DAY 1 OF OUR HOLIDAY
We’re on holiday in the Cotswolds! Nanny is here too, and we have a caravan that is even better than our last one in Hastings! Mummy and Nanny have their own rooms with small dressing tables and a double bed each. Tilly and I are sharing a beautiful and cosy little room with two single beds, curtains next to mine, a few shelves, a head rest above our beds, and a bed lamp! It’s really snuggly and nice.
Because we couldn’t check in to the caravan park, we went to a few places first. It took about an hour and a half to get to the first place. It was called Burford. It was a lovely quaint place, although it was indeed quite big. We went to a cafe for lunch and had scones for the desert. It was really posh and nice.
The second place we went to was called Arlington Row. It was my favourite of the two village-y places we went to. The houses were really old and pretty, and all the walls outside them were dry stone ones slotted together without cement.
They each had a posh little painted pastel-coloured gate (my favourite was a massive one called ‘Rosemary Cottage’ that had really big, stone steps leading up to a baby blue gate, and a massive garden with foxgloves and purple flags and buttercups in it that you could just see through holes in the gate). There must have been a wedding going on because Tilly and I spotted a lovely looking bride and groom on the bride that went over a bubbling, clear brook. It was really pretty there.
Then we went to an old Roman villa, where we got an audio guide each. There were loads of rooms for us to explore, and on our audio screens showed archeologists using little paint brushes to brush off the dust of new mosaic-y discoveries. It was really fun. Nanny was a little bit scared of the pheasant because he came up to us really close as if to say, ‘Hello, there. How are you?’ in a friendly, wise, pheasant-ly manner.
Now we’re in our beautiful caravan. I’m just rounding off now and we’re about to go to bed at 9:32!
DAY 2 OF OUR HOLIDAY
This morning Tilly and I woke up at the exact same time! It was very funny. Tilly, on her bed, has an enormous mattress a foot deep, so she slept fine. I didn’t sleep as well because my bed didn’t have such a big mattress, and it was really pokey, but I still got to sleep quicker than I expected (at about quarter to eleven)… In the morning, since it was really cold, Tilly and I crept out of bed and snuck into the lounge, where we then crouched by the blaring electric fire with our duvets on top of us until my face went as red as a cherry! Then we got out our notebooks and hid our faces behind our rulers and pencil case, but it didn’t work to stop the heat from getting to us! We didn’t know how to turn it down a little until Mummy came and clicked the knob down. Then it got cold, but it soon warmed up and we had scrambled eggs on toast!
Then, since the weather got nicer and nicer every minute, we decided to travel the hour-journey to Bath. We got there surviving on only two sweeties each, but we didn’t go to the Roman Baths straight away. We went to Dyrham Park, a gigantic house and grounds. We went on the a mini bus thing to get to the house, since it was a long walk and Nanny wanted to sit down for a bit.
When we got there we had a tour to the top rooms. If we hadn’t gone to the tour we wouldn’t have been allowed to go upstairs. It was really great, though there weren’t any audio guides;)
In Bath, there is a very famous cathedral called Bath Abbey, which used to be a monastery. We love going inside cathedrals and churches and things, so we decided to go in. It was really old and pretty, and it had fan vaulting on the ceiling. There were patterns and pictures all over the place, and one very large tomb.
The bishop-y man then climbed up to his bench thing and asked for everybody’s attention. Nobody but us and a few others sat down to listen, and Nanny said afterwards that she thought it was all very ‘newfangled’ and so on, since she’s only been in a Catholic church before… At the end of his speech, the bishop-y man said the Lord’s Prayer, and asked that everybody else did too, but nobody did, and we didn’t know it, so we sat and listened.
I asked the bishop-y man who was in it, and he said ‘James Montague’ (shown in pictures below), in the older times spelt ‘Montagu’. He also told me to look out for the outside of the abbey, because one of the bishops who owned it had a dream about angels climbing up a ladder to heaven. The bishop-y man was very nice.
After that we went to the Roman Baths. There were some springs inside and then the Great Bath was outside. In the corridor when we were going outside, there were some French students (a great big load of them, some fifteen or fourteen, mostly sixteen) just came and stood in a big bunch in the middle of the corridor. Nanny said, ‘Excuse me, excuse me,’ but they turned, said something in French, and continued to stand where they were. Worse, the only gap that we could squeeze through was taken up almost completely by the girl standing there, who had an enormous backpack that we had to creep past.
The baths were really fun. We got to sit right next to the water (although we weren’t allowed to touch it) that flowed from the Sacred Spring. When we left we still had time to go shopping a little, and luckily time to get lost and only find the bus still waiting for us half an hour later (but it hadn’t been there the whole half hour). Now we’re about to have quiche and potatoes and beans with Nanny!
DAY 3 OF OUR HOLIDAY
For the third day of our holiday, we had crumpets for breakfast. While we were eating, it started to shower rain on the roof, so we decided not to go for a big day out. It was about ten when we set off to go to the swimming pool.
The indoor one was fairly large, sometimes deep, sometimes shallow. The best part was that it had a huge yellow water slide. Tilly and I were a little scared to go on at first, I admit that, but once we climbed up and up and up and waited for the person on it to be at the bottom, Tilly held on to the bar, lay down with her arms crossed like an Egyptian mummy, and went sailing down. At the bottom she got a great splash of water, but then she looked up and put her thumbs up, so I slid down too. There were lots of sudden turns and it was a little slow, but then I went sharply on the thin of my sides round the corners and got a splash at the bottom!
For the rest of the day it rained and rained, so there was no chance of going anywhere. Tilly and I went for a small walk around the caravans while a heavy shower went on. We had a map to follow but we couldn’t make sense of it. The conversation sort of went a bit like this:
L: So this is 64…
T: No, it’s 84, part of the six has been rubbed away in the rain.
Right, so it’s 84, where’s 84 on the map?
There’s one here, and another over here, and one by 23…
Which caravan is that one near?
23, I just said that!
No, the other one, Tilly.
Oh, 46.
Well, this one isn’t by 46, so the right 84 is this one.
Oh, so this is Kingfisher Lake, not Mallard Lake?
No, it is Mallard Lake, Tilly, we’re looking here, not there.
Let’s go right then, we can get to Reed View from there.
It’d be left, though, wouldn’t it?
No, right, because this is 84 and that one’s 87.
Umm, I don’t –
Come on.
DAY FOUR OF OUR HOLIDAY
Today, we woke up at half past eight (we were meant to have an early day out, but we had a ly-in) and quickly walked into Mummy’s room. We had some cereal, dressed, wrote on our websites a little, and then got in the car.
About an hour later, we arrived at a place called Chastleton House in the North Cotswolds.
Before we went in the house, Mummy, Tilly and I went for a walk (Nanny said she wanted to do her crossword in the car because she didn’t want to walk far). We went through an enormous field of sheep and their newborn lambs! THEY WERE ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE! We could tell which lambs were who’s because the mother had, say, ’14’ spray-painted on her, and so did the lambs. That was how we could tell that two lambs, ’64’ and ’56’, who were huddled up right next to each other, baa-ing and dozing, didn’t even know one another!
When we came out the field and shut the gate behind us, we walked up to a little farm area and saw three dogs, two huge labradors, and a spaniel. Before we knew it, there was a ‘Bark! Wruff, wruffwruff! Bark!’ and in dog language, ‘Look, George! Some people, come to see us!’ ‘I can see, Bill! Let’s go and meet them! Come on, Bob!’ ‘I’m a little bit scared, I think I’m too small…’ ‘Oh, don’t be a fool, Bobmeboy! Come on, Bill, let’s go!’ I huddled up to Mummy and Tilly and squeezed my eyes shut, saying, ‘Mummy, I don’t like it, Mummy, make it go away, Mummy, Mummy!’ while one dog after another barked and jumped up on my coat. However, they were gone soon enough, and then we made a dash for the lamb field!
When we got to the house, we were very hungry, so I had an enormous slice of ginger cake with a napkin and a cake fork in the church next door which served as their cafe. Tilly and Nanny had coffee and walnut cake. There were chunks of stem ginger on the top and I love ginger (Mummy says I am a very gingery girl – get it?) so it was a real treat for me. There aren’t many times when we get to have cake for lunch, but fortunately for us there was no option that day!
This was a Jacobian house, which means after the Tudor times, so it was very old, early 1600s. It was really big and well preserved. It was full of lovely dark wood panelling and there were tapestries hanging on the walls and – my favourite – clocks! There were great big long case ones, little mantle ones, or even pocket-watch sized ones. And by the way, they were all my favourite, I don’t have a special one!
The house was very famous for its King Charles I and the Roundheads story. It’s true and it’s brilliant! Well, one of the owners of Chastleton, Arthur Jones, lost a battle as a Royalist and rode home. Then some Roundheads, who had just come back from the battle, said they had come to seek out Sir Jones. His clever wife, Anne, said he was not there; but they said they saw his horse, worn out from the battle, in its stable. Anne then quickly hid her husband in a cupboard that blended in with the wallpaper in one of the bedrooms (now called the Cavalier Room). She then said, ‘Well, explore the whole house if you wish, but how tired you look! Why don’t you come and have some dinner and wine?’ In their wine she put a drug called laudanum, and they soon fell asleep. While they were sleeping, she hustled Sir Jones out of the cupboard and he rode away on one of the Roundheads’ horses. A few months later, when the coast was clear, he came back safe.
While I was writing a comment card outside with Nanny, someone came out the kitchen with someone else saying, ‘What an adorable cat!’ So Nanny and I went in and looked about, but I couldn’t see a cat. We occupied ourselves in looking round all the kitchen-y things. We saw the stove and the dials at the back. I stuck my hand in to point them out to Nanny, who couldn’t see them in the black of it all, and yelped, throwing myself back. A little black head, with pointy black ears, poked up out of the black, looked lazily about, and then plonked itself back down again. It was a cat! I reached in and stroked it. The lady in the kitchen said it was Charles. Think, Chuck the kittycat, hiding on the warm, black stove where nobody would see it, scaring the life out of people! Hee hee!
My favourite room was one called the Long Gallery. It was empty of quite a few things, but it did have a sort of bench with two arm-rests, and the seat was springy. One was meant to sit on it and bounce, and gave the effect of one on a horse. In the olden days it was considered good for one, since it would jiggle the organs. I’m not sure if that is good for one, but there you are.
When we got home we watched a film called Lady Jane, about where Lady Jane Grey (played by Helena Bonham Carter) became the queen after Edward I. We immediately recognised the ‘Gallery’ which was the Long Gallery in Chastleton! We knew because of the gargoyles at the front and the wood panelling. We also recognised the Dining Room where they had their wedding feast, and also the lounge where she said, ‘I won’t marry him!’ and smashed up the silverware. It was all filmed in Chastleton!
We also went to a little village called Chipping Norton afterwards, but it wasn’t as big and old as we thought it would be – although there was a lot of yarn-bombing! (Yarn-bombing is where someone makes things out of wool and hangs them about their town. Tilly went into a yarn shop and asked if it was them, and they said that it was lady who liked doing it who had done it for ten years. According to her, if she knew you, she would knit a heart and put it on your door-handle)!
DAY FIVE OF OUR HOLIDAY
For the last day of our holiday, we went to a surprise house. But when we got there, we realised it wasn’t just a normal-sized house, or quite-a-lot-bigger house, it was just huge, about the size of Buckingham Palace itself! It was designed by a French architect, so it was very French-y and it was full of turrets like a fairytale castle! I kept asking if there were audio guides and I was very pleased when there were! (However, I was very not pleased when they took away our lunch bag and our water bottle before we went in the house!) I hung my audio guide round my neck and we walked in the entrance.
Some work was being done in the palace, so there were even some more rooms that we missed at the end of the day. The first room, The Oval Hall, was having some conservation done of it, so we went straight to the West Gallery, I think it was called. There, there was a magnificent musical box. It was not the ordinary-sized container where you wind the little dial and it goes, ‘Ting, ting-alingaling, ting alingawingling, ting,’ no, no, no! This one was huge and beautiful and now I shall explain.
The ‘box’ was a large bronze elephant, decorated with paste jewels and precious gems. It stood on a pedastal engraved with bejewelled angels and mythical beasts, and on its riding blanket sat a man wearing a turban studded with tiny rubies and emeralds. There were a few visible cogs gathered round the bottom of the glass case it stood in, and they too had magnificent diamonds and jewels, so that when they turned they went slightly out of focus, that one could see a blurr of green emeralds, blue sapphires and pastel peridots swirling, swirling round a cog. There was a key hole hidden away somewhere on the elephant, and when the golden key was inserted, the eyes moved, and the tail swung, and so did the trunk, which had the architect’s date etched on it. But not to forget the music; for this wonderful ‘box’ created a very pleasant tune, a song of wonder and joy, of misery and sadness, of life and happiness, all mixed up in one short song, until it stopped, and the elephant stood still as a statue.
Now, before I go into complete Story Mode, let me remind you that the house wasn’t simply the musical box. There was much more! One of my favourite things was a beautiful painting of a lady who was standing and looking down. Where she was looking, I believe it was the Prince of Wales once stood, and she was meant to be there to capture the love of him. According to history, he once said: ‘Her eyelashes are as long as yards’ and continued to claim how beautiful she was.
While Tilly went round with Nanny, I chose which bedroom I liked alongside Mummy. I liked one where there was a small in between single and double bed, and a beauty table with compartments full of hairbrushes and perfume bottles and all sorts. It had a staircase leading onto what would be my very own corridor separating my en suit and my adorable pink-tinged bedroom (I also liked that one because it had a large window out on the flower gardens at the front, and so it was very light; most of the rooms had draped curtains and scarcely any windows, so they were very dark).
The boys had a whole wing to themselves – the Bachelor Wing. Now, little Miss Alice, who came to inherit the house, had a set of rules called Miss Alice’s Rules, and one was that no one was allowed to smoke outside of the Smoking Room. This room, in the special Bachelor Wing, would have been so polluted with smoke, I think, that one would have choked when one entered! However, this seemed not to be the case. The Smoking Room reminds me – once or twice, Winston Churchill himself came to stay in Waddesdon, and Miss Alice gave him the only room with a portico out on the front, telling him he could only smoke out on that specific balcony. ‘Utterly no smoking will go on outside of either that portico or the Smoking Room. Now do be off…’ I can imagine her saying!
Once we were out of the brilliant house we went and played in the playground for a bit before travelling the hour-journey back home. (Remember, we survived on sweeties, so we were okay, although I’m sure Nanny didn’t think so, she kept telling Mummy she wanted to be home in one piece!)
