We had an excellent trip to Stoneywell National Trust House. The weather could have been a little better.
Lovely little National Trust house, with fabulous gardens. First off, you must book to come here, you can not just turn up. This is because of planning regulations and limited access. The car park is a little way off from the house, a mini bus will pick you up and ferry you to the house. They were waiting for us in the car park. The same on return.
You see the house with a guide in small groups. There were four in our group. The house was built of stone in 1899 and was originally thatch. After a fire the home was re-roofed in slate. The house is built into the rock of the nearby hill. The house is also a built as a zigzag, is not straight, it has no square walls, no right angles to be seen anywhere. Much of the furniture is original.
Up in the stables there is a small cafe where you can sit inside or outside. Alas we visited on the most miserable and cold day of the year, and we decided not to sit outside, and we also gave most of the garden a miss. We were told it was planted so there were some flowering plants at all times of the year. We did see snowdrops.
We definitely must go back on a warmer dryer summer day and see it when we can relax in the garden.
The staff were amazingly pleasant and informative about the history of the house. While we waited for the bus to take us back we had a great conversation with them.
Instead of visiting Waddesdon for a Christmas spectacle, we decided to visit Mottisfont. There was a special Kaffe Fassett display on, so Rosemary was interested in going. We would also get to see the house dressed for Christmas.
We arrived and headed straight to the house to see the exhibition and house dressing. Not quite to the scale of Waddesdon Manor, but still very good to look at. The Kaffe Fassett show covered four rooms and had a lovely embroidered chair, pullovers and lots of patchwork quilts. Incredible work, though you could see the work was done at speed and not always finished neatly.
We stopped for lunch in the stables, and then we went on a guided wetlands nature walk. It takes you through wetland woods areas where you are not allowed on your own . We learned that peat was dug here, and that lakes and navigation were also built to get the stone close to the construction site of the original Mottisfont abbey.
There was not much to be seen in the gloom of a cloudy dismal winter day, excepting that two kingfishers were spotted flying along the dykes.
We also learnt that the river fishing rights were owned by the National Trust, and that this is one of the most expensive trout fishing river in the UK, the River Test. The art of the dry fly tying was realised here. We saw some trout who became very active when some food was fed to them.
Bicester Village, the outlet retail park, has expanded. Tesco was demolished, and rebuilt on the other side of the road. The land where Tesco was became an extension to Bicester Village. This extension opened in October, We visited the village for the first time in ages. We went in the evening to see the Christmas lights, and not to buy. Was easy to park, being a Tuesday. It was bitterly cold. There were some new shops, and some disappearances. We were intrigued by the only electrical shop which sold wifi/bluetooth speakers for more than a grand: the Devialet Phantom range.
Rosemary said she liked the lights and planting, but rather preferred it when Tesco was there.
We drank coffee and chocolate while we perused the cards, and looked at some of the other paintings. The men’s loo was decorated in old Beanos. The place was quite pleasant and had some interesting food on the menu. Probably worth while returning to, instead of eating in the usual Vaults and Gardens where we now headed off to.
We passed through the covered market which was semi open on a Sunday. There was an excellent Halloween cake sculptured into the shape of a hacked off leg in the cake shop.
On the junction of Turl Street and Market Street, outside Norah’s Antiques was a production team filming a scene from an episode of Endeavour. We waited and watched them film a street scene with Roger Allam (Inspector Thursday) considering the shop window. There were also quite a few old 60s cars parked in the surrounding streets, so I expect there was quite a bit more filming about to be done.
We walked on to the Vaults and Gardens for lunch, where we were quite quickly served and found somewhere to sit.
After lunch we visited All Souls Collage and took walk around their quads and the chapel. There is a magnificent screen with niches containing statues of saints, bishops, and monarchs, arranged in rows on either side of a Crucifixion scene, just above the altar, and a Last Judgement, high up under the roof. The original statues, destroyed in the sixteenth century Reformation, were not replaced with the present Gothic imitations until the nineteenth century.
After All Souls, we split, Norman and I took a quick walk around the university parks, while Rosemary and Valerie headed to the new Bodlein library to see the latest Treasures and Jane Austin.exhibitions. We all met up at the library and then went for a beer at the Lamb and Flag before going home.
The James Figg is themed on boxing, named after James Figg an English bare-knuckle boxer. He is widely recognized as the first English bare-knuckle boxing champion, reigning from 1719 to 1730. He was born in Thame. It’s a good pub, with a good choice or real ales, or is that cask ale, or the new trendy phrase of craft ale. In any case, it caters well for beers. Extensive menu, though we wanted to eat relatively lightly, so we all went for starters, each choosing three starters for £10. This was a kind of tapas meal.
Yes, I can quite recommend the James Figg, maybe Costa is going to see a lot less of me.
We departed for home, Norm and Vallerie driving over to our house for the weekend, while Rosemary and I quickly dropped into Waitrose to buy some more Monkfish. We had decided tonight’s menu was Monkfish. I was looking for a Kilo for the four of us. My first shop the previous day was Tesco in Bicester where they had one filet, just under 350 grams. I bought this, at the same time phoning Sainsburys in Bicester. They too had one small fillet in stock, so I reserved that and walked over there to buy their’s. Good thing I had reserved it because someone else wanted it. It was small, 250 grams.
Waitrose had masses of Monkfish, and large fillets. I bought 400 grams to make up my dish. So, Waitrose came up trumps, but a high premium. Sainsbury was £16 a kilo, Tesco was £20 a kilo and Waitrose £26. Quite a difference in price
Visited Joan & David, Rosemary’s aunt & uncle, for lunch. We went for a short walk to see the new wildlife park that was being created along the River Rye, very near them.
During the Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza I knew the Pilton Party tickets went on sale. While R and I were drinking at The Who’d A Thought It pub we saw the ticket office queue, snaking around the corner. After our drink, the queue was smaller. I joined and left with a ticket, cash only. Any tickets left over went on sale on Monday in the village of Pilton. The rest went on the Internet. None made it to the Internet, all tickets sold on the two days with no national advertising. It is supposed to be a local event.
On the Friday I drove down to Somerset, had lunch at the The Who’d A Thought Itpub and then bought four special Torsy Moorsy fruit cakes from Burns the Bread. Headed over to Pilton and parked in the party car-park. Camping is not catered for, but there were a few vans, and overnight many cars were left in the car park. I parked next to another camper who had been at the Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza, and had been next door to us.
Walked up to the field where the event was held. It is near where the John Peel stage and The Wood is. (At least I think so.) It was all fenced off, bar food and stage. Somewhere like 4,000 people were expected, and the weather was lovely.
First on were two winners from the long-running Pilton Working Men’s Club ‘Battle of the Bands’ competition, UK:ID and Arcadia Roots. As you can see not many came to see UK:ID. A rap band with a woman singer who was very good. I saw a tweet which is asking for bands to audition for next year’s Pilton Party. Though Glastonbury is not running, the party is. Watch this space.
Next up on the line-up is the fabulous Declan McKenna, who won the Emerging Talent Competition in 2015. And finally topping the bill this year were the incredible Bastille, who were last in Pilton to play a triumphant set on the Other Stage at Glastonbury 2016. They also had played Leeds & Reading in 2017, where I saw them with Selina..
I have a few pictures of Michael Eavis, should have got a selfie with him. Was so close.
Back to the camper van where I slept, very noisy in the car park, the party seemed to go on there for a while. In the morning after a lie in, headed off to find some brunch at a cafe called Hartleys Kitchen. Its on a country industrial estate and seemed very popular with cyclists on a Saturday. Two groups, one with normal bikes, and another with the latest carbon bikes and SPDs.
We visited Valerie and Norman for a couple of nights. On the Tuesday we set off with hedge trimmer and chainsaw to trim their hedge. First job on arrival was to consume an excellent soup lunch. Then the hedge was attacked, lopping off a couple of feet.
That evening we walked to The Cradock Arms. We ordered and were soon eating. But there was a pub quiz that night. What to do. We adjourned to the bar and entered the quiz, team was named SadGits. We didn’t come last! Walked back home, nursing our bruised egos.
Wednesday morning after a fry up, we headed out to Southwell and parked in some free parking by the leisure centre. Our first stop was the Southwell Minster where we spent more than an hour looking around. Rosemary was hunting the carved mice on the furniture, think she found 9 of the 22. There were numerous carving of small heads, one which looked very much like Donald Trump, which even had been mentioned in a church pamphlet. The small carved heads stood in contrast to the rather squat fat pillar holding up the knave.
The chapter house had exquisitely carved leaves throughout. These leaves have caused a few books to be written. The chapter house also housed a picture exhibition themed on Adam and Even. There was some quite interesting representations, Unfortunately the two we might have considered buying had been sold,
A quick walk down the road to The Hearty Goodfellow for lunch. Small pub, with good beer and menu. I ate a special of Moules Frites, We then walked to the Workhouse owned by the National Trust. Interestingly, there were some rooms that had been turned into bedsits for mothers with children which were still being used in the 70s, the fathers had to stay away. Tea and then back to the Minster to visit the Great Hall in the Bishop’s Palace.
On the way home we made a detour and stopped at the excellent pub called The Ale Classroom. The Classroom is small, two rooms, but sells excellent beers, constantly changing, all served straight out of the cask. Rosemary, embarrassingly for me cos I had to buy it, wanted lager.
Back to V&N’s for a good pasta supper. The next day we left mid morning to drove back in some large downpours. Thank you Google, you seemed to have missed predicting those. Back at home there had been little rain and the garage was progressing.
We met up with Ceila and Richard at the Hatton Arms. Walked along the Grand Union Canal and back for 50 minutes or so in some unexpectedly brilliant sunshine. Yes, the weather had taken a break from the incessant cold and wet weather we have been having. We met C&R here before several years ago, the metal dragonfly is still in position.
Back at the Hatton Arms we had lunch on the terrace and continued to catch up with each other’s lives.
We had tickets and a campervan pitch for the Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza. There were three acts on the Saturday night, The Black Dyke Band, Corinne Bailey Rae and headliner Brian Wilson.
We drove down on the Friday, stopping off on the way at CJ Van Designs for some advice on wear on the popup roof. He recommended placing some strips of carpet over the lights in the roof before closing down the lid. We arrived at the site and parked the van, but we did not erect the awning as we were only there for a couple of nights. We sat out in the sun and drank our bottle of fizz before eating our supper which was Coronation Chicken, finished off with raspberries & cream.
The site was much as it was as the previous year, except that there seemed to be more campervans (of all ages) this time, and where we had camped last year there were now vans there. The loos were not the composting type this time, but the traditional Glastonbury long drop, a large tank with cubicles on top, open to the weather at their roofs. Even after only a day it was getting pretty stinky. There was also a van this time selling bacon butties (not that I was allowed to buy one).
Next day it was raining, but it was predicted to get better with no rain for the show. We hung around at the campsite waiting for the rain to stop, and headed into town on foot and made it to the pub called The Who’d A Thought It. Alas, as it was lunch time we were unable to sit outside, so had to drink our pints in the bar. Outside I had spotted the long queue to the Glastonbury Festival Office where tickets to the Pilton Party were on sale. When we left the pub the queue was short. Rosemary gave me permission to buy a ticket for the 1st September, so I joined the queue where I soon heard it was cash only sales. I had gone cashless, luckily Rosemary had not yet left the area and was beckoned over to supply the cash.
A couple more hours to spare was spent looking around the weird and wonderful shops in Glastonbury. After a while, we joined the queue and were soon walking into the Abbey where we sat down on our chairs on a small rise. I think next year I shall sit more over to the left of the site, this seems to be the area where Michael Eavis appears for pictures.
First on were The Black Dyke Band, a Leeds colliery band. I thought they were good, Rosemary considers last year’s school band was better.
Next up was Corinne Bailey Rae, sorry did not enjoy the performance, nothing I could sing along too. We used the time to purchase some wraps with Halloumi, salad and Hummus.
Brian Wilson came on finally with his backing band. Much more pleasant, with recognisable Beach Boy sounds. The crowd really enjoyed the performance. Brian is a bit past it, didn’t play much and only sung a little. The backing band and singers though provided brilliant performances. The event ended with a great firework display.
We left quite quickly and were on the second coach back to the campsite. Very efficient service. I sneaked in a JD in the campervan before going to bed.
The morning was a bit soggy, breakfasted and left. Stopped for lunch at 12.00 at the The Cross Keys Inn. We still had time to kill before meeting up with Sue and Ken, so we visited the National Trust house of Lytes Cary Manor. It would have been better if we had skipped lunch at the The Cross Keys and had just eaten at the NT house.
We arrived at Sue and Ken’s, Sue was in, Ken was supporting the pub which had only recently reopened, but he came back fairly quickly. We inspected Sue’s vegetable plots, chickens & cats. Good to see them.
The drive back on the A303 was a pain, Google recommended a big diversion before we reached Stonehenge. Duly taken.
We had an excellent trip to Stoneywell National Trust House. The weather could have been a little better. 
