.  We had every kind of weather imaginable in the two hours we were there, from hail to wind to sun to teeming rain.  I think that the grey clouds are quite atmospheric.  The River Wye passes through the property, and it was strange to think we were standing on a bridge above water that will be heading past Chepstowe Castle by now.

Our first view of the Hall.

A robin in the central courtyard

Looking at the public side of the courtyard.

Looking across to the chapel and the wall of King John.

Inside the chapel

A wall painting from indie the chapel

This was so sad.  This is the effigy of Lord Haddon, who died at the age of nine.  His grief-stricken mother, Violet,  sculpted his image.

Alanna, aka "Bagarella" in the kitchens.

I love the plasterwork!

These stairs are made from a single oak tree!

The long exercise room.  Elizabethan ladies would not expose their faces to the sun nor their clothes to the rain, so they walked a great deal in here, I imagine.

A nook off the exercise room

The same nook from the outside.

The GPS, Gimli, led us through Sheffield, right through the university, just as 4:00 classes were ending.  It took us more than an hour to cross this town and I was really really tense, and missing my co-pilot/navigator.

However, at about 6:30 we drove to our B&B in York, one of the few cities we will visit on this tour, and are within five minutes walk of the Minster.  as I put our parking permit in the car, I promised myself that I wouldn’t even go near it until we leave town on Thursday morning.

Alanna and I went for a walk to York Minster, and took a turn around the medival streets before going on a Ghost Walk.  It was fun, campy, and theatrical, and gave us a good overview of the blocks around the cathedral.  Alanna describes the city as a collage of buildings – medieval walls, Elizabethan houses leaning crazily across winding streets, the shambles, cool Georgian town houses, fancy Victorian brick shops, and modern residential flats.  There are bits of wimsey all over town, from little mice carved in old doors to black cats crawling here and there around the town.

We went to the pub and split an appie platter and had a pint each, then walked home, shocked to find that it ws after ten.  Breakfast is at 8:30 tomorrow, so enough for now!