Side Notes:

A.    The bus driver, my hero! The area of England in which I am interested is Kent. It is called the Garden of England. There are many adorable British cottages, historical houses, gardens, villages, bookshops and tea rooms. The roads are very narrow and there are a lot of sheep and hedgerows. Driving in a car would be such a challenge, besides learning to drive on the other side of the road. But driving in a bus was a worldly feat! We all were very grateful to our patient and talented driver.

B.     I am in awe of the historians! Yes, this was a historical tour. Most of the participants joined because of reading Alison Weir novels. Some had been on numerous tours (Yes I do want to go again! LOL!) But the nice thing is, you could listen a little or a lot, and you could choose what you wanted to do. You did not have to do everything, and this was the fun of the trip. If you were not a historical person this was still great, because you got to see and do so many things. For me, the historians were the icing on the cake. If you go on the tour due to your historical interest, it was, as Allen says a history geek’s dream! The historians were, as below, in case you are interested.

C.     Alison Weir -- Author of many English historical novels, organizer of the tour, and around wonderful person.

D.     Julian Humphries -- Julian Humphries is a tour guide and has been one for quite some time, including in France. He was especially adept at military history and had a ferocious sense of humor. He and I regularly had conversations like this: Which do you put on a scone first, the jelly or the cream?? My kind of person!

E.      Michael Jones -- An amazing historian. An amazing mind. He spoke history like he used A1 -- he rarely needed any notes. A specialist on many things including Richard III, the Black Prince and military history.

F.      Tracy Borman -- Tracy has done a lot of speaking and programs about the Tudors. She is Chief Curator at the Tower of London and the author of many books.

G.     Sarah Gristwood -- What a mind and great person! She has written about many things in which I am interested, including Beatrix Potter and Vita and Virginia Woolf. I really enjoyed her company.

H.     Nicola Tallis -- Nicola was a charm. She has a mind like a trap and is also a very fun person with whom to spend time. Her interests are the jewels of monarchy, the theme of her PhD which she achieved not long ago from College of Winchester, which is also where Rishi Sunak got his degree. She lives in Bath.

                                                           THE END!😊

The Last Day!

On this, my last full day in England, I was to go on a tour to Dover, but it was cancelled after I made my way to the meeting point!  The bus had broken down on the way, with no replacement available.  I ended up going with a group of members from my tour on a trip to see the Middle Temple.  This is one of the four Inns of Court in London. The other three include Inner Temple, Gray’s Inn, and Lincoln’s Inn. The Inns of Court serve as the nerve centers for the legal profession. Barristers must belong to one of the four in order to be called to the bar. Each of the Inns includes a network of buildings, accommodation, libraries, gardens, a church or chapel – and a great hall. We were lucky to have lunch in the Middle Temple.

Big Ben

Parliament Building

Westminster Abbey

Middle Temple

Gardens of Middle Temple

Entrance to Middle Temple

Inside Middle Temple where we ate

Temple church

We also saw the Temple Church, which was founded by the Knights Templar as their English headquarters in medieval times. It is now jointly owned by the Inner Temple and Middle Temple, Inns of Court.  It is famous for being a round church, a common design feature for Knights Templar churches and for its 13th- and 14th-Century stone effigies. It was heavily damaged by German bombing during World War II and has since been greatly restored. 

After arriving back in my hotel room and sitting on my suitcase to pack (literally!), I decided to do it up right. A friend from the tour was going to meet me at a restaurant to say goodbye but she had to go to a work event, so I changed the reservation for one, got myself in a dress, and walked across the Thames River.  I went to a restaurant called XOXO, which had a beautiful view of the Thames and the Shard skycraper. I ended it all by taking my wine glass, toasting my trip and said to myself I am one lucky girl to have gotten to experience this trip!

View of the Thames

XOXOXO Restaurant-loved that view!

PS I was glad to get home to Allen, Anna and Chip! J

Day Ten

We headed back to London, but first we stopped at Leeds Castle for a tour and lunch. I had made a friend who likes high tea as much as I do so -- yes -- we had high tea there!

Leeds Castle

High tea

We left Leeds Castle to take a small railway trip between two towns in Kent. It was very nice, but unfortunately this was the first day we had rain.  It didn't really stop us. We had been so lucky, at least for all the gardens and tours, so we could not complain. This was a nice way to end the trip.

We then got back on the bus for the trip back into London, a traffic nightmare.  We stayed at the same place we met. Some people were flying home that night. I had made a reservation for one more day, as it was so late getting into London.

To be honest, I was quite glad to see my hotel room. The tour had been marvelous, but the pace every day was quite fast. The Tour group had drinks and hors d'oeuvres at the hotel and Sarah Gristwood ended with a talk about Chivalry and modern monarchy. And yes, we did discuss who was Team Meaghan and who was Team Kate!

Tea on the train!

Dr Nicola Tallis

Day Nine

Today we visited Scotney Castle and Gardens, a 19 Century property, which is very well maintained. We needed more time here as it was such a large place -- over 700 acres!  It was a lovely garden and home, but we did not get into the home as we ran out of time. (I think I spent too much time hanging in the garden!) This was a highlight for many peopl,e as it was an unknown and so lovely.

Scotney Castle and Gardens

This visit was followed by a trip to Allington Castle, which was only accessible by boat.  So we took a boat, the Kentish Lady, and on the boat, of course, we had tea. This was a privately owned medieval 12^th Century castle. We went to tour the castle and see the gardens. Again, beautiful!

Riverboat on the way to Allington

Various pictures of Allington Castle

The discussion on the bus back to the castle was on Katherine Swynford, who was the mistress of John of Gaunt. The talks on the bus did make the time go quickly.  That evening was going to be our last night together. We went to Penshurst Place, a 14th Century palace where many shows have been filmed. There was a Tudor musician -- a soprano-dressed in Tudor costume -- to perform for us, and then drinks and a wonderful last dinner together.   We had a gala quiz, given by the most humorous historian on the trip, about all the activities we had done. We also had to write a poem -- each table -- about the trip, and my table won!

Our Tudor soprano

My friend Jessica, fellow Anglophile

Dr Michael Jones

Alison Weir💓

My dear friend Lynn, best bus mate ever

Day Eight

The following day we headed out at 9:00 am again, this time to Winchester. On our bus trip, which took some time, Julian spoke about Winchester, Nicola spoke about coronations of medieval queens and Tracy Borman spoke about Mary Tudor and Philip of Spain. This made the time go quickly. We got to visit Winchester itself and then we went to Winchester Castle and Queen Eleanor’s Garden. We also got to see Winchester Cathedral and Jane Austen’s grave.  We also saw the home in which Jane Austen died.

We had free time to eat and walk around, and this was a fun day. On the bus there was the discussion by Tracy Borman about the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves. Tracy is the chief curator at the Tower of London, and she really knows the Tudors!

City of Winchester

Winchester Cathedral

Jane Austen's grave

Because we had dinner on our own in Winchester, we got back to the castle at a decent time and once again I went into my room and pinched myself that I was staying at Hever Castle!

Charles stopped me!

Day Seven

It was quite a day to see the King crowned on Sunday.  By Monday, though, we were back into action.  I had chosen to go to Canterbury. On the bus, Nicola Tallis spoke to us about Canterbury, as the town has a lot of significance in and of itself. Then Michael Jones, who is quite a prolific historian, spoke about the Black Prince, a medieval king, the eldest son of Richard III. He is Michael’s favorite historical subject, and he has just written a book on him.  When we got to Canterbury Cathedral, where the black Prince is buried, I bought Michael's book and he signed it for me. Another book.  Allen is going to kill me!  Canterbury Cathedral is also where Thomas Beckett was murdered, and I had always wanted to see that. It was a moving site.

Canterbury pictures

Thomas Becket's place of stabbing

The grave of the Black Prince is in Canterbury

On the bus back to the castle, Nicola talked about the Beauforts and Michael Jones talked about Henry V. Much of this history I did not know but it still was very interesting. That night there was a chef's table buffet.

Day Six

The next day, of course, was THE big day! Coronation day in England! Most of us were up very early to begin watching all the festivities. The whole day was spent glued to the screen. We had a celebration buffet lunch with champagne and then we had a walking tour of Hever church, which is where Thomas Boleyn is buried. It had begun to get cold and wet -- true England weather -- and I caught a cold on this tour. However, I took my medicine and kept trooping! A lot of others also had it and I think it was due to it suddenly getting cold, grey, and damp. That evening, the historians on the tour, who were staying at a home on the property, invited us for cocktails, and then we had a barbecue on the lawn at Hever Castle.

What a  memorable day!

Hever Church

Thomas Boleyn, Anne Boleyn's father's grave