Going to the Motherland

When I was growing up, my parents took my sister and I back to England every two to three years in the summer.  With all our family living there it was a chance to see everyone and to see the country, but mostly to visit family.  I kept up this schedule pretty well even when I was in college and throughout Stevie and my early years of being married.  But then life gets busy, children are added, and we lived out of the country for 3 years so it turned out that an embarrassing amount of time has passed since I’ve been back – like 14 years. 

I was fortunate to see almost all my relatives 10 years ago at my mom’s 60^th birthday, but that is still a long time.  And the travesty of all that time gone by without a visit is that I have the most wonderful family a person could hope for.  They are kind, generous, active, loving, supportive and a true blessing to anyone who is around them.  So this year, come hell or high water, I was determined to take the kids to meet their relatives and to see the motherland.  I didn’t want to do a whirl wind tour of the UK, but I wanted them to experience the country the way I always did.  I wanted them to see the back roads, the stone walls, the tucked away hamlets and the generosity of family.  Unfortunately, Stevie was not able to accompany us on this trip due to work and other reasons so I took my 3 world travelers on a solo voyage.

Although we left on Monday, we didn’t land until Tuesday morning in England and were greeted by my Aunt Lindsey.  They had decided that Lindsey and Phil’s house would be our home base during our visit.  Once we got there, my aunt Sandra and cousin, Sally, with her new baby, Thomas, soon came to say hello.  We visited with them for a while before laying down for a little nap.  Later in the afternoon my cousin Matt’s wife, Tamsin, came by with their two little boys, Isaac and Elijah. 

After we visited with them, we went for a short walk in Lyme Park – my favorite park of all time – just to blow the cobwebs out of our bodies.  And boy did it blow!  It was a typically English day to me – between rain showers and blustery.  My aunt kept apologizing for the weather but I assured her it was exactly what I was expecting!

 

We walked to Lyme Cage which I was always told was one beacon in a series built across the English countryside that served as a warning system of invaders.  My aunts seemed to think it was used as a hunting lodge.  Not sure what the actual story is, but it sits on a hillside overlooking the country and is a beautiful spot in sunshine or rain.

 

 

We were also fortunate enough to see the red deer that live wild here.  Usually they are hidden among the acres and acres of the park, but today they were right near the road.

 

 

And as another side note, for those PBS fans, this is the house that was used in the recent Pride and Prejudice filming – it was Darcy’s house, Pemberly.