So. We were at Nidd Hall this weekend, a beautiful Georgian manor house that has been converted into a four-star hotel. The grounds were lovely. The food was fabulous. The rooms were well-appointed.Internet access was, for the most part, unavailable.
Oh, yeah, and the time I spent on Saturday out of bed was generally spent talking to Ralph on the Big White Telephone, if you catch my meaning. Stomach bug. Yaay. I did manage to pull myself together just long enough to give our presentation to conference on Saturday morning. Then I went back to bed.
We had a chance to meet a couple of the Rotary Abassadorial Scholars from America who are studying in the area during the upcoming year. It was great to be around people a little closer to our age and fr
om the same side of the planet.Sunday was a rest day for the team. I personally can't bear the thought of being over here and wasting a whole day by not seeing something. I had spoken to a lady from a previous club about going to Fountains Abbey. She had never been and said she'd take me. I went with her and another lady (names not used in order to protect the innocent ha ha) and we had a really terrific time. It was really fantastic of them to take me and I'm glad they did because the ruins just defy description. As a previous host of mine said, it's a place that just drools history.
I also happened to stumble across an excerpt from the next book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy (this will be the 6th book, but it's still called a Trilogy anyway). I'm very excited for the whole thing to come out in a couple weeks.
Today we said goodbye to Nidd Hall and conference and moved on to our next host families. I'm now in the ancient village of Aycliffe. The room where I'm sleeping tonight was built the same year my father's ancestors came to America (if I remember correctly), that being 1680.
I mentioned my love of old churches to my hosts and they said that nearby was one of the oldest Saxon churc
hes in England. We walked down to St. Andrew's before dinner, along with one of their daughters and three of their grandchildren. The church was amazing; parts of it have been there since 763, and it's been added onto and restored over the centuries but still retains several of the old parts. In the back of the church were a few artifacts, like pieces of old stone crosses (the picture here is of a stone cross with a detail of St. Peter being crucified upside down) and Saxon gravestones and the crypt of a probable-Crusader. The vicar was very nice and invited me to come back for a guided tour if I have the time. I hope I do, but then again you never know.This evening I had dinner with our hosts, two of their three children (not including the one who accompanied us to the church), their significant others, and more grandchildren. We had a great time and the food was outstanding.
That's the update for now. TTYL
Amy
