North West Trip

Day 1

On Wednesday the 2nd (Jacob's Birthday) we drove several hours by coach to the Bronte Parsonage (Bronte sister's home), Dove Cottage,(Poet William Wordsworth's home) and then to a small lake town called Ambleside to spend the night. The next day we hiked to Hill Top Farm (Beatrix Potter's home) I absolutely love the Lake District. To me, by itself,  is worth a trip to England. This was mostly a repeat trip, but I loved it just the same. There's plenty of history and sooo much beauty.

The same cat outside the Bronte Parsonage as last time

 

Countryside and moors

The countryside and moors

These roosters were very interested in Jacob when

he did raspberries in the palm of his hand. They clucked 

louder and moved closer to us.

Playing cards with Megan on our way to Dove Cottage

The surrounding countryside near Dove cottage

Crossing the street with Charlie.

Lake Windermere

The picture doesn't do this justice. There were so many 

"layers." This is where we stayed in Ambleside.

a room with a view

Day 2

OK the view was great, but the bed was hard, the window only opened a few inches, and it was hot, humid, and stuffy! And I'm not one to do the community shower thing, so I just wet my hair in the sink in our room. I was more than ready to go. We hiked a few miles to Hill Top Cottage. It was a great hike and I felt really good afterward, but not all the students share my feelings. One of the girls was in tears. It was pretty warm out and she had been sick. We also got lost and went too far in the wrong direction. More hiking. The kids did really great though and the beauty made it worth it. One of the students started singing "Climb Every Mountain" from the Sound of music. It made us laugh and happy.

On our hike to Hill Top farm

Hiking across a meadow.

After Hill Top Farm we drove to Liverpool. It's several hours so we broke it up by stopping at the Preston Temple for 20 minutes. It was nice to talk with the senior missionaries at the Stake Center there. They're always so friendly. (they are anywhere) And the Stake Center was air conditioned and had a drinking fountain! The only other two I've seen in the UK are in the chapel we go to every Sunday and at the Tower of London.  

Liverpool was great. Only because we stayed in a "real" hotel. We had three rooms for our family. Nice. It was air conditioned, something the UK and the rest of Europe hasn't caught onto yet, and we were able to do whatever we wanted after the short talk at the docks where the emigration took place. We only had a few hours though because of the long drive there.

We went to another exhibit at the Maritime Museum that we missed last time and stood in line at the Beatles museum for 15 minutes or so and then decided to leave. It just wasn't meant to be. No one else wanted to go through but me. I could see it wasn't working for the family so we left and went to Pizza Hut and just kicked back. Something the kids really needed to do.

We went to bed early because we were scheduled to leave at 7:30 sharp the next morning. And we did.  

Day 3

We drove two hours to Wales. Our first stop was at Beaumaris Castle. Beaumaris means Beautiful Marsh. It's right on the coast of the Irish Sea and back in it's day you could sail right up to it. This castle is one of a "string" of castles built by King Edward I to dominate the Welsh and keep them under control. We saw Caerphilly Castle in southern Wales last Winter. Beaumaris was built on the same plan because it's such a good design for defense. The British were just trying to give the message that they weren't going away. The Welsh just gave up because these castles were so well designed. We also saw Caernarfon Castle a few miles away. That one is the Castle where Prince Charles was crowned as Prince.

The kids AND the students loved this. not so much because it was a castle (well for my kids-they loved the castle) but we pretty much had it to ourselves and they all just played.

Beaumaris Castle

Walking on the outer wall outside the moat.

The students spelling BYU.

This protective daddy swan nudged some people away

when they got a little too close. Mom was close by too.

They might be "ugly ducklings" but they are very cute Swans!

They had these Welsh signs posted all around the castle.

Like my kids would even stop to read it let alone obey.

Caernarfon Castle. This is by far the most impressive

visually. The defenses aren't as good, but still a massive

amazing castle. It must have been intimidating.

Daniel with his new toys. Sometimes I miss my 

little girls in their pink tutus and princess dresses!

Play sword fighting.

The boys ran all over attacking Ashley. She looked like

she was having as much fun as them. In fact she bought

these swords and bows and arows for her nephews at the

Beaumaris Castle. That was it. We had to do the same for 

our boys at this Castle gift shop!

Ashley teaching Daniel.

Laura: "I'm bored with castles!"

We HAVE seen many and aren't done yet.

Time to go home to London. A 7 hour drive. We did make one more stop to break up the trip. We stopped in Coventry outside Birmingham. There is a cathedral there that was bombed during the blitz. They left the bombed church there and built a new modern cathedral next to it. They wanted it to be a reminder, but also have a church of reconciliation and forgiveness.  As we were walking through a group of British teenage boys yelled, "Those dirty yanks!" Such a nice thing to say in a church. Whatever...

Old on the left, new on the right.

From the perspective of a student
(I copied this from their blog!)

The wheels on the bus drive me INSANE!!!

“Back on the bus, back on the busy, somebody shoooot meeeeeeee.”

We spent almost 8 hours on the bus today.

Wake up.

Eat.

Get on the bus.

Sleep.

Wake up.

Look at castles.

Eat.

Get on the bus.

Sleep.

Wake up.

Look at castles.

Eat.

Get back on the bus.

Sleep.

Wake up.

Look at burned cathedral.

Eat.

Get back on the bus.

Sleep.

Wake up.

AHHHHH!!!

Luckily our bus driver, Zultan, made the ride a happy one with dough nuts.

We made it home safe and sound after our 3 day trip to

Liverpool,

the Lake District

and Wales-

thanks to our noble steed.

Someday she'll appreciate all that she's learned.