1985 trip to England from My Point of View

Windemere

After posting Leah's Travel Diary of London and Leah's Diary of England, I thought I ought to complete the picture with my memories.

In 1985, with lots of frequent flyer miles, we decided to take our 3 daughters (5, 8, 10) to Europe with us.  At that time we had direct flights to London from St. Louis with TWA.  I checked books out of the library and planned our itinerary, but only booked our first few nights in London.  After we landed we went to the Beaver Hotel where we had booked our rooms.  While there were American-style hotels by this time, I wanted the girls to experience European style which meant community bathrooms down the hall. They didn’t seem to mind it and loved the HUGE footed bath tub. For the most part, we went to the Tourist Office and booked rooms through them in B and B's, farms, European hotels.

My mother was not in favor of our taking Leah (5) to Europe.  We'd lost her so frequently in shopping centers that we regularly bought helium balloons for her wrists when we went someplace.  Sometimes having 3 children was a bit more than I could handle (only 2 hands) and Leah liked to "explore".  I'd already lost her at Union Station the day after Thanksgiving---it was PACKED.  And, I'd lost her at Chesterfield Mall.  She appeared only after I was headed up an escalator by Dillards thinking maybe she'd gone upstairs.  

Mom argued, "She's not going to remember any of it."  I countered with, "Maybe not, but she'll sure remember the time we left her behind for 3 weeks."  Our compromise was to sew rings in her pants for me to hook a leash to.  Wouldn't you think I'd use the leash after sewing all of those rings?  I wish I could say we managed to keep track of her, but the truth is we lost her in Stratford-on-Avon.

We were there in early June before other children were out of school.  The tourists were all older adults not families like ours.  We had just left Shakespeare's home, I looked around, and Leah was missing.  We walked up and down the tourist-packed street calling her name "Leah. Leah".  Panic set in!  Dave suggested we back track through the home although I was sure she was wandering somewhere in town .  So, we went back to the home and there she was in a corner of the gift shop calmly reading a book.  As if that wasn't enough of a Morgan spectacle, amid all of the adoring adult Shakespeare fans, Rachel commented, "Who the heck is Shakespeare anyway?"  Was it my imagination, or did the crowd suddenly become silent, pulling away from us as if we had announced we were lepers.  Finally they all went about their adoration of Shakespeare with the occasional shake of heads and mumbles of "Americans!"

Stratford-on Avon

Cobweb Restaurant in Stratford 1500's

We had a pretty typical itinerary in England---London, Stonehenge, King Arthur sites, Hadrian's Wall, York.  There were several places and events, though, which were pretty special (see below for photos).  Our first one was Port Isaac---a quaint village on the coast of Cornwall.  We had a beautiful B and B, Hathaway Cottage and the girls had bunk beds in a house over looking the port.  If you've ever seen Doc Martin, you've seen where we stayed---it's in all of the opening shots up on a hill where his doctor's practice is supposed to be.  We loved Port Isaac so much we decided to stay an extra day rather than going on down the Cornish coast (I sort of regret not seeing that part of Cornwall since that is where my G-g grandparents were from---Poldark country).

Port Isaac Harbor

Our B and B Hathaway Cottage

Port Isaac--Hathaway cottage to the right

Although I'd done some genealogy, I didn't really know where any of my family was from.  But, we did know where Dave's grandmother's family was from.  Dave's ancestor had left Yorkshire---the village was Healaugh and the name of the farm was Park Hall---in the late 1600's.  Having read the James Herriot books, we had a pretty good idea of what the area was like and which farm Dave's family came from.  Other Aldersons are even mentioned in his book---Helen Alderson was James Herriot's wife (I've later found out she was, indeed a distant cousin, DNA with their grandson).  We weren't exactly sure how to get there, but we had maps.  

That area is pretty rugged and the roads----well, let's just say I was pretty sure we were on a pedestrian path.  The area is de-forested so there's a stark beauty about it and the sheep have the right away.  As we were dodging sheep and bumping up the "path", we looked over a valley and I thought we'd gone through a time warp.  We saw a gypsy caravan in their brightly painted wagons being pulled by horses.  We were so stunned that we didn't even take any photos.  

We did eventually make it to the village and found where the family farm was.  The house wasn't the same but the name of the farm was.  We later found out that Aldersons still live on that farm.  We took some photos but didn't bother the residents which I kind of regret---other family members have found them quite welcoming.  It was still thrilling to look over the Swale valley and think of that being the same view that John Alderson had before he decided to come to America. Click here for photos of Yorkshire where the Aldersons lived.

Beatrix Potter's home

Beatrix Potter's home

Viking Museum in York

Dartmoor

Clovelly

Walking to Hadrian's Wall

Leah's Travel Diary: England

 Getting a car at Heathrow airport, we travelled to Windsor Castle and then to Salisbury where we saw the cathedral, Stonehenge and Old Sarum.  It looks like this is one of our farm stays. Although we had tour books which recommended places to stay, we often went to the local Tourist Office to find a place for our family of 5.  Farmhouses seemed to work well---we were often the only guests.  Note the photo below of the girls doing cartwheels at Salisbury Cathedral.  A week or so later in a horse drawn carriage going to Neuschwanstein, the man sharing our carriage asked, "Were you just in Salisbury with your girls cartwheeling at the cathederal?"  Guilty!

 

 June 6, we began my King Arthur Quest visiting Wells Cathedral and Glastonbury.  Then, we went to the quaint town of Port Isaac.  We had intended to go on down the coast of Cornwall, but fell in love with Port Isaac and stayed an extra day.  Port Isaac was later made famous a Port Wenn in the Doc Martin television series.  Then, we went up the coast to Tintagel (a King Arthur place) and Clovelly, another quaint village with streets so steep and narrow, you either walk down or take a donkey.

 

 

From Clovelly, we went to Bath and Stratford-on-Avon, which is famous for two things in our family:  where we lost Leah and where Rachel said her now famous quote, "Who the heck is Shakespeare?"  Her English major, Shakespeare-teaching mother couldn't believe she'd left out this part of their English education. And Leah?  Well we'd toured Shakespeare's home, gone through a gift shop and to the exit.  When we got outside, she was missing.  She'd taken a detour in the gift shop and was found in a corner reading a book---she never even realized she'd gone missing and we had walked along the street calling her name, before back tracking into the gift shop.

 

Then, we headed north to Hadrian's Wall, York and Yorkshire Dales where Dave's ancestors were from.  It was blustery cold at Hadrian's Wall---we even had to buy mittens and gloves at a local store.  We stayed at another farm where the kitten was the high point for all three girls. This was our first trip to England, so it was more about seeing OUR bucket list. After York, we headed down the east coast to catch a boat to continental Europe where we had a few child-oriented sites for the girls! For more photos of this trip, click here.

 

The photo of the girls on the beach is really Port Isaac---misplaced on this page.

Leah's Travel Diary: London

Dave travelled a lot during the 1980's and we had many frequent flyer miles, so we planned a trip to Europe with the girls.  Leah was just 5 years old and my mother told me not to take her, "She won't remember the trip."  I responded with, "If we don't take care she WILL remember the time we left her behind for 3 weeks."  Our compromise was me sewing rings in all of Leah's clothes so i could hook her up with our guinea pig leash in crowds.  I didn't use the leash and we DID lose her in Stratford on Avon at a Shakespeare museum, but I don't think we ever told Grandma.

Before we went to England, Netherlands and Germany in 1985, I made each girl a travel diary.  Apparently, I took photos of Leah's before I gave it to her. 

 We left on May 31 and yes, the older girls missed a little school.  Using frequent flier miles, we had certain dates we could fly.  The school gave us their blessing saying they would get more from the trip than in the last days of elementary school. 

Travelling with young children to Europe involves a lot of balance---things they are interested in with things on our own bucket list.  We prepared the girls by reading a lot of English books including Paddington Bear and watching a lot of English movies like Mary Poppins and Bednobs and Broomsticks.  Physically, they had to carry their own suitcases since we would also be travelling by train and boat.  So, I had the girls "work out" with back packs filled with books out walking daily for weeks before the trip.

Fortunately, we had a non-stop from St. Louis, at that time.  Our first stop was London staying at the Beaver Hotel. 

June 1, we acclimated ourselves by taking a double decker bus ride around London---a tradition we have continued on all of our London visits since then.

June 2 was the changing on the Guard, Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park.

June 3 was the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and another toy museum

June 4 we visited Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, a toy museum and the British Museum.

And then, it was time for our road trip.  Renting a car we then toured the rest of England, staying on farms and in B and B's.