England Job Exchange

www.woodfarmhouse.co.uk for receipes!











My accomodation owners prepared a fantastic buffet for their FLP business associates and were gracious enough to invite me to share the fabulous spread of gourmet food. I loved every morsel and I had seconds. I will be on a tour of the Lake District, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, the Cotswolds, Oxford, East Sussex, and London until Aug. 28th so there will be no updates until at least Aug. 29th. Ta ra for now!

Cambridge - Parting shots of the Department of Mathematics and Theoretical Physics where Stephen Hawking works. The bottom images are typical houses in the neighbourhood right beside DAMTP where Stephen Hawking could live if he had a spare £1 million. If he doesn't live in a grand home he should, the Universe being a fair dealer.

Have to mention the Fitzwilliam Museum where I saw the notebook of Newton from 1662 where in clear and dark printing he had notes on Optics, his laundry expenses, and things he wished forgiveness for such as 'harping at Christmas' for which he charged himself 50 pence. I also saw the writings of Virginia Woolf, Thomas Hardy, Rupert Brooke, and Keats. I will thrilled
to see a whole floor of Roman artifacts but also Greek and Egyptian artifacts. They also had Handel's Bookcase complete with 67 original manuscripts. I found tiles by William Morris and furniture and art by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Leonardo da Vinci drawings were also there.

Cambridge - My husband and I have been admirers of Stephen Hawking for a long time and I set myself a mission to try and capture a few of his genius ions by seeking him out in Cambridge. Sadly I never met him or saw him but the Universe let me find his favourite tea shop called Fitzbillies. I loved what they sell and their ambience and didn't my gaze fall to the side of their front window where waiting for me was an autographed picture from Stephen with the adage
'I'll have 4 of each please'. He might have been referring to the Valharona patisseries beautifully displayed in the window. The other images are the Sir Issac Newton Centre and in the distance the DAMTP where Stephen has an office. The building on the bottom right might be the office building but hard to tell and it was Saturday so everything was shut.

Cambridge - more typical scenes of quadrangles, churches, courtyards and academic life. In one of the pictures if you have x-ray eyes you can see a crane in the backround. Nothing stands still in England and progress happens even in Cambridge. Bye the way I met a woman who moved from London and it was her opinion that Cambridge is far more expensive than London!

Cambridge - It was gale force winds and driving rain the whole time but I still managed to capture the ambiance of the academic life, cerebral design and eons of time. The punting boats for hire were sitting idle. There will little ducks in a canal in front of the townhouse at the bottom left.

This is Sudbury Hall and the Museum of Childhood. It's actually close to where I live and I can get there with only two bus changes. There were two funny things in Sudbury Hall. In one room the 'dishy' first lord who got all the money by attracting 3 rich wives also had paintings of his two mistresses [one the alluring actress from the 1600's Nell Gwyn] . The funny part is that both paintings showed the mistresses in very revealing dresses but they were the same dress...did the artist only have one dress they could model in? did the lord only spring for one dress and passed it on to the next mistress? The other funny thing was that plumbing was hidden behind a bookcase and someone had selected books from the collection that only had to do with watery themes like 'Rapid Streams', 'Soake's Hoaxes'. I found a book of childhood memories from WWII in the Museum of Childhood. It contained stories of the difficulties of evacuation to the countryside from London during bombing raids and the terror that the doodlebugs created. We're off to Cambridge next and then a hiatus when I go on a tour of the Lake District, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and the Cotswolds.

Chester - you know I had to give you one more picture of Roman anything...in this case it is the stairs at the bottom of the wall to the left that look really ancient. The other picture is a garden you can see beside the canal when you look down from the wall. Before we leave Chester I have to tell you the cheeses in the cheese shop that caught my attention: Staffordshire Organic with Wild Garlic, Capro Blue from Croatia, Quicks Cheddar, Brie de Meaux [King of Bries], and Roche Baron [Bleu].

Chester - the cathedral in two shots. It was enormous.
Grosvenor Park was also huge and beautiful. The Grosvenors gave their name to the museum. It had Roman artifacts so I was in heaven. I also enjoyed a military museum. It had a mock trench from WWI and the various objects that saved men's lives by deflecting bullets [bibles, whiskey flasks, watch bobs]. The accounts of men given the Victoria Cross were amazing. One man took over a hundred men prisoner single handled even though wounded. There were seized Nazi armbands and machine guns.

Chester - I have an affection for anything Roman so I had to visit the famous walled city of Chester. I've assembled my favourite shots of various aspects of the Roman Walls. Like everything else in England the Georgians and the Victorians made 'modifications'.

Charlecote Park - this is a fine home and grounds outside of Stratford Upon Avon where Shakespeare when he was a 'lad' was alledged to have poached deer from the Lucy estate. The National Trust has a fine theatrical video narrated by Dame Judi Dench which I really enjoyed. I also loved the huge kitchen with big copper pots and fine china. But my favourite was the scent garden. I wasn't the only one who loved it there...the butterflies were swarming it. A garden centre across the road deserved the long visit we gave it.

Stratford Upon Avon - New Place was the home that Shakespeare purchased in 1597 with his London earnings. Shakespeare's grand-daughter and her husband, Thomas
Nash built right beside New Place but theirs is the only one that remains. A rich vicar who bought New Place found the taxes excessive so he burned it down! that showed the Council who was who! This same vicar also cut down a mulberry tree that Shakespeare himself planted because it brought too many people for the fruit. An enterprising man way back then bought the wood and made souvenirs that are on display in the Nash House. The place on the right is Harvard House which has some fantastic Roman coins and pottery. And yes one of the descendants of the original builders of the house went on to found Harvard University.

Stratford Upon Avon - the picture on the left is the Royal Shakespearean Theatre and the one on the right is the Swan. We were fortunate enough to get tickets to a performance of King John at the Swan and it was fabulous. Lots of blood and guts and we were rivetted to our chairs. It was hot and the actors were sweating for real in heavy costumes. It made me feel important to be amidst the people dressed up in their finery for a night at the theatre.

Stratford Upon Avon - This is Hall's Croft where Shakespeare's daughter Susanna and her eminent doctor husband Dr. John Hall lived. The gardens were spectacular.

Anne Hathaway's Cottage - more flowers and the fabulous gift shop. The deep shade in some parts was a welcome relief from the heat.

Anne Hathaway's Cottage - this is the childhood home of Shakespeare's wife where he lived for a time and where his children were raised while he was off in London making the money. You'll have to indulge the many pictures of flowers. No pictures were allowed in the house. This was a more posh house than Mary Arden's. Not only did the gardens look fantastic they smelled fabulous as well.