My Dear Spouse and I have been in England just over a week and I have laid eyes on so many sheep. Dozens, hundreds arrayed up and down green slopes of grass, huge with wool, and lambs, they eat. It has rained every day but one, and the sheep just keep focused on their jobs: eating grass and growing wool. We started out with a day in Salisbury. We skipped the Cathedral and spend hours in the Museum. We found it to be a treasure trove of British history. I was thrilled with this little display of Neolithic fiber arts tools.
After Christmas, our son and his wife took us to York for a delightful midweek trip. We could easily walk from our BnB through the Shambles to the York Minster. I have longed to see this Cathedral and it did not disappoint!!
We made it a point to visit Jorvik, the Viking Centre. As former living history interpreters, we were ready for an interesting experience. The reproduction village is inhabited exclusively by animatronic humanoids who carry on the repetive tasks required to maintain life in the 690s. We lowly ticket holders, ride through the village in large eggs with seats listened to a prerecorded tour of the sites and smells. The Centre is also staffed by some modern young humans dressed in Viking garb ready to answer all questions. They seemed so lively, I suppose partly because they had been spared the monotony of tourist’s questions by the robots.
We also drove up to Whitby to see the Abbey. I was looking for Saint Hilda, the Celtic Abbess who was advisor to many kings while my DiL was seeking to connect with Dracula. We were both 100% satisfied with the experiences.
It was ice cold, the wind whipped around the ruins splashing us with salt spray and lashing rain. And, to the horizon (inland) was sheep.
In every stop, we have found reference to spinning and weaving with artifacts properly labeled. I have been pretty happy about every museum we have visited so far.
Even Stonehenge was surrounded by acres of beautiful green grass, well cropped by an army of fluffy ewes. I am particularly thankful that we went on a cold, but sunny, day!
Happy Holidays!
What a neat trip!