David, our guide, planned a day in the country outside London for a total change from castles and traffic! And what a day it was! And I found David as interesting as the sights he showed us. Can you say "name dropper"? David was an actor in tv, commercials and movies from his teenage years...he is now 63 and still very handsome. His parents were very affluent and, at the age of 8, he was sent to a boarding school in Scotland that was similar to Eaton, the most exclusive boarding school in Britian. While his father had great hopes for his future, he chose acting and, as he got older and he had a harder time getting lucrative parts, he decided to get his "Blue Badge", which entitled him to be a guide in Great Britain. And he was very proud of his badge, which he wore each day!
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| Cricket |
My biggest disappointment was that his interests were not in history, but in sports like cricket (his passion), soccer, and field hockey. Each time we passed a cricket field, we would get a lecture on the sport. And he drove us through Windsor where Eaton is located so we could see the young boys in their tails (yes, they have to wear tuxedo like clothes to class!) A sign of how exclusive they are at Eaton, according to David, is that their cricket field is exclusive to CRICKET, while other such fields trade off with other sports as well!
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| Boys in Eaton traditional tie and tails |
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| Rowers at Henly |
Following small paths through thickets we went deeper and deeper into the countryside, where we got to see the windmill in "Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang" and the adorable church where "The Vicar of Dibley" was shot. It looked just like a church in a Jane Austen movie, with a churchyard full of tilted old gravestones dating from the 1700's. Henry VIII had all the abbeys closed and he took all the valuable ornaments, Bibles, etc under Cromwell, which is how he financed his life and his wars. So many of the abbeys and churches disappeared. But, in some small villages, the churches remained, stripped of their wealth, but there was a center for village life. The abbey we visited served 8 small villages, as picturesque as you could imagine. You felt like you were back in the late 1700's, peeking into country life.
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David, Iris (the star), and the Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang
windmill way up to the left...see it? |
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| Tudor houses in "cute village" |
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| Village church yard |
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| Note the list of vicars starts in 1226. |
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| Way out |
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Betsy and Iris in what feels like a Jane Austin setting.
Also it's where "the Vicar of Dibley" was filmed, a BBC
comedy about a woman vicar being assigned to a small
parish (perfect setting!) |
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| One of the 'small' roads. |
For lunch we stopped at a small pub, with those well known tudor timbers and low ceilings. It is hard to see how the place could stay open, as we were the only people there for lunch. And after a couple glasses of ale along with fish and chips, we talked to the owner, who said that, just up the road, was the former estate of the Getty family, recently sold to an Australian lady who wanted her privacy. So we never found out her name, although it would not have meant anything to us anyway!
Driving away from the lovely non-rainy day, we drove down another cart path where we had to pull off the road when a car or tractor wanted to pass. And then back to civilization. My question to David was ,"Where do these small villages go for groceries?" The answer -- "Far away>" And I could see that. But Betsy, Q and I all felt we would rather live in these isolated areas some 40 miles from London where "character" was more important than money and bustle!!
Dinner was back to our favorite pizza place not far from the hotel and then we begin packing for our switch to Paris via the Chunnel on Sunday. Betsy and Q are off in the Tube to see the Globe theater, which Bos and I have seen numerous times. And I am playing school teacher today with Iris. Her teacher was kind enough to send 2 weeks worth of work for her and Iris LOVES showing me what she is learning in Kindergarten!! Then, this afternoon, off to see "Mathilda" at a theater in the West End.
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