jbright's Travel Journals

jbright

 
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British Isles 2010

All the things I've seen, places I've been whilst studying throughout the UK and Ireland in summer '10.

Day 20: Rufford

England England  |  Jun 02, 2010
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Highlights

  • Once our abridged tour was finished, we were free to do what we pleased. Mimi and I explored the gardens, which were magnificent! There was such a diversity in the plant life and the garden was just so picturesque. We took tons of pictures, sang songs from the Sound Of Music as we were skipping, and then, after walking around the entire garden four or five times, laid out in a vast open field of grass on one of the picnic benches. I was surprised to see so many couples and families with small children doing just the same thing! 

 my first thought was 'How quaint.' 

Today we had another little excursion, but since this one was closer (about a 30 minute coach ride) we got to sleep in a bit and didn't leave til 10.30.

When we finally arrived in Rufford my first thought was 'How quaint.' From the bit that we were able to see, Rufford was really quite small and dare I say it, cute. We were divided into two groups (as usual) and my group was the first to tour Rufford Old Hall.

Rufford Old Hall, as our tour guide explained, was a Tudor house from the sixteenth century. We went around the house and saw many rooms including a drawing room, dining room, and the Great Hall. Many of the furniture and architecture of the house remained as they had since its building, but as it was passed through many different ownerships and has been around for quite a bit of time, there were some changes. However, our tour guide was great in that he pointed out the differences between what was and what used to be. He went into detail about quite a bit of the lords, but as there was so much information, I hardly remember any of it. One thing I do remember is that a hefty amount of American dollars were brought over in dowry from at least two marriages. 

Our guide also told us that Rufford Old Hall is supposedly haunted and that one of the spirits is called the Grey Lady (like the Ravenclaw house ghost!). Also, when we were in the dining room, he pointed out to us the spoon warmers. Apparently, using cold spoons to eat jelly was offensive to some people's ears at the time, so the warmers were brought out with hot water so as to dull the sound.

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When we got back to Ormskirk, Mimi, Ashley, and I went down to Premier to pick up our hoodies post-customization. Then a little later Mimi and I went by the football pitches (again) and laid out and sunbathed (as usual). The whole day was really quite relaxed and enjoyable, but boy, I'm going to miss Ormskirk. It's sad to think that we only have two more real days here. Saturday morning is approaching far too quickly! I feel as if we just got here, and yet I'm comfortable to where it seems as if I've been here ages. I am excited for our three weeks of touring though, and I know that time will pass even quicker than these last few weeks have!

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