Our own Canterbury tale

We took a day-trip to Canterbury this past Saturday. We started the day very early (our train left at 8:20 which meant we had to be on the road to the tube at 6:15am) and it was a great trip. We had some strange off-and-on rain all day so we had to hide out under trees and ruins a few times but the rain luckily only ever lasted a couple of minutes. It has been a cold and wet June!

We started our day with a visit to the remains of Canterbury Castle which was built by the Normans shortly after the Battle of Hastings in 1066 to secure their claim on England. The original structure built here was a wooden motte-and-bailey castle but the stone castle that remains was built just a few decades later (i.e. it’s still super old!) Next we walked to the lovely Dane John Gardens and climbed to the top of a tall mound placed there in the 18th century (this time period felt comparatively very modern!) It offers a lovely view of Canterbury Cathedral and the Roman wall that still surrounds the old city.

Next we visited the ruins of St. Augustine’s Abbey which he founded in 597. It is a beautiful site with the remains of the Abbey and other churches built in later years (‘later’ is a relative term, the other buildings were put up between the 10th and 14th centuries). The crypt of one of these churches is still in place (although it’s open to the air now) and it’s amazing to stand in this spot and imagine the huge building that once stood there so long ago. We then went to Canterbury Cathedral which is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury who is leader of the Church of England. We were lucky because on the afternoon we visited there was a rehearsal going on for a concert in the cathedral taking place that evening, so we got to hear the choir, orchestra and soloists practicing Elgar’s The Kingdom as a backdrop to our visit. The Cathedral is also the site of Archbishop Thomas Becket’s murder that took place in 1170 and there is a dramatic sculpture marking the spot where this occurred, as well as other markers where his original tomb and shrine both once stood.

By the afternoon the weather had changed and it was sunny again. We walked through some beautiful gardens and visited the tiny Greyfriars Chapel built over the River Stour by Franciscan monks a thousand years ago and then wandered through the King’s Mile, the main shopping street. We ended our day with a visit to St. Martin's Church (part of the UNESCO heritage site which also includes the Abbey and the Cathedral). St. Martin's church is the site of the oldest Christian parish church in England, first built in the 6th century for the wife of King Ethelbert of Kent. So many periods of history in one place!

The Jacksons take London

Well it’s been almost another month since I last updated this blog! We are starting to see the end of this journey of ours in sight... We’ve booked our flight home and will be back on August 15! I will try to fit in a few more blog entries before then though!

My parents were here for two weeks from the end of May to the first week of June. They had a whirlwind vacation and went all over the place – Greenwich (by boat), Bath and (of course, who could forget) the illustrious Grand Union Canal of Uxbridge leading to our local Tesco (grocery store). (I have been talking up this canal walk that Keith and I go on near our flat and all the species of ducks and geese and baby birdies we get to see... it is a very interesting area for nature lovers but there is nothing particularly ‘grand’ about this canal!).
We also spent a lovely two days in Peterborough visiting old friends of my parents who took us driving about the countryside in their vintage cars (a ’49 Triumph and ’71 MG). Peterborough Cathedral is home to the grave of Katherine of Aragon (Henry VIII’s first wife) and was also the original resting place of Mary Queen of Scots before her son James I had her reburied in Westminster Abbey in a grand tomb. We went to the nearby village of Fotheringhay which is the site of Mary Queen of Scots’ execution (as well as a lovely old church) and is also the village where King Richard III was born. Lots of history in this unassuming village! (the pictures here are of Peterborough Cathedral on the left and me standing on the hill where Fotheringhay Castle once stood with the church in the background).

My parents also went to many sights in London they had not had a chance to see before (a sampling: Kew Gardens, Spitalfields, Docklands, Hampstead Heath, Tate Britain) as well as a few old favourite spots. We also went to see the play War Horse– a tearjerker for everyone. All in all it was a lovely holiday and a great way for them to ease their way into their imminent retirement.

In May I joined a couple of university choirs just for the month and had fun at a concert put on at the end of that month, just a few days before my parents came. I got to sing and pick up a viola again after 10 years away from it!

Now Keith is on his final six weeks of school and I am writing my dissertation (5000 words – of 18,000 – done so far...) We are looking forward to coming home again and seeing all our family and friends. And we will be using our last eight weeks to see as much of England as we can!