Autumn 2003
In October, 2003, I traveled to England for several purposes: to do research at the British Library's Newspaper Collection, to attend the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) AGM in Winchester, Hampshire, and to tour in the country for a week, followed by a week in London.
Here are a few pictures my husband, Ed, and I took along the way.
Chawton Cottage (1) was Jane Austen's home from 1809 to just before her death. In the garden, there is a donkey and a replica of the cart she used, driven by a young lady in costume (2). Next to her is Joan K. Ray, president of JASNA. Question: is the fellow in front pushing or pulling the donkey?
About a half mile away from Chawton Cottage is Chawton Great House (3), one of the estates inherited by Jane Austen's brother, Edward, who was "adopted" by the Knight Family, distant and wealthy relatives of his parents.
The Great House has been restored by Sandy Lerner, including the outbuildings, gardens and fields, to house the Chawton House Library and Centre for the Study of Early English Women's Writing 1600-1830. Check out their website at www.chawton.org for more information, including the texts of many novels on line.
This view of the Great House is from the garden (4), showing the marquee on the left and beyond it, St. Nicholas Church, which Jane, her sister Cassandra, and mother attended. Here is Professor Michael Wheeler (5) speaking about the Austen family at Mrs. Austen's grave next to St. Nicholas. Jane died in Winchester, where she went for treatment, in this house near the cathedral (6). In the marquee, the conference participants enjoyed afternoon tea and later, wine and canapes.
At the AGM in Winchester, we heard many excellent presentations, attended the memorial service in Winchester Cathedral where the full choir echoed through the darkened nave and gave me goose bumps, and visited several houses where Jane visited. Deane House (7) is where Jane danced with Tom LeFroy, her youthful romance. Mrs. LeFroy, Tom's aunt and close friend of Jane's, lived at Ashe House (8).
After the meetings, I met my husband, Ed, and we drove to Suffolk, northeast of London. We stayed at The Ickworth, a relatively new hotel in one wing of the mansion built by the Earl of Bristol in the late 18th C. and now run by the National Trust. Ickworth (9, 10) has the huge rotunda in the middle with curving colonnades on each side leading to large wings, one of which is the hotel (11, 12). The other wing, which never was used except as a hothouse, was built only to provide symmetry and balance. It is now being finished as a National Trust Tea Shop and Gift Shop.
Ickworth's grounds are lovely, though in these pictures, suffering a bit from this year's drought. It is an amazing - and slightly ridiculous structure. The rotunda shows off the Hervey (pronounced Harvey) family treasures. The hotel is furnished with a combination of antiques and modern classics (13, 14). It caters to families, and provides bicycles of all sizes, Wellington boots for toddlers to adults, and baby sitters for the dinner hour. There is a lovely indoor pool, horses to ride, and a big playroom for the kiddies. I have never seen such a completely family-friendly hotel.
We toured the charming town of Bury St.Edmund's, near Ickworth, and Newmarket, also nearby. We attended the Yearling Sale at Tattersall's, conducted in much the same way it has been done for several hundred years. The horses are consigned to at Tat's (15), just a mile or so from the two Newmarket race courses. They are paraded in a ring outdoors (16) for about a quarter hour so prospective buyers can see them. Then, one by one, the yearlings are led into the octagonal structure and around and around the ring. Above sit the bidders and the auction proceeds, with bidding still in guineas --one pound, one shilling -- just as it "always" has. Of course the electronic board showing the bids with the amounts in guineas, euros, dollars, and yen is a newer feature. I really had to restrain myself from entering the fray! Ed was so afraid I would stick up my hand and we would suddenly own a horse! Incidentally, horses in this sale came from England, Ireland, France and the US.
We got into the horsy mode and attended the fall race meet at Newmarket the next day. Also toured the National Stud, right next door, where several champion stallions are in residence. They own a few brood mares, but most of the dams come to the Stud for breeding from elsewhere.
The races (17, 18) were great fun, just as portrayed in Dick Francis's novels, which I adore. I have read all of them at least twice, some three or four time. We picked THREE winners out of the seven races. Too bad we hadn't bet more than two pound on each! The track at Newmarket is over a mile long, run on the straight, on grass (19, 20).
After that lovely stay in Suffolk, we drove to Windsor and stayed nearby in the village of Datchet. We toured the Castle, which I had last seen shortly after the terrible fire. It is beautifully restored, to the magnificence of the George IV d�cor. The Queen was in residence while we were there, but strangely enough, she managed to avoid the hordes of tourists from all over the world.
We enjoyed a beautiful sunny autumn afternoon cruising the Thames upstream from Windsor (21, 22, 23, 24, 25). The number and variety of recreational boats amazed us. I think we need to schedule a week on one of those boats doing the river and maybe a canal or two - one of these years.
We rented an apartment in London's Soho Square for a week and enjoyed a number of museum exhibitions, some fine meals -- I highly recommend Alastair Little in Frith Street -- and saw three plays, all revivals. We spent a day in Richmond, up the Thames from the City but not quite as far as Windsor (26, 27). High on the King's Mount in Richmond Park, there are panoramic views of the surrounding countryside (28).
One one of our walks in Westminster, the guide discussed fanlights (29), common to all Georgian houses. She said that before street numbers were in use, everyone had a unique design for the fanlight above their door. On invitations, instead of an address, one gave the street or square and a drawing of the fanlight to identify the correct house.
Finally, a couple of "new" features of London. Here is the Tate-to-Tate boat (30) which connects the Tate Britain and the Tate Modern with an intermediate step at the London Eye - the big Ferris Wheel. This is the view of the new London City Hall from the Tower Bridge (31). To me it looks liked a bloated haystack falling over. It is located directly across the river from the Tower of London. While we were looking at it, the last three Concordes flew over for their final landing at Heathrow (32). Large crowds watched them in near silence, a sort of sadness settling over everyone - the end of an era.
And speaking of the END, look at this new building, almost finished in the heart of the City (33, 34). In London, they call it the Gherkin, but its shape is not only pickle-like. It is so large it actually looms over towers like Lloyd's. At forty storeys, it is three times higher than Niagra Falls and the City's second largest building. It is located at 30 St. Mary Axe and will house a Swiss insurance firm, though about 60% of the building is still available for lease - as of Nov. 1, 2003, according to the Daily Telegraph.
I suppose these new buildings will eventually become familiar parts of the London scene. For the moment, I find both of them jarring. Here is the City Hall from the other side, showing its relation to the Tower Bridge (35). This too London will survive!