Kings, Knights and Knaves

No tour of England would be complete without visiting castles, stately mansions, vaulted cathedrals and Tudor abodes.

My favorite this trip, if one had to be selected, was Leeds Castle with its moat, maze and menagerie of birds. The day was misty and a light fog hung in the air of the lake surrounding the walls of the majestic fortress built by one of the Norman knights. Black swans, geese and white peacocks freely roamed the property enjoying the fall air. Leaves gently floated to the earth in varying hues of red, yellow and orange. Horse chestnuts dropped to the ground with a light bounce reminding me of my youth and the neighbor's trees in Pennsylvania.
 
 

Lyme Park, our choice of stately mansion, embodies the countryside of olde England and the Lord and Lady of leisure. The surrounding lands may have been the subject of a landscape painters' legendary recording on canvas. The grounds and gardens flowered and bloomed even in October. The variety of flora and fauna at this time of year impressed me with its kaliedoscope of colors and textures. Darcy of Jane Austen fame and Pemberly were the object of this visit. The site was used to film the estate scenes of Pride and Prejudice and the location did not disappoint. On the hills scattered like white cotton on green damask were sheep lazily feeding and enjoying the sunshine and breeze of the "remote" and homey Peak District.

York Minster, Bath Abbey, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral and Canterbury were the religious sites visited on this trip. However, of all these the one that impressed me this time was the site in Canterbury and the small village town that surrounds it. Visible to any observer, Canterbury Cathedral had been on the pilgrim tour for many years as the well-worn stones told where Thomas a Beckett was murdered and showed the path to his tomb. The English population made a shrine out of the site during the ensuing years following his death by four knights at the supposed request of Henry II. The Gothic architecture included multiple panels of stained glass with the stories of the Bible contained therein for the public to be able to "read" the contents of their Faith.

As for the Tudor abodes, they came in several varieties: Shakespeare's home, the Tower of London and the Merchant Adventurer's Hall of York. All saw different stories of life in Tudor England. The rise to prosperity of the shepherd in the Cotswolds (the Hathaways), the brutality of the King toward those who committed offenses against the State and the compassion of the merchant class to a few of the poor in their community. If only halls and walls could really tell the tale ...