Lyddington Bede House

After visiting Kirby Hall (see the post below), we stopped by the Lyddington Bede House before heading home. The Bede House was originally owned by some bishops but eventually was used as an almshouse for bedesmen. The building was pretty well preserved, although most of the furnishings were gone. We were able to go inside all of the old bedesmen rooms, which were really small with low ceilings. The boys enjoyed running around and making noise, while looking for ghosts and monsters. The Bede House was located on the same property as a beautiful old church and cemetery, both of which are still in use.

(R) Lucas and Jack looking down a deep hole in an old bathroom.

Kirby Hall

Yesterday, we purchased an annual family pass for English Heritage, which is an organization here that cares for hundreds of historical sites throughout the UK. Membership gives us free entry into all of their sites and discounts at others. There are an incredible number of interesting English Heritage sites, including some very close to our house. Kirby Hall, less than 30 minutes away from our home, is an old Elizabethan-style house, which is partly in ruins. Construction on Kirby Hall began in the year 1570. Ownership changed hands quite a bit. At least one king and queen stayed overnight at Kirby Hall hundreds of years ago. Harmony could hardly contain her excitement while visiting this very authentic historical English site. About half of the house was in ruins. The section of the house not in ruins was not furnished or decorated. Exploring the ruins and the gardens were definitely the best part of the excursion.

(L) Lucas insisted on pushing the stroller.

(Above) Exploring the ruins and looking for ghhooosts!

(R) Peacocks roamed the gardens surrounding the building.

(Above) There were a few rooms that were preserved and some that were being restored. On the left is the great hall, which was used for dining. Musicians entertained the guests from the balcony above. I think the room on the right was the billiards room. This house was used in the filming of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park.

Woburn Safari Park

Last weekend, we drove to the Woburn Safari Park, about an hour away from our house. Most of the park is comprised of a drive-through zoo, giving you the feeling of being on safari. The vehicles are able to drive inside the fenced areas with the animals. Of course, the predators were each in their own section!

(Above) With our park admission, we were allowed to drive through each of the sections as many times as we wished. During our first pass through the lions' area they were all sleeping. However, during our second pass, the pride decided to move closer to the fence, passing in between stopped cars. Those animals were huge-- I was certainly wondering how easy it would be for one of them to bust through our windows if they wanted to! I've never been closer to a lion before. The one in the immediate upper left was less than 5 feet away from our vehicle!

(Above) Most of the herbivores roamed free in the same general area. The elephants were in their own pen; the giraffes and zebras also had their own enclosure.

(Above) Jack and Lucas loved watching the little penguins, who were very curious and kept swimming by the window to see who was looking at them.

(Above) Of course, the petting zoo was a hit.

(Above) The animals must be pretty accustomed to vehicles coming through since none of them seemed at all curious... except for the monkeys, which jumped on top of nearly every vehicle that passed by. They were especially fond of our minivan as we had a whole bunch hanging out on top. Before we left the monkey enclosure, a park employee with a long stick had to shoosh the monkeys off of our van.

(Above) Lucas' favorite part was the mini-train, which ran through an area that had camels and some other grazers.

Burghley House

There are houses like this all over England. I think this is one of the smaller ones. The inside of it was very much like some of the castles we've seen, such as Burg Eltz in Germany. They only showed us a small number of the rooms inside.

A family still lives in this house. I think this gated area was their private front entrance. Queen Victoria stayed here many times.

These bells...just like in Cinderella! And this is the dining room (bad quality photo because I wasn't supposed to be taking it).

A walk around the grounds.

This is the town it's in, Stamford.

Burghley House (pronounced like Burley, Idaho)