Hawkshead, the Lake District, England

 I saw these huge cakes at the window of this tear room, they were gigantic.

 Hawkshead is the village from where one goes to Hill Top farm, the old home of Beatrix Potter. After the death of Norman Warne, the man she was secretly engaged to, she retreated to the Lake district, bought Hill Top farm with the proceeds from the sale of her books. People thought she was crazy, what did she know about sheep raising. But as time went on she would buy up more farm land in the area. She lived here until she married William Neelis, a local lawyer and farmer. Together they amassed numerous acreage. When they both died they left everything to the National Trust.

From the little museum I found out how to get to Hill Top farm, there is a shuttle that takes you there but the house was closed today. Hawkshead itself is a very delightful village.

Grassmere, Lake district, England

 Grassmere is where they make the best gingerbread in the world at Sarah Nelson's. Its a small cottage but the smell of butter and ginger just fills the whole room. It was so incredible. I've read so much about it but I'm finally here. Wow!

 Time for some gingerbread. They were good. I'd like to go back to Grassmere if I have time. There are so many places to explore yet. One can stay here for weeks and not see everything. There are a lot of ramblers in town. You just pack a little supplies and just walk. Its so beautiful.

 Wordsworth lived here and his cottage is down the street. I haven't been to Dove cottage yet. I did go to his grave. I hope some of his talents rubs off on me.

One of his poems was about daffodils and this garden where he was buried is called Wordsworth daffodil garden but it was too late in the year for daffodils. The rhododendrons are in full bloom.

Keswick, Lake district, England

I left York this morning on an early train, had to change trains at Manchester, then it was onward to Penrith. Penrith is the closest train station to the Lake district. From Penrith I caught a bus for Keswick.Keswick is the biggest town in the Lake district and there are a lot of services here. There are buses to all the villages that dot the various lakes. You can buy a day pass called an explorers' pass for 10.80 pounds, make up your own itinerary, jump on and jump off the various buses. If you like a place, stay longer and hang out if not hop on to the next bus and the next. Some of the villages are near water and you can take lake cruises. It was such a beautiful day though I have heard reports that its not going to last. I came in without any reservations for the hostel. Surprisingly there are a few hostels here but the YHA could only put me up for tonight. So I walked a little distance to another hostel. That's where I'm going to stay for the next 2 days. If I can't get a hostel I can stay in any of the numerous Guest houses. The whole place is full of them. I didn't hang out in Keswick but decided it was early in the day, took a bus to Ambleside. I heard it was pretty but I didn't find it delightful. On the way to Ambleside we passed Grassmere. It was way prettier, so I took the bus to go back to it. It was pretty.

Crook Hall and Garden

 Click on pictures for a bigger view. The pictures are so beautiful and I do say so. I talked to one of the groundsmen about how I like it that the trend is to leave a wild patch in every garden. He said its not as easy as it looked. The ground has to be tilled and turned over so that a great number of variety of wild flowers will sprout and bloom otherwise it becomes boring if it doesn't have the variety.

 A small family was picnicking on the grounds. It was a lovely warm and sunny day.

 Painting of Crook Hall. This has been here for many centuries.

 It sits on a hill and the vistas are just as amazing. Its so perfect.

 Here is a view of Durham cathedral.

 The fruit garden which is mostly apple trees.

The moat garden and the gardens just go on and on. You can just spend the whole day there soaking it in and not want to leave. Its that intoxicating. I strongly recommend seeing this place. I will come back next summer!

Teatime at Crook Hall and garden, Durham, England

I arrived this morning in Durham. They say the only thing worth it in Durham is Durham cathedral, the cathedral that is the resting place for St Cuthbert. But the venerable Bede is here too. My church in Los Angles is St Bede. So I had to come to pray at the burial places of both St Cuthbert and St Bede, two saints for the price of one. The cathedral is just too massive for a suitable photo to be taken and none was allowed inside. I know something our US guidebooks does not, there is another incredible place to visit in Durham and it is within walking distance from the cathedral. It is this old house and garden that has been revived, Crook Hall and garden. A garden has been here for hundreds of years. I deliberately had England to be the bookends of my trip. Its England first for 11 days when I can see it in its most glorious. Then I leave for Scandinavia, Finland and the continent, and I come back to England. This garden has satisfied my every desire to see glorious English countryside, home and garden. I found it all in Crook Hall and garden. But as with all major endeavor, before embarkation, refreshment in the form of tea and cake must be obligatory. Here am I in the tearoom, amidst mismatched china, I'm having tea and cake. We'll visit the garden and home when I'm done.

Helmsley, York, England

 An old castle ruin in Helmsley. what an incredible day, the sun was shining, quite unusual in England.

 Country garden plots abound here and it is absolutely delightful.

Cute tea shops and bakeries selling sausage rolls and all kinds of meat pies, so quintessentially English. Helmsley has everything you want in an English country village, one of the prettiest villages in York.

Eating in York

 Only in York (Yorkshire) can you get to eat roast beef and Yorkshire pudding all day long and every day. Its so crazy but I love it.

 This is an awesome roast pork sandwich. One can smell roasting meat everywhere in the city of York.

 There are cute tea shops everywhere and it was hard to settle on one. I had this awesome carrot cake. I must go home and learn how to make a decent carrot cake.

Food features very high in the city of York. This is a tourist town. Next to London this is the next most fun place to visit.

York Minister, York

York has a very varied history, the Vikings were here then the Romans just to name a few people who has added to its history. There was an ancient Roman settlement here when the Romans moved Northwards to build Hadrian's wall. Constantinius Chlorus was sent here as one of the Tetrachs set up by Diocletian. He had a heart attack and died here and his son, Constantine came here. He later became Emperor Constantine. There was an old Norman church built in the same place but it wasn't grand enough and the present Gothic structure was built over everything else. A Minister is a church that dents out missionaries. Today this place is second in importance to the Canterbury Cathedral. The undertakings, both financial and staffing is massive, requiring millions of pounds plus the ongoing renovations. It boasts of some of the loveliest stained glass in christendom. This place teems with visitors from all over the world. There are lots of Chinese visitors. Somehow the Chinese became the dominant group of visitors from any part of the world. Amazing, how things have changed.

Cambridge, England

 The very grand tradition that is the university of Cambridge which has turned out so many illustrious alumni including Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and of course, my favorite, many of the Bloomsbury group. It was a glorious day, sunny and warm. They tell us enjoy it because it wasn't going to last. That was yesterday but today it rained. Anyway enjoy everything because nothing lasts forever, not the good times, not the bad times either. It was an easy train ride from King's Cross station in London, an hour away. I've never really left for outside London so I was pleasantly surprised at how well the trains run in England. I guess over the last few years, there has been tremendous improvements being met.

 Of course, in a University town, what do you expect, used book stores.

 Old churches abound, each with an overgrown garden and some with old cemeteries.

It was a Sunday yesterday and no sooner have I entered the town did the bells begin to ring. They do this chain ringing and it was so beautiful. The bells rang out from one church to another and there are so many churches. Then as I walked past some of them, the familiar strain of hymns started being heard. It brought back so many memories of my childhood being brought up in the Anglican church. It was like a home coming of sorts.

The temple, London

 A little patch of wild meadow in the middle of a vast green space and herbaceous borders.

I arrived yesterday and was so jet lagged but it didn't stop me from joining a free walking tour. It wasn't free, it required a donation but it was still worth it. We went to the embankment of the river Thames to the 'city of London' to an area called 'the temple'. 'The temple' is a remnant of a legacy of the Knights Templar. I happened upon a patch of green space between some incredible buildings. This was what I came to London to see. I've been to London many times but I still want to see some quintessential English gardens. I thought I had to go far out of London to see it. But within London there are patches of country gardens and this was among the biggest I've seen. I love it that they leave a patch wild. Its quite customary to have a patch of wild meadow. I'm glad I went on this tour. This wasn't an area I would normally go to. Today was meet up with family, my cousins and aunts. I went for an evensong service at Westminister Cathedral and that was so meaningful and beautiful, I cried. I'm going to Cambridge tomorrow as a day trip.

On the road again

I'm writing another book about journeys to Turkey. I've made 3 trips here but will be  there again maybe next year. But I have enough to write about where I went those 3 trips to Turkey. Its been so incredible to dig into the archives and relive those trips. During this trip I took my 2 nephews and here we were in Ezurum. Ezurum? Where? Its in Eastern Turkey. I am reliving the day when we took the taxi to outside of Ezurum, to the Coruh valley to look for 2 ancient Georgian churches, Haho and Oshvank. This is Haho, completely buried in a forest of mulberry trees. It was closed, so we weren't able to see the interior. The Coruh valley is the most pleasant place in the summer, we were here in July.
In a few days I'm going to leave on an epic journey, 3-4 months in Finland and Scandinavia. I'm going to try to continue posting whenever I can.