A magical night for all. Ben and I went to St John's College for their Advent Carol service. We were lucky enough to get tickets as it is so popular now that the colleges in Cambridge run a sort of lottery for them. Even though we had tickets they required us to be there about half an hour before it started as they would not hold the seats if you were late. We arrived an hour before just to make sure and were pleased we did as they had organ music for time time leading up.
The old classics are always welcome, we heard three chorale preludes on 'Nun Komm' der Heiden Heiland, Toccata and Fugue in D minor and Fantasia and fugue in C minor. Didn't think much of Sicilienne which was composed between 1902-86 by Durufle. After this they had a short break where they informed us that we were being recorded by the BBC Radio 3 to be played this coming Sunday 3rd on the radio at 4pm our time, which is around 3am your time. We were then instructed to practice our lines together as a group and we went though some of the hymns as well to test the timing, volume etc. Unfortunately Ben and I had unsuspectly choosen seats next to one of these hidden microphones so pity the poor individuals having to listen to us warble.
The Choir sung some lovely pieces through the night, 'Adam Lay Bounden', 'Threshold of Night' and of course some classics like Emmanuel. Altogether it was an excellent evening and we finished it off with a quick dinner out and back home to our warm house. (We paid $100 AUD for a two course chinese meal - a genuinely new experience -- Ben)
We awoke on Sunday to another beautiful Sunday so after a big breakfast and finishing off printing all our Christmas cards we decided to explore the local woodland, trying the walk from Kingston to Wimpole. It was very pretty with leaves all over the forest floor and some trying to hang grimly onto the trees still. I was glad that I wore my wellies as it was very muddly. I took about an hour to rescue Ben's poor boots but the walk was well worth it. We walked along the Wimpole Way which takes one across country past the ancient stone hall that is in variouss stages of falling down and then finishes at the Wimpole Farm.
Unfortunately we did not make it that far as we had been walking an hour and half and still had not reached it. It was about 3pm so we had to turn back to get home before we lost the light. As it was we returned at 4.30 just as the gloom settled in and we settled into our nice comfy house all warm and toasty. We treated ourselves to a home made pizza for our efforts.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Sunday, November 19, 2006
To Market, To Market
Yes another wonderful day in the sun, can you believe it. Though the top temp was a small 7 degrees we felt free to enjoy the day. First stop was indeed a short walk, our own village. We had thought on the matter and agreed that we had not captured enough of our new home on film so here a happy snaps. We start walking north from our front door down towards the Kingston church.
Main street, The Green, local Kingston Hall and the lane to the church
Next we have cute little house, in and outside of our local church
And then back on the main street looking the otherway.
Now you might be wondering where the market to market fits in, well the look about the place was only the beginning. Next stop of course was Cambridge. Today was to be a special day in town as the Christmas lights in the market square were to be lit on 5pm, when it got dark :P There was also to be choirs singing, brass bands and who knows what else. We also just happen to need to finish off our Christmas shopping in said location so that was perfect.
Main street, The Green, local Kingston Hall and the lane to the church
Next we have cute little house, in and outside of our local church
And then back on the main street looking the otherway.
Now you might be wondering where the market to market fits in, well the look about the place was only the beginning. Next stop of course was Cambridge. Today was to be a special day in town as the Christmas lights in the market square were to be lit on 5pm, when it got dark :P There was also to be choirs singing, brass bands and who knows what else. We also just happen to need to finish off our Christmas shopping in said location so that was perfect.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Sunshine and Autumn Leaves
Another beautiful day in the UK, for some reason we are having good weather. Taking advantage of such good fortune Ben and I headed out into the countryside to visit various villages. Our first stop was Clare, which is about half an hour or so south of Cambridge. Such a lovely place which has no less than three antique shops. We browsed through these before we went out and explored the surrounding town. We discovered a wonderful river winding its way around the village. It had a lovely walk along side it through the forest where the locals provided various signs about what sort of birds and other wild life we should keep our eyes open for. We had lunch here and then continued southish to Long Melton. This was another sweet village though as it says, it was very long. We stopped here to look in the little boutique shops and have a hot chocolate, which I must say was so creamy and yummy and just the thing to warm you up when it was only 7 degrees out. Unfortunately the great hall there was closed for the season so we did not get to look inside though it did look very grand from without.
This was a great little find, a disused railway station in the forest
We continued through the countryside, such wonderful colours with all the leaves turning and light was quite warm even if the weather was not. This is due to the sun not getting above about 10 o'clock in the sky so it has a very surreal feeling and makes it difficult to judge the time of day. Our last stop was the best of all, it was the village of Lavenham. Upon entering this village you will come across its stunning church. It is quite huge with amazingly tall windows that have such jewel like colours. It is surrounded by a great garden with hedges sculpted into big spheres though one had a hole in the top which looked as if someone had tossed their three year old out of a plane and the unfortunate landed right in the middle. Not sure about that theory of Ben's but it was funny.
After looking about the church we headed into the town proper, I would suggest anyone coming to England who wishes for the small country village stay, that this is your place. Along with ancient buildings and beautiful magic main streets, the surrounding countryside is picture book perfect. It has a lovely cafe and cute little arty type shops and of course great looking traditional pubs. Once we had completed our look around it was starting to get dark so we headed back, for sun set here today was five minutes past four. Yes that's right pitch black by five in the afternoon. It is quite a novelty.
They just don't make them like they use to...
This was a great little find, a disused railway station in the forest
We continued through the countryside, such wonderful colours with all the leaves turning and light was quite warm even if the weather was not. This is due to the sun not getting above about 10 o'clock in the sky so it has a very surreal feeling and makes it difficult to judge the time of day. Our last stop was the best of all, it was the village of Lavenham. Upon entering this village you will come across its stunning church. It is quite huge with amazingly tall windows that have such jewel like colours. It is surrounded by a great garden with hedges sculpted into big spheres though one had a hole in the top which looked as if someone had tossed their three year old out of a plane and the unfortunate landed right in the middle. Not sure about that theory of Ben's but it was funny.
After looking about the church we headed into the town proper, I would suggest anyone coming to England who wishes for the small country village stay, that this is your place. Along with ancient buildings and beautiful magic main streets, the surrounding countryside is picture book perfect. It has a lovely cafe and cute little arty type shops and of course great looking traditional pubs. Once we had completed our look around it was starting to get dark so we headed back, for sun set here today was five minutes past four. Yes that's right pitch black by five in the afternoon. It is quite a novelty.
They just don't make them like they use to...
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
The engagement: of drink and merriment
Thank you to Laurence for the pictures. Below are some great shots of the family gathered to celebrate Alicia and Dan getting hitched some time in 2008. Excellent work guys. By all reports the party was well planned and executed. With beautiful marquee, seafood and fairy lights to complete the picture.
Everybody was well behaved and had fun though some questionable art was tried out on a poor unsuspecting sleeping person though I believe this was fixed before they awoke, luck them. It would appear though a few had hang overs on the return of the sun :P
Everybody was well behaved and had fun though some questionable art was tried out on a poor unsuspecting sleeping person though I believe this was fixed before they awoke, luck them. It would appear though a few had hang overs on the return of the sun :P
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Guy Fawkes Day
Last Saturday evening was Guy Fawkes Night here in merrie olde England. This is the night where Britons (and a couple of other nations, including Australia until the crackers were banned when too many yahoos blew themselves up and/or caused bushfires) commemorate the faiure of the Gunpowder plot to blow up the British Houses of Parliament, and King James I in 1605.
Guy Fawkes and his mates filled up a wood store under the House of Lords with gunpowder, and intended to ignite it during the opening of parliament, where James would have been present.
According to Wikipedia, the houses of parliament are still searched by the Yeoman of the Guard before the State Opening of Parliament to make sure no modern day Guy is in the cellars with 36 barrels of gunpowder.
Do it twice around here, and it's tradition.
Anyway, on this Guy Fawkes night we headed to the next little village from ours to the east, Toft. In their little recreation ground the villagers had set up a Fireworks display. Loads of people turned up, and there was a bonfire, games, toffee apples, and a fireworks display that lasted a good 20 minutes or so. The display was downright awesome, especially for a wee village, and extra especially when the fireworks were launched only 10 metres or so from where we were standing.
Cool.
Here are a couple of pictures I managed to get during the display. The magnitude of the display was well beyond what I was expecting. Great work chaps wot?
I also won a can of Grolsch and two cans of Red Salmon at the little lucky dip stall. Rockin'
Guy Fawkes and his mates filled up a wood store under the House of Lords with gunpowder, and intended to ignite it during the opening of parliament, where James would have been present.
According to Wikipedia, the houses of parliament are still searched by the Yeoman of the Guard before the State Opening of Parliament to make sure no modern day Guy is in the cellars with 36 barrels of gunpowder.
Do it twice around here, and it's tradition.
Anyway, on this Guy Fawkes night we headed to the next little village from ours to the east, Toft. In their little recreation ground the villagers had set up a Fireworks display. Loads of people turned up, and there was a bonfire, games, toffee apples, and a fireworks display that lasted a good 20 minutes or so. The display was downright awesome, especially for a wee village, and extra especially when the fireworks were launched only 10 metres or so from where we were standing.
Cool.
Here are a couple of pictures I managed to get during the display. The magnitude of the display was well beyond what I was expecting. Great work chaps wot?
I also won a can of Grolsch and two cans of Red Salmon at the little lucky dip stall. Rockin'
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Irish Tour-part two
Back again, now on to the next part of our story.
At Dingle we drove around the peninsular, which took about three or four hours. We looked at the the ancient housing, which you can see us standing in front of. We visited a Bronze Age stone fort called Dunbeg. There were also a bunch of stone age beehive huts (called clocháns). We also got to see some cool sea birdies and Ben tried to take some pics of these along with the stunning cliffs and unusual religious relics.
After this tour we tried to get to our camping site, which proved a little difficult... After driving around for an hour or so we found it. After stating we had a booking they told us they had closed for the season the week before and that there was no hot water but we could stay if we wanted to.
As if! These people looked likely to chop us up at night and cook us up for the locals, very odd people man! Needless to say we were happy to drive back to Dingle though the road at Connor pass i(an adventure in itself - check out the photo).
You would also think it was a one way road, but its not! There is a sheer drop on the other side, so if you do come across someone and there is no passing bay like you can see in the second pic then you have to back up. Very exciting stuff!
After hanging round Dingle, visiting all the ancient sights, which were very groovy we boogied down in the Droichead Beag pub, unreal. They had live music that was the real deal with reel after reel, these guys were incredible.
After this exciting night we headed off to the Clare County. Lovely place. We stayed in Killaloe in an amazing Hall that had all the trimming, including a bar, restaurant and breakfast room. On the way to this groovy accommodation we checked out the Cliffs of Moher, which sadly has been seriously touristified -you have to walk and view and park where you're told. Oh well, very nice anyway.
After this we passed through the beautiful limestone landscapes called the "Burren" which is derived from the Gaelic for "stony place". (Ben will had a nice panorama at some stage for this landscape). On our second last day we headed back towards Dublin, via Rosscrea.
Roscrea has an amazing castle with a groovy history which Darelle should find interesting. It was built by King John in 1213. and consists of a gate tower, curtain walls and two corner towers dating from the 1280s. Built in the early 18th century in the Queen Anne style, Damer House (in the courtyard of the castle) is an example of pre-Palladian architecture. Once the stronghold of the powerful Butler family. The Butler family here were given the walled in castle estate in 1335 by the royalty of the time. It was sold by James Butler the Duke of Ormond in 1705. Following are some pics taken inside the castle.
Here are some pics around Dublin at nigt while we tried to sort out a silly mistake I had made with the hire car (I had booked to return it at 4:30am in the morning).
The last day we dashed up to Newgrange, a very amazing place which is a burial site, and is also thought to have been a place of ritual surrounding the dead. The Megalithic Passage Tomb at Newgrange was built about 3200 BC. I will add a few pics here but Ben again will add a much more groovy panarama when he stitches the images together. After this we dashed to the airport to return the car and check in. Holiday done :)
At Dingle we drove around the peninsular, which took about three or four hours. We looked at the the ancient housing, which you can see us standing in front of. We visited a Bronze Age stone fort called Dunbeg. There were also a bunch of stone age beehive huts (called clocháns). We also got to see some cool sea birdies and Ben tried to take some pics of these along with the stunning cliffs and unusual religious relics.
After this tour we tried to get to our camping site, which proved a little difficult... After driving around for an hour or so we found it. After stating we had a booking they told us they had closed for the season the week before and that there was no hot water but we could stay if we wanted to.
As if! These people looked likely to chop us up at night and cook us up for the locals, very odd people man! Needless to say we were happy to drive back to Dingle though the road at Connor pass i(an adventure in itself - check out the photo).
You would also think it was a one way road, but its not! There is a sheer drop on the other side, so if you do come across someone and there is no passing bay like you can see in the second pic then you have to back up. Very exciting stuff!
After hanging round Dingle, visiting all the ancient sights, which were very groovy we boogied down in the Droichead Beag pub, unreal. They had live music that was the real deal with reel after reel, these guys were incredible.
After this exciting night we headed off to the Clare County. Lovely place. We stayed in Killaloe in an amazing Hall that had all the trimming, including a bar, restaurant and breakfast room. On the way to this groovy accommodation we checked out the Cliffs of Moher, which sadly has been seriously touristified -you have to walk and view and park where you're told. Oh well, very nice anyway.
After this we passed through the beautiful limestone landscapes called the "Burren" which is derived from the Gaelic for "stony place". (Ben will had a nice panorama at some stage for this landscape). On our second last day we headed back towards Dublin, via Rosscrea.
Roscrea has an amazing castle with a groovy history which Darelle should find interesting. It was built by King John in 1213. and consists of a gate tower, curtain walls and two corner towers dating from the 1280s. Built in the early 18th century in the Queen Anne style, Damer House (in the courtyard of the castle) is an example of pre-Palladian architecture. Once the stronghold of the powerful Butler family. The Butler family here were given the walled in castle estate in 1335 by the royalty of the time. It was sold by James Butler the Duke of Ormond in 1705. Following are some pics taken inside the castle.
Here are some pics around Dublin at nigt while we tried to sort out a silly mistake I had made with the hire car (I had booked to return it at 4:30am in the morning).
The last day we dashed up to Newgrange, a very amazing place which is a burial site, and is also thought to have been a place of ritual surrounding the dead. The Megalithic Passage Tomb at Newgrange was built about 3200 BC. I will add a few pics here but Ben again will add a much more groovy panarama when he stitches the images together. After this we dashed to the airport to return the car and check in. Holiday done :)
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