England (Part 2)

If any of you are Pride & Prejudice fans, you will remember the last movie with Kiera Knightley? Set in that lovely mansion with the fountains and gardens etc? Well, that was filmed in a little town called Bakewell which is super gorgeous and only about an hours drive from my mums house. It is one of our favourite places to go to for a day.

Here we are hanging out in Bakewell ...

When I was growing up in England, I always thought it was a bit boring. People would rave about the history and the scenery and I thought, "who cares?" Now when I go back, I rave about the history and the scenery too. I guess I am getting old!

Anyway, one day we went to this little church that has gravestones back to the 1500's and ancient woodwork inside. There are carvings or "graffiti" in the pews dating back to the 1700's! The setting is magnificent, right in the middle of the most glorious countryside. We walked here one day with my sisters...my older sister is a history buff and she had discovered all the little stories that went with the church so it was a really fun day out together.

The other place of enormous historical interest is a Tudor country house, famous in UK, called Little Moreton Hall. Again, growing up with this building in my town and passing it almost every day was nothing special. When I go back now, I always visit because it is so cool. I love thinking about who lived there. Who walked in the gardens? What were their lives like? I enjoy going on the guided tour (have been on it many times now!) and hearing all about their lives and the intrigues of the time!

Some random shots of my hometown...

Of course, hanging out with friends and family was so awesome as I hadn't seen some people for a few years. I was really excited to see my nephew as he had just finished a tour of duty in Iraq with the British army. He has now left after doing his 4 years I am glad to say.

And my two favourite shots of my whole wonderful holiday? One of Mack, my mums dog, early on the morning of the day I was leaving. We were walking and the sun was just coming up and I was so heartsick sad to be leaving everyone but excited to be going home to see Dave and all the kids. One of the joys of moving to a different continent.

And then one of me and mum, absolutely dying laughing at some random joke. I was getting ready to take a picture of both of us and accidentally clicked the button and it captured us both laughing. I can not look at this picture without laughing out loud. It is not the most flattering shot of either of us, but it sums up the amount of fun we had together.

So...there you have it. My whirlwind tour of Northern England.

My next post will be updating you on family.

After all this effort, I think I need a LOT of positive comments...it will keep me going :)