We went to Anglesey Abbey yesterday, and Andy came too! It was grand and magnificent and this one really was fit for the Queen herself! It had lovely herbacious gardens and a forest full of little treehouses and bridges, and the house was huge, too!
When we got there, we went on a walk around the forest that circles the abbey. One of the best things there were the hammocks I found! I’d never been in a proper hammock before, only a little pokey one in one of the parks nearby, but this one was huge and comfortable! I swung in my legs and then lay down, and it started swinging ever so gently. At one point, Mummy called to me, ‘Lavinia, you’re going to get sun-burnt!’ But I didn’t hear her because I had my eyes closed and I was nearly asleep. So she called, ‘Lavinia! You’re going to get all sun-burnt! Let’s go now.’ Then I heard, and not wanting to go, opened one eye and said, ‘I don’t want to go – couldn’t you just pass me my jumper, and I’ll put it over my face, and I won’t get burnt?’ So Mummy through me my jumper and I draped it over my face, and continued to bath in the sun in the little swinging hammock!
When Mummy and Andy finally managed to drag me out of the hammock (Tilly wasn’t all that bothered, so there was no dragging involved), we continued on our walk. We came across a treehouse and climbed up, and also a tunnel at the foot of it to get to the stairs. On our map, a little site was marked ‘Wibbly Wobbly Bridge’, and when we got there and stood on the bridge, it didn’t move. We jumped on the bridge. It didn’t budge. We ran over the bridge. It was as stable as Westminster Bridge, London. Honestly, it wasn’t wibbly or even wobbly. Though I suppose it was a bit small for us anyway, so I needn’t mention it.
When we went away from the Completely Stable Bridge, we passed a few statues of cracked emperors and finally found the abbey. It was even bigger than we’d expected, and I admit we’d expected quite a lot; so you’ll find that indeed it was very big. It used to be an Augustinian priory, which is a monastery for monks who follow St. Augustine. Unfortunately it was dissolved during Henry VIII’s order of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It fell into ruins and disrepair, and then a man called Lord Fairhaven bought it and redesigned it. He bought it because it was near the races in Newmarket, apparently!
All the rooms, to my amazement, were full of clocks. If you’re new to reading my blog, you might not know that I have thirteen clocks in my bedroom – I’m serious. There were over 60 clocks and we saw most of them! Some were mantle ones, some grandfather ones, and one was a post clock, where you put the post in the top! There was a plate above that one on the wall, saying, ‘DO NOT ASK WHERE THE POST GOES. YOU KNOW AS MUCH ABOUT IT AS WE DO.’ It was really funny, and don’t tell me I haven’t memorised it correctly – I read it out about ten times to each of us!
There was a lady winding up all the clocks that day, and I pretty much stalked her, I followed her for so long! One of my favourite of all 60 clocks was a grandfather one where, when the lady wound it up, she let me pull one of the cords dangling next to the weights, and a lovely little tune came ringing out. It was truly magnificent!
At the end of the walk round the abbey, we came back out again and walked down a special place called Emperors Walk, which was studded with thrilling busts of Nero, Julius Caeser, and Claudius, and of course many more, most of which we’ve learned about. (**Did you know that Nero had a wife when he decided he liked someone else so he beheaded his wife and gave it to that someone else? Well, he later decided that he didn’t really like her too much either, so he killed her as well!)
We went through a few walks full of flowers to get to a real working mill called Lode Mill. Every half-hour they work the mill for just two minutes, and in that time they get a whole box full of delicious flour. We watched it being made in front of our very eyes, and then we bought a pack. In our pack the man gave us an extra scoopful!
When we got home at five o’clock, I was completely worn out, so Tilly and I played a game together and both went in early that night!