We arrived in Bassingbourn at Fiona and Perry’s wonderful home. Way back in January when we first arrived in the UK, they mentioned to us that they were planning an 8-day trip through Scotland. All their plan were not finalized, but they said they would enjoy it if we joined them. As the spring went on the plans became more and more real and now, we spent a night reloading our bags and getting ready to start our adventure. It was going to be hard to leave their place as so many gorgeous things were in full bloom as we got ready to head out the next morning.
Our first stop was going to be at Howe in Yorkshire. This is a village that Perry’s family owns. Now that may sound strange to many folks, but it is not very strange here in the UK and Europe. So much of the land along with a few houses has been passed down through the centuries. Most of the land in the UK is ultimately owned by someone and even if you buy a house, the land ultimately belongs to some estate, village, etc.
Before we got there though we stopped at Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal. Fountains Abbey is the ruins of the Cistercian monastery that was founded in 1132 and existed for over 400 years till Henry the VIII shut them all down. At one time it was a huge facility and was very wealthy. The ruins are in amazing shape and the buildings were so big and massive. To stand in some of the spaces it is hard to believe all of it was built by hand over the years. The craftmanship was stunning in sections. There was one part that was even built over the River Skell that runs alongside the site. It became a ruin when the family that was first given the monastery by Henry VIII had to make sure it would never be used for religious purposes, stripped the buildings of metal and other materials. The property was owned by many different families over the years and then in the late 1700’s it was merged with the neighboring family which owned the Studley Estate that has origins back thousands of years.
Most of the buildings on the Studley Estate are gone with the last large house burning down in the 1940s. The estate was known for its gardens and water features that ran though out the estate. The two locations now merged were just gorgeous and walking through it all was so relaxing. So many birds and quite little coves near all the massive water ponds and fountains. There were also many pheasants and there was a deer park area as well and they were large. We so much enjoyed our time there.
We then drove to the Howe estate. Perry’s family has been raising sheep on the land for a very long time, and they also have different crops that they rotate as well. Perry’s mother, Valerie, and his brother, Kevin, live in the main house still. The home is gorgeous and is like going back in time. Becky and I were not ready for how wonderful our short stay at this home would be. We so enjoyed walking around and seeing the barns and watching the sheep and baby lambs. The flower gardens were also coming into bloom, and it was just a wonderful time.
We had a delightful evening of conversation and learning the amazing life that Valerie has had. She has lived in so many different places and even how she ended up married to her late husband Graham and moving to Howe was a joy to hear her tell it. It got chilly in the evening, and a fire was laid in the one of the main sitting rooms and this just added to the charm of the evening. The warmth of the fire and the enjoyment of the fellowship really made for a special visit.
Early the next morning, I enjoyed so much sitting in the one of the main rooms and looking out the window with some low mist on the fields and watching the little lambs running all over the place. we saw a bit more of the land and then said our goodbyes and headed off. Our first stop was at Alnwick Gardens in Northumberland, England. These are old gardens that have been revived after having fallen into disrepair over the years. The gardens were first established in the late 1700’s and several different Dukes that owned the gardens really made it a marvelous place. They brought seeds and plants from all over the world and at one time there was a very large conservatory. Then during WWII, the gardens were planted for food for the war effort and after the war things just went downhill at the gardens and they just laid wasted. It was not till the end of the 1990’s that someone started to take an interest in the gardens again and over the past decades land has been but, in a trust, and money has been set aside the gardens are now back to becoming beautiful again. One of the key features is a very large cherry tree area that has 55 swings setup inside of it. The area also has the Alnwick castle, but we did not go and see that.
After we left this area, we entered into Scotland and headed off to Perth. The rapeseed fields were just stunning as we drove. They are a bright yellow this time of year and they are everywhere along the route. We really enjoyed seeing them all. We arrived in Perth in the early evening, and we were dropped off at the Royal George Hotel. Perry and Fiona were staying with Perry’s best friend on the other side of the River Tay. We walked over there after we settled in and then the six of us went and had dinner downtown. It was another wonderful evening of conversation and fellowship. Becky and I enjoyed walking through the old hotel after dinner and seeing the beautiful river. Such a great start to our Scotland trip.
