Dunster Castle

Wouldn't it be nice to visit England again with me?  I realize I have not finished posting about our Golden Anniversary trip!  So come along with me and we'll take a look at more of lovely England.  It certainly will be a cooler day than the one we are experiencing here today!  Our temperatures will hit over 100 degrees.  So sit back and enjoy a ride through the countryside of Somerset.

I never tire seeing the lovely landscape of Great Britain!  We decided to take a drive along the A39 that hugs the coastline between England and the Bristol Bay!  

We learned that Somerset got its interesting name because folks used to flock here in the summer to enjoy the bay.  Hence-Summer Set stuck as the name.  In the distance you can almost see Wales!  Waving to you Deb!

As we were enjoying the lovely scenery, we spotted a National Trust sign for Dunster Castle.  I must admit we did not know about this property, but decided to have a look.  As I mentioned before we are members of the Royal Oak Foundation that is an arm of the National Trust so we have admission to all of their properties.

We learned that there has been a castle here for over 1000 years then as a Victorian country house.  

The 13th century gateway is the oldest part of the castle.  

The building was remodeled by Anthony Salvin between 1868 and 1872 for the Luttrell family that lived here for 600 years!  Come inside with us and we'll take a look around.

The first thing I notice is the beautiful woodwork.  Lovely carvings.  I love the blue and white china placed in the mantel.

The furnishings are quite elaborate and feature the Victorian decor and collections of the family.

Plastered ceilings throughout the castle are exquisite! 

The table is set for dinner.  Won't you please take a seat?

Hopefully a pre-dinner tipple will be served to the lady of the manor as well!

 

I always enjoy seeing the kitchens of these old manor homes.  This style is quite modern.  The Luttrell family gave the castle and its environs to the National Trust in 1976.  

Outside of the kitchen area we continue to view more beautiful carving.

Dunster Castle sits high on a steep hill called a Tor that gives beautiful views of the Bristol Bay area.

The bedrooms are furnished with lovely poster beds.

This quilt was made around 1830 and adorns one of the beds.  It was made by one of the Luttrell women.

Dunster Castle's library is quite cozy.  Maybe we can have a seat and check out a volume or two. 

Step outside with us as we view the vast property and its beauty.

It's quite surprising to see the palm trees here!

What a happy surprise to come upon Dunster Castle.

As we left we decided to continue along the coast and enjoy the beautiful views that awaited us.

Oh England, how I miss your beauty.

Though the ride was a little scary at times, it was so magnificent!  

Thank you for coming along with us as we continue to remember.

Coleridge Cottage

We really enjoy visiting National Trust sites when touring Great Britain.  The homes of authors especially intrigue me.  Today I want to take you to the home of Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Somerset, England.  As I recorded in my travel journal,  the wind and rain pouring down on our drive to Nether Stowey offered a dismal look at the landscape. 

In 1797 Coleridge lived here, though his home was not this handsome at the time.  It is said "why would a young man of 24 move his family into a mouse infested freezing hovel."

Though he only lived here for three short years, Coleridge was his most productive while here.  Wordsworth lived here briefly and together they began, Lyrical Ballards, a selection of poetry that is said to begin the Romantic Literary movement.  The nature of the countryside inspired Coleridge to write many poems that are still loved today.  So come along inside with us as we see where Coleridge and his family lived.

When we enter the home we are met by a lovely woman named, Margot.  She enthusiastically tells us about Coleridge and his life in the cottage.  She is amazed that an American would even know about him.  For this, Grayden and I both were surprised as we told her we learned of him in high school and college and know that our grandchildren have studied about him as well.  She was happy to hear that.

The fire in the fireplace felt so good that cold October morning as we remember the little cold family that lived here so long ago.

Frost at Midnight

BY SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

The Frost performs its secret ministry,

Unhelped by any wind. The owlet's cry

Came loud—and hark, again! loud as before.

The inmates of my cottage, all at rest,

Have left me to that solitude, which suits

Abstruser musings: save that at my side

My cradled infant slumbers peacefully.

'Tis calm indeed! so calm, that it disturbs

And vexes meditation with its strange

And extreme silentness. Sea, hill, and wood,

This populous village! Sea, and hill, and wood,

With all the numberless goings-on of life,

Inaudible as dreams! the thin blue flame

Lies on my low-burnt fire, and quivers not;

Only that film, which fluttered on the grate,

Still flutters there, the sole unquiet thing.

Methinks, its motion in this hush of nature

Gives it dim sympathies with me who live,

Making it a companionable form,

Whose puny flaps and freaks the idling Spirit

By its own moods interprets, every where

Echo or mirror seeking of itself,

And makes a toy of Thought.

                      But O! how oft,

How oft, at school, with most believing mind,

Presageful, have I gazed upon the bars,

To watch that fluttering stranger ! and as oft

With unclosed lids, already had I dreamt

Of my sweet birth-place, and the old church-tower,

Whose bells, the poor man's only music, rang

From morn to evening, all the hot Fair-day,

So sweetly, that they stirred and haunted me

With a wild pleasure, falling on mine ear

Most like articulate sounds of things to come!

So gazed I, till the soothing things, I dreamt,

Lulled me to sleep, and sleep prolonged my dreams!

And so I brooded all the following morn,

Awed by the stern preceptor's face, mine eye

Fixed with mock study on my swimming book:

Save if the door half opened, and I snatched

A hasty glance, and still my heart leaped up,

For still I hoped to see the stranger's face,

Townsman, or aunt, or sister more beloved,

My play-mate when we both were clothed alike!

         Dear Babe, that sleepest cradled by my side,

Whose gentle breathings, heard in this deep calm,

Fill up the intersperséd vacancies

And momentary pauses of the thought!

My babe so beautiful! it thrills my heart

With tender gladness, thus to look at thee,

And think that thou shalt learn far other lore,

And in far other scenes! For I was reared

In the great city, pent 'mid cloisters dim,

And saw nought lovely but the sky and stars.

But thou, my babe! shalt wander like a breeze

By lakes and sandy shores, beneath the crags

Of ancient mountain, and beneath the clouds,

Which image in their bulk both lakes and shores

And mountain crags: so shalt thou see and hear

The lovely shapes and sounds intelligible

Of that eternal language, which thy God

Utters, who from eternity doth teach

Himself in all, and all things in himself.

Great universal Teacher! he shall mould

Thy spirit, and by giving make it ask.

         Therefore all seasons shall be sweet to thee,

Whether the summer clothe the general earth

With greenness, or the redbreast sit and sing

Betwixt the tufts of snow on the bare branch

Of mossy apple-tree, while the night-thatch

Smokes in the sun-thaw; whether the eave-drops fall

Heard only in the trances of the blast,

Or if the secret ministry of frost

Shall hang them up in silent icicles,

Quietly shining to the quiet Moon.

Coleridge's poem was written in this room as he watched the frost creep on his windowpane as his baby was sleeping nearby.

The Cottage was built in the 17th century as two attached buildings with a parlor, kitchen and service room on the ground floor and three bedrooms upstairs and an adjoining barn.

Coleridge was born in Devon on October 21, 1772.  He attended Jesus College, Cambridge.  During childhood he suffered with rheumatic fever and had ill health since.  He was treated with laudanum.  Some say this introduced his opium addiction.  

Coleridge had four children with his wife Sara.  Berkeley, Derwent, Sara and Hartley Coleridge.  

After looking throughout the small cottage we went out back into the lovely garden.

The garden was so pretty this October afternoon.  It was so nice the rain lifted and allowed us to enjoy the exterior of the cottage. 

Across the street we had lunch at The Ancient Mariner Pub.  

It was here in his cottage in Nether Stowey that Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", "Kubla Khan", "Frost at Midnight", "Christabel", "This Lime Tree Bower, My Prison".   Thanks to the National Trust, we were able to get a feel of where he and his family lived and worked.

Thank you for stopping by, my friends.  I will soon be taking a couple months off from blogging.  I'm looking forward to checking in with you then.  Thank you so much for visiting! 

Hadrian's Wall at Housesteads Fort

We were so close to an ancient wall that still has remains standing, we decided to include it in our itinerary on our Golden Anniversary trip to Britain last fall.  The Roman Vallum Aelium (Hadrian's Wall) stretched across from the River Tyne near the North Sea to the Solway Firth in the Irish Sea covering a distance of 73 miles. 

There are many places we can view this ancient wall.  Hadrian's Wall defended the northern border of the Roman province of  Britannia for over 250 years.  We decided to travel to the Housesteads Fort to see a structure that was begun in AD 122!  Let that sink in for a moment...2017 marked the 1900th anniversary of Hadrian becoming the Roman Emperor.  It was also the 30th anniversary of this area becoming a World Heritage site.

  Sheep are plentiful in England.  Aren't they beautiful?  This one appears to have lost his way.  We often saw them in the road and on the other side of what appears to be a rock wall to keep them in.

We drove to Northumberland over this incredible pass.  If you look closely you can see the road we are taking winding over the mountain through the foggy beauty of the Lake District.

Getting closer to a lower elevation the views become clearer. 

At the top of the hill is our first view of the ancient Roman fort and wall located in Northumberland. There are sheep everywhere!  Their size is bigger than those we have seen.  When we inquired about the type we were told they were Mule Sheep.  They were just as nosy about us as we were about them!

We learned that this area has been farmed for many centuries and it wasn't until fairly recently it has been managed by the National Trust and English Heritage.  We joined both of these organizations before going to Britain.  The Royal Oak Foundation is the United States arm of the National Trust.  By joining these organizations you are helping to preserve these sites for posterity.  It also allows you to visit without a fee or parking charge.  Our English Heritage passes were not sent to us before we left home, but proved to be no problem as we had our printout and the first English Heritage site we visited the lady gave us passes to use on our trip.

After getting our passes we visited the small museum to learn more about this fort and wall.

Visiting this wall reminded me of our own ridiculous thinking that walls need to be built in the first place!  I don't speak of politics here and don't want to debate it.  I feel very passionately about this and I'm sure you do as well.  Let's leave it at that!

Along the 73 mile wall there were forts built to house soldiers and munitions.  Housesteads or "Vercovicium" is from the Celtic "place of able fighters."

This inscription was found on a stone altar on the hillside around the fort in the early 18th century.  Over the years the stones from the wall have been used in the construction of castles and barns and other buildings.

Leaving the museum we climbed the hill to view the Housestead Fort.

 Grayden is touching the Wall that you are allowed to walk on here.  Many hikers walk the length of Hadrian's Wall, but alongside it and not on it.  The first time we visited England we met a couple on the Queen Mary 2 that were going to do just that! 

Here we are standing on the edge of the Roman Empire.

A couple we met from San Francisco asked if we wanted our photo taken.

Walking back down the hill we enjoyed the views of Northumberland.  

It's hard to believe that this lovely peaceful place was once occupied by 800 soldiers defending the border of the Roman Empire so long ago.