Normans vs Saxons
Trip Start
Aug 24, 2010
1
3
14
Trip End
Dec 21, 2010
Where I stayed
Grandma's House
Corby, England, United Kingdom
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Food List to slobber some more over:
- Sunday roast chicken with veggies, gravey, stuffing, and yorkshire pudding (mmm)
- Jacket potatoe with baked beans and cheese
- Bacon, egg, and toast for breakfast x3 (thanks to Grandma :) )
- Sausage roll (not bite sized)
- Ecuador dark chocolate Magnum icecream bar
- Fish and chips, with salt and vinegar, from the best chippy in Corby (mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm)
- Wine gums
- Smokey Bacon crisps (mmmm)
Sun Aug 29
Matthew and I left for Grandma's in the afternoon after dinner. We made a detour to stop by a friend's house, but we got lost a couple of times along the way, so we didn't make it to Grandma's until 9 at night :). It was nice to see Grandma again. She is still how I remember her (as is her house). Nothing too exciting happened today, so here's a joke Matthew told me: How do you tell the difference between a weasle and a stoat? Weasles are weasily identified and stoats are stoatally different :)
Mon Aug 30
Today Matthew and I walked over to Rockingham Castle (about 20 min walk away, in Corby). The castle itself can hardly be called a castle since it doesn't have a many tall towers or a dungeon like most castles have, but it was still fun. There was a Viking festival going on for two days. There was a viking villiage set up with different activities along with a couple of reenactments. First we went around the castle grounds then had some lunch and went around the inside of the castle. I tried on a knight helmet... it was really heavy! We went up the tower then went inside Rockingham Church. After touring around Rockingham Castle we went back to the makeshift viking villiage. One of the activities set up was archery, which is one of the things on my bucket list!. I tried out the long bow and managed to hit the bottom of the target :D We watched some sword fighting, listed to a story about Thor and his hammer, watched the Norman knights suit up in their chainmail, then headed over to see the final reeenactment for the day- a battle between the Normans (the royal army at the time who, in history, eventually won) and the Saxons (various rebellious villiages of peasants who didn't want to pay taxes). The fighting in these battles are not coreographed, so today the Saxons won the battle (according to one of the Norman knights the Normans had won the day before). On the way home we took another Matthew detour and got lost in Corby, but we eventually made our way back. :) We went over to Auntie Antoinette's to look after her cats (since they were still in Malmesbury) and when we went outside I saw a hedgehog! So cute!
Tues Aug 31
We went to Rutland Water today which is a reservoir. We walked over to Normanton Church which is right on the shore (since it was there before the water was). It is now a museum all about the reservoir. There was a video about how it was made and there were some fossils they found when digging of dinosaurs as well as skeletons from when the Romans were in the area. We ate at a cafe then went back to Grandma's house. We read for a bit the went over to Antoinette's. We hung out there then I went with Auntie Antoinette to pick up dinner. I saw the house where my mum grew up... which is conveniently located across from the chip shop :). The fish and chips were de-lish-us! (just trying to rub it in :) ) We had a good time talking after dinner. When it came time to leave I had to say goodbye since I wouldn't see them again during my trip. It's hard to say goodbye when you never know when will be the next time you will get to see everyone and how much will change between then. I'm glad I got to spend so much time with them since they were at Auntie Margeruite's.
Wed Sept 1
Today I said goodbye to Grandma and we headed back to Malmesbury. True to form we missed one of the highways and detoured, but this time we didn't really get lost haha. We're having curry for dinner tonight (again since you can never have enough curry). Tomorrow I will wash all of my clothes, weigh my suitcases and hope they are in the limit, and have english pancakes with lemon and sugar (since mum has neglected to make them for the past 3 shrove tuesdays :) ).
Paz y amor,
alice
Comments
I feel homesick, I often used to walk to Rockie Castle with Caroline and get stung by nettles all the way down the hill. There is a dungeon of sorts it is where the torture chamber is. Lorraine used to work in the chippy near where I used to live (I'm hungry). You should mention the Rutland Water is the biggest manmade reservoit in England and they had to submerge several villages for it. Matthew sounds worse than melanie for getting lost:)
P.s. check your spelling
Hahaha I have no room to talk I have just read what I posted, it should be reservoir and P.S.
You should post a link about Rutland Water.