York Minster, Interior, Architectural Detail, Tombs - Anglophile Friday

What struck me when I first walked into York Minster is the height. That ceiling is a long way up. The rood screen (below) is stunningly beautiful, and walking through the minster I 'suffered' a definite awesomeness overload.

The following two photos are of a couple tombs in York Minster. Be sure to check out THIS LINK to see several of the ornate and interesting tombs in this magnificent structure.

Mom, Dad, and kids

Ceiling, Chapter House, York Minster

 Stone carvings with amazing detail

More ceiling detail. Can you imagine those workmen on scaffolding all those years ago, taking the greatest care to effect this amazing detail! Those people were obviously not in a hurry and were not stopping to text or tweet every few seconds.

I think all our modern technology is conditioning our children to demand instant results - and if they don't get them, to give up and move on. What's happened to focus time and perseverance?

Could a York Minster even be built today?

***

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 This post may be linked to some of the following: Mop it Up Monday  and Get in My Tummy and  Cure for the Common Monday and  Clever Chicks Blog Hop and  Barn Charm and  The Marketplace  and  Mix it up Monday and Make it Pretty Monday and    Making the World Cuter Mondays and Make the Scene Monday and  Something I Whipped Up Monday and  Motivate Me Monday and  Making Monday Marvelous and Get Your Craft On and   You're Gonna Love it Tuesday and Creative Showcase and Memories by the Mile and  Tweak it Tuesday and  Coastal Charm Tuesday and  Take a Look Tuesday and  Tasty Tuesday  and Love Bakes Good Cakes  and Overflowing With Creativity and Mom on TimeOut  and Adorned from Above and Wildcrafting Wednesday and   Cast Party Wednesday and  We Did it Wednesday  and All Things With Purpose and Home & Garden Thursday and It's a Party at Creative Princess and Artsy Corner Thursday  and Creative Things Thursday and Be Inspired and Time Travel Thursday and Thrifty Things Friday  and  Friday Fences and  Thursday's Inspiration and  The Self-sufficient Home Acre and  I'm Lovin' it Thursday and Creative Things Thursday and   Mandatory Mooch   and Foodie Friends Friday and Freedom Fridays and  Anything Blue Friday and Junkin' Joe and  Serenity Saturday and Get Schooled Saturday  and Inspiration Friday(ThursNite) and Vintage Inspiration Friday and Photo Friday and  A Favorite Thing Saturday and Sunny Simple Sunday and Sunlit Sunday and  Market Yourself Monday and  Saturday Nite Special

Gypsy Caravans and Shepherd's Huts - Anglophile Friday

 Gypsy Caravan

parked behind The Punch Bowl Inn, Low Row

North Yorkshire

Gypsy Caravan

Waiting for new wheels

Behind The Green Dragon Inn, Hardraw, North Yorkshire

Gypsy Caravan, Somerset

 Gypsy Caravan Breaks, Langport, Somerset

"Perfect for a romantic weekend break with a cosy twist, this picture-perfect bow-topped caravan awaits you in beautiful Somerset. There are hardly any of these caravans available for hire in England, but you'll find this one tucked away in an apple orchard on the edge of a smallholding, so it will be surrounded by apples or blossom depending when you visit. Inside you'll find a ready-made wooden bed to clamber into, and there's not much space for anything else. But don't fret, you'll also find that there's a separate shepherd's hut housing your solar-powered power shower and washbasin, and a 1970s Marshall caravan to cook in.

• Open April-October. From £75 a night, two nights £130, three nights £180, four nights £220, extra nights £55 (sleeps 2); the nightly price gets cheaper the more nights you book; 01458 270044, gypsycaravanbreaks.co.uk"

***

That was from May of 2011, so I would imagine that prices have changed. 

***

At first, it appeared to me that there wasn't a lot of difference between the Gypsy Caravan (Vardo) and the Shepherd's Hut. But after reading the articles I found, it seems that the main differences were permanence and use.

The Gypsy caravan was built for travel, and pulled by a single horse, usually no more than 15 miles a day. Often it was the means of going from one circus or fair to the next, and housed a family. The Gypsy caravan typically had larger wheels than did the shepherd's huts, for they needed to be able to ford streams. And although I'm not entirely certain that the first two photos of this post (which I took in North Yorkshire) are actually Gypsy caravans, I think it's the most likely explanation, although many of the Gypsy caravans, for which I found photos online, were much more ornate. If any UK readers can identify the 'wagons' in the first two photos, I would appreciate a comment with that information.

gypsywaggons.com

 ***

The shepherd's hut (see photos below), on the other hand, was a structure built for the sole purpose of housing the shepherd during lambing season, so he could be out in the pasture with the ewes and assist and care for them as they were ready to lamb. (Evidently, the farmers didn't all just phone James Herriot, which is what I certainly would have done). The shepherd's hut, on smaller iron wheels, was moved from one part of the pasture to the next, but stayed on the farm. Another later use, during the war, was to house a prisoner of war.

Shepherdhuts.co.uk

Ian McDonald and his restored shepherd's hut

from BBC.co.uk

'...It was built more than a century ago to provide shelter and a home-from-home for shepherds tending their flocks in the fields, and a place to nurse sickly or orphan lambs back to health.

'His research into his hut also brought him to the story of Hans Lenzen, the reason the hut had come to School Farm in Barford in 1945. He was one of two Austrian prisoners-of-war who were allocated to the farm to work from the nearby Kimberley POW camp. The hut was bought for £7 from Hall Farm at Rackheath, near Norwich, to house Mr Lenzen and he lived in it for two years...' Read Article Here.

And in case you're looking for a shepherd's hut to rent, here's a whole list, with photos, from Holiday Lettings.

 Shepherd's Hut in Wisconsin

And then there's this shepherd's hut in Wisconsin that's never been occupied. The shepherd would have nothing do do with it, although it has the finest accommodations, is well-built, fully insulated, consists of two spacious rooms, and even has room service.

The shepherd prefers to stay in the big house, where he can keep a closer eye on his flock.

I couldn't resist.

***

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This post may be linked to some of the following: Mop it Up Monday  and  Cure for the Common Monday and Mealtime Monday and Clever Chicks Blog Hop and Mosaic Monday  and Barn Charm and  The Marketplace  and On the Menu Monday and  Mix it up Monday and Make it Pretty Monday and   What's in the Gunny Sack and  Making the World Cuter Mondays and Make the Scene Monday and  Something I Whipped Up Monday and  Motivate Me Monday and  Making Monday Marvelous and Get Your Craft On and   You're Gonna Love it Tuesday and Tweak it Tuesday and  Coastal Charm Tuesday and  Take a Look Tuesday and  Tasty Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday and Love Bakes Good Cakes and  Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays  and Overflowing With Creativity and Mom on TimeOut  and Adorned from Above and Cast Party Wednesday and  We Did it Wednesday  and It's a Party at Creative Princess and Artsy Corner Thursday  and The Self-sufficient Home Acre and  I'm Lovin' it Thursday and  Mandatory Mooch   and Foodie Friends Friday and  Serenity Saturday and Get Schooled Saturday  and Inspiration Friday(ThursNite) and Vintage Inspiration Friday and Photo Friday and  A Favorite Thing Saturday and Sunny Simple Sunday and  Saturday Nite Special

Ripon Cathedral Part II Anglophile Friday

 The east end of Ripon Cathedral

In case you didn't see last week's Anglophile Friday, it was, obviously, Ripon Cathedral, Part I.

This week I have a few more photos I'd like to share with you, a few of which are of that interesting pipe organ.

 Will someone give me a hand?

If you look very closely toward the bottom of the photo above, you will see a hand protruding from the wood organ case. What is that doing there?

 Ah yes, now I can see it better

Flanked by angels, the wooden hand is the 'choir director' which is guided by the organist. Cool, huh! (if not a little creepy)

From RiponCathedral.org.uk:

'The first reference to an organ in Ripon Cathedral occurs in the Fabric Rolls for 1399. The present-day, four-manual organ contains two ranks from a 1690 organ. 

'Its history really begins, however, in 1878, when it was almost entirely built from scratch by T. C. Lewis of Brixton. Costing the grand sum of £4,000 without the case, this organ was undoubtedly one of the finest of its day.

'By 1912, however, it required extensive rebuilding: the stops were too loud and an appalling noise was issuing from the engines and bellows.

'The organ was therefore essentially rebuilt between 1912 and 1926, by Harrison and Harrison of Durham (completion of the work being significantly delayed by the outbreak of the First World War).

'Since then, various additions and modifications have been made to the Ripon Cathedral organ: in 1963, 1972, 1988, 1996 and most recently, 2000. The 1996 additions included the horizontal Solo Orchestral Trumpet and a new eight-channel solid-state combination system...

'Finally, the organ case at Ripon was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott. One particularly unusual feature of it is a unique, carved wooden hand.

'This used to be used to conduct the choir, via a lever at the organ console. It was added to the case in 1695, when a rebuild of the organ then meant that the organist had to move to a new seat from where he could not conduct the choir himself.'

 From the Rood Screen

Rood Screen Angels

 Source

A sign in the quire read '15th century misericords. Please do not touch.' The misericords are a little ledge on the bottom of the chair where, when the chair is folded up, still provide a slight ledge upon which the monks might rest during long periods of standing. This carving, above, represents a griffin chasing a rabbit down a rabbit hole. When Charles Dodgson aka Lewis Carroll was 20 years old, his father was Canon at Ripon Cathedral. It is thought that the carving (above) may have been inspiration for Alice in Wonderland.

 Spring Flowers

 Viewing the West End of the Cathedral

 ...and a little farther west,

'Double Luck Take Away'

And 'The Knowledge Magnet'

a toy shop

 

 Why didn't I notice 'Ripon Canal' when we were there??

Too much to see, too much to do.

Not enough time.

Final Call

***

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Have a great weekend, everyone!

  

This post may be linked to some of the following: Mop it Up Monday  and  Cure for the Common Monday and Mealtime Monday and Clever Chicks Blog Hop and Mosaic Monday  and Barn Charm and  The Marketplace  and On the Menu Monday and  Mix it up Monday and Make it Pretty Monday and   What's in the Gunny Sack and  Making the World Cuter Mondays and Make the Scene Monday and  Something I Whipped Up Monday and  Motivate Me Monday and  Making Monday Marvelous and Get Your Craft On and   You're Gonna Love it Tuesday and Take a Look Tuesday and  Tasty Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday and Love Bakes Good Cakes and  Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays  and Overflowing With Creativity and Mom on TimeOut  and Adorned from Above and Cast Party Wednesday and  We Did it Wednesday  and It's a Party at Creative Princess and Artsy Corner Thursday  and The Self-sufficient Home Acre and  I'm Lovin' it Thursday and  Mandatory Mooch   and Foodie Friends Friday and  Serenity Saturday and Get Schooled Saturday  and Inspiration Friday(ThursNite) and Vintage Inspiration Friday and Photo Friday and  A Favorite Thing Saturday and Sunny Simple Sunday and  Saturday Nite Special

Anglophile Friday - Canals of England and Highclere Castle

Kennet & Avon Canal

Source

Source

Considering the fact that all of England would fit inside Wisconsin, it shouldn't surprise me that you can't go a couple miles in England without something interesting slapping you in the face. For example, I was going to do a post on Salisbury Cathedral (which I'll save for another time), and in my great online search, I soon came across this map of some of England's many canals. My introduction to the canals was when we were in Skipton, North Yorkshire - the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.

Wouldn't it be fun to spend a summer traveling the canals of England by narrowboat! (well, maybe not a whole summer.)

 Skipton

From wbct.org.uk

"You may not have heard of the Wilts & Berks Canal [see map above] as it has been derelict for nearly a century. There are ambitious plans to bring the waterway back to life. Its called the Wilts & Berks because it is said that a lazy draughtsman could not be bothered to write in full the county names!

"Swindon is mid point of the waterway which linked the Thames at Abingdon with the Kennet & Avon Canal near Melksham.

"A further link was made from Swindon to the Thames & Severn Canal at Cricklade (the North Wilts Canal). There were also branches to Chippenham, Calne, Longcot (near Shrivenham) and Wantage. The waterway now is located in Wiltshire Swindon and Oxfordshire since Local Government boundary changes in the 1970s. The Wilts and Berks Trust is committed to returning this historic waterway to a navigable state."

So it's about 1 1/2 hours (by car) from Bath to Reading, and about an hour from Newbury to Salisbury. And, it's about a half hour from Reading to Newbury, home of Highclere Castle...

...known to many of us as

Downton Abbey

Photo: Dailymail.co.uk

Don't forget: Sunday night, January 6 - Season Three begins!

I'm sorry I got offtrack, but I can't help it. Take a look at that map. Bath. Cirencester. Oxford. And those amazing canals. So much to see and do. And then Downton Abbey appears out of nowhere!

I'll try to stay on topic next week.

***

'Oh, Matthew!' and 'Lady Mary'

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Anglophile Friday - Doors of England

Some of my favorite doors of England
and...'Which of These Doors Just Doesn't Belong Here?' 

Top Row: Helmsley Castle, Lower Slaughter, Stanton, Malton, Bath Abbey, Kilpeck Church, St. Mary's Jackfield

Next Row: Helsmley Castle (again??), York Minster, Richmond, Wisconsin, Helmsley Castle, Richmond, Church at Cirencester

Next Row: Oops (Helmsley Castle again), Much Wenlock, Bath Abbey, Askrigg, Thirsk, Kettlewell

Bottom Row: Bath Abbey Interior Door, Skipton Castle, Richmond, Richmond, Bath Abbey, North Door of St. Paul's Cathedral London

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I'm pretty sure that it was Heide who suggested I do an Anglophile Friday post on Doors of England. So, for Heide and anyone else who might like doors as much as I do, I hope you'll enjoy this collage. I actually decided to have it made into a poster, although the first one I did was sort of a 'draft' attempt, just to see what the resolution would be, so I didn't bother to go back to the original photos. That's why you'll see 'Cranberry Morning' on so many of them.

Nevertheless, these are some of my favorite doors. I'm really hoping that my TripAdvisor Airfare Watch Alert shows me airfare to London at half price, like soon! Doesn't hurt to dream, right? There are so many more doors I need to photograph! Oh, to take a train from London to York and spend a week there...sigh...

And I don't know how I managed to put the red and orange doors next to each other! Must have been when I hit 're-arrange' and liked what I saw, but, for some reason, didn't notice that. Oh well. Those are two of my very favorite: The door to the James Herriot museum in Thirsk and a door in Kettlewell. So pretty!

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Did you manage to spot the door that 'doesn't belong here' ??  :-)

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This post is linked to
Mosaic Monday 

Have a great weekend, everyone!

 

Anglophile Friday - England Red

 The  British Museum - London

You'll probably realize that I'm getting desperate to find a theme for new Anglophile Friday posts. It's not easy, considering the fact that I've posted most of my photos already. So many of them are now doing re-runs as part of other themes. Thus, although you may have seen some of these, you will not have seen all of them, and never before have they been posted together as 'England Red.'

One thing that's always bothered me about the above photo is that you can actually see those two people in the foreground, real people who are here on my blog. Isn't that creepy, when you think about it? It's like I'm stalking them online!

 Phone Box in Cambridge

And every time I see that sign, I first think it says 'ESTUARY' until I remember that it actually is 'RESTAURANT.' And then, of course, Estuary reminds me of a song that Hugh Laurie sang. (Crazy how this mind works.)

My favorite red door  - in Kettlewell

Bike-in at Littlefairs in Hawes

Double Luck Takeaway - in Ripon

You can see Ripon Cathedral at the end of the street.

Hawling - in the Cotswolds

A little store in Muker

Narrowboat on the canal - Skipton

Someday...

Near Bolton Abbey

Okay, I know. I'm really smitten with phone boxes and post boxes!

in York

 - in Kettlewell

- in stark contrast to the dignified beauty of York Minster

(I'll put York Minster in another post)

the gaudy York sightseeing bus!

Last, but not least...

My very favorite 'red' England photo

Kettlewell

You really notice bits of color when most everything else is made of stone.

Am I complaining?? NO.  The stone is beautiful!

***

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 This post is linked to:
Photo Friday 
and
Saturday Nite Special
and
Serenity Saturday 

Have a great weekend, everyone!