Carrying on the ‘Eight’ meme today. Remember the one? Petra Michelle tagged me a couple of weeks ago for it. I told you then that eight was my favourite number – which it is – and I gave you the first part of this rather lengthy meme, which was ‘Eight things I am looking forward to’. Today’s instalment is:
Eight things I did yesterday!
Hmm. Let me think. Yesterday is already a bit of a blur. But it was rather a busy day so I’m sure I can find you your eight things. Whether they’ll be interesting or not, I’ll leave for you to judge.
1 Got up early, which makes a change. Son No. 1 was taking part in a charity cycle ride, and his girlfriend, the lovely T, wanted to spend the day with us rather than hang around with his millions of friends, most of whom she doesn’t know. You see, T is Italian. Not just ‘of Italian descent’, but born and bred in Italy, and still a resident of Italy. Her English is excellent, but she is a bit shy, and finds it difficult to follow a conversation when everyone is talking at once, so she chose a more peaceful option, and I don’t blame her. Anyway, we were really most happy to have her to ourselves for the day and get to know her a little better.  You see, those two are like opposite poles of a very strong magnet. Bring them close enough and they superglue themselves together, which is very charming, but the rest of us don’t get much of a look-in!
2 Son No 2 and his girlfriend, the equally lovely B, had come down for a celebration in B’s family, and were with us already, having stayed over Friday night, so for part of the morning we just hung around at home enjoying the company of our two sons and their girls. We had coffee and tea and a nice leisurely chat before heading out for the day with T, while the other two got ready to go to their party.
3 Drove to Stamford, where we parked by the river and walked to a nearby hotel for lunch. The George is a beautiful old coaching inn, which dates back to something ridiculous like the sixteenth century, and it does wonderful food. Steak with new potatoes and perfectly cooked, sparkling fresh veg. Mmmm! We began our meal in the garden court, but had to move inside for dessert because it was raining. It’s easy to do that at The George, because a very helpful waiter helps you to carry everything in and gets you settled at a table with fresh cutlery and everything. Before leaving, I visited the ladies’ room and I think that deserves a blog of its own!
4 The rain had stopped, so we walked across the river, stopping to admire the swans, and take pictures, then through the water meadow and into the town. The water meadow is delightful. It’s like a little park, where people picnic, feed the ducks and swans, play ball, walk dogs or just stroll and chat. And from there to the town centre you can walk through quaint little passageways dating back to mediaeval times.
5 Got very wet. You see, the rain was just waiting until we were far enough away from our car to absolutely tip it down on us. None of us had a coat, let alone an umbrella, so we popped into one of Stamford’s many churches and did the touristy bit in there. To me, it was all very ordinary, of course, but to T it was interesting, even though she comes from a country with some amazing architecture, because it was different amazing architecture. However, the most interesting thing to me was the bucket lurking underneath one of the pews. My imagination ran riot trying to imagine a good reason for it to be there.
6 Decided to call it a day for the town centre and we drove out to Burghley House to see if it was still open. It was! We spent a happy hour or two there, touring part of the house, and walking around the outside admiring the courtyard and the chimneys and the stableyard – not to mention the ha-ha and the wonderful roses. We did want to visit the Garden of Surprises, but the only surprising thing about those gardens was that they were closed when we got there.
7 When we got back to the car, we spotted a deer herd in the distance, so T and I wandered over to take pictures. They were so tame! We couldn’t get very close, because there was a fence in the way, but they watched us with interest and absolutely no alarm at all.
8  Oh yes .. while we were in Stamford, and before we got to Burghley House, we took a ride out to see the house where Son No. 1 was born. It looked so small!! It’s just a Victorian terrace – the one on the end with all the greenery – and while it was merely ‘No. 1′ when we lived there, it seems to have acquired a name! It’s called ‘The Lighthouse’ despite being really quite a long way from the sea! It has a front door which opens right into the lounge from the street, it has three bedrooms, and a tiny concrete yard at the back. That top left hand window up there? That was Son No. 1′s nursery. Lovely to see the house again, and looking so well-cared-for, too!
It was a fun day. Tiring, but fun. Then in the evening, I discovered that T had never seen Pirates of the Caribbean! Needless to say, we had to remedy that. You were wondering about that picture up there, weren’t you?
And yes, she did enjoy it! She thought it was very cool.
Wow that is a lot to pack into one day! Love the photos! Lots of fawns in one place at one time, a beautiful photo of them too. Always so interesting to go back and see a place from your ‘own’ history. I love to do that when I get a chance…things change but stay the same don’t they?
Nice, very nice, Jay.
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What a lovely day – and dining in famous (all be it deceased) company too! (I do believe your George Hotel has seen the likes of King Charles I, William III and Sir Walter Scott, wandering through its doors..).
I love Lincolnshire. It does have a strong historical Dutch connection.
Burghley House – isn’t it beautiful? I love the old houses… wouldn’t want to live in one though.
The house I lived in when I was first married was an end terrace too – a railway worker’s house in former times – it was very sweet with a spiral staircase.
What a beautiful day, although I am sure you slept the sleep of the just when you finally laid your head on the pillow? Such lovely photo’s, a wonderful record of a super day.
All four of my children were born whilst we lived in our end-of-terrace house, it too had a tiny back yard (though thankfully five bedrooms). I used to joke I could only put them out there two at a time, or they would collide! My second born, Sam, was born IN the house. We do sometimes pass it by, as hubby works in London, we keep a small flat just a few streets away from there. It broke my heart to see a skip outside there filled with the broken fairy lantern and wooden figurines that had been the feature of my eldest daughters room. The whitewash exterior is now repainted an electric pink. Sigh.
Ah well.
You got me wondering about that bucket now. It might be for an incontinent worshipper… or would that be sacrilege?
What a beautiful tour of Stamford. Shame about the rain but your photos are lovely. I miss that level of antiquity out here. We have no stately homes or Henrician restaurants. I can see why an Italian would be fascinated, it’s very different to Italy.Glad you rectified the Deppreviation the poor girl’s been going through!
WOW! number 4 and 7 are awesome. I cant get over that photo of all the deers!
Yes, I DID wonder how those five boxes of three movies made eight…
Love the photos! Those swans are beautiful!
Sistertex – I think it’s the best photo of a deer herd I’ve managed to get! It helped that they didn’t all get up and run off when they saw us!
Thanks!
Geri Atric – It doesn’t surprise me at all that The George has hosted some very famous people. It’s been there a long, long time, and was the grandest thing on the Great North Road in this area, and a very busy coaching inn, I believe!
Yes, even here on the edge of Lincolnshire there are many Dutch-influenced houses and farms.
Kate – Burghley House is lovely! And it’s nice that it’s mostly still a family home, too. Only one small wing is open to the public – and the grounds, of course.
I don’t think I’d get along with a spiral staircase. And I’m sure Sid wouldn’t! LOL!
Shrinky – Oh, seeing that personal stuff with all its memories in a skip would have been hard!! Nice to know it’s lived in and loved though. Funny about the yard. Ours was the same – and high walls all around. In the summer you could theoretically sit outside, just, but you’d feel as if you were in a roofless dungeon!
Mara – Sacrilege or not, I think everyone is thinking it! LOL!
Baino – Thank you! Yes, I think we often take our history and ancient culture very much for granted, because it’s always been here for us. You have other things that we don’t have – those wide open spaces, the heat, the stunning geology, the dangerous wildlife … I’d like to come and see it all someday. Well, perhaps not the dangerous wildlife. :p
Meleah – I love Stamford – to visit. The architecture and the river and everything, it’s all very beautiful and interesting. But when we lived there, we found the people slow to accept newcomers. We only got to know one Stamfordian in the eighteen months we lived there. All our other friends and acquaintances were ‘foreigners’ like ourselves.
Hopefully that’s changed now.
Maureen – I could have said I was watching the other three at the time? LOL!
Except for the rain, it sounds like a lovely day. That is an incredible photo you took of the swans.
I’m reading through your entire archive, as I am captivated by your writing and photos, and I was intent on no comments until I finished. But this one is full of so many lovely ohotos, I must comment.
Oh my, the swans! Swans, by their very being, always make for beautiful pictures , but you have caught these two in exquisite pose. The small ivy shrouded cove, lilies in the foreground, the rippling reflection, one swan preening…this is worthy of enlarging and framing.
Ditto for the deer. Never have I been able to get a good photo of deer, even though we have eight who live in the half-acre woods adjacent to our property. They feed on my impatiens nightly, but scurry at the slightest movement or noise.
Your love for all things beautiful shows in your pictures. What a lovely way I have found to spend my night off. Thank you!
Ruth – Thank you! It was a great day out! And swans are easy models, aren’t they?
Ethelmaepotter – How kind you are about my blog! Thank you so much!
Swans are just so photogenic, providing you can get over the problem with their whiteness (in terms of light metering) it’s not too hard to get a good picture – if they’re in a pretty place, so much easier! And I take a ton of pictures if I find something I really want to capture. I learned that when I worked in a graphics studio (briefly, many moons ago) where I was told that many professional photographers take reels and reels of film expecting to get only a few really good shots. Much easier and cheaper with digital, of course!
And the deer? Well, it’s a bit of a cheat, since it’s a tame herd.