New Court Park Estate, England and Thanksgiving

Shauna and Eric rented an old house out in the English countryside that was big enough for us all to stay in. It was a three and a half hour drive from London and located near the village of Lugwardine 3 miles east of Hereford. It was huge and the children all called it a castle.

"Rapunzel Rapunzel let down your hair."

Here is a short history of the home:

New Court as it stands today is an 18th century Grade II* listed manor house with earlier Tudor origins. The Manor of Lugwardine dates back to William the Conqueror. In the 13th century it was given to the notorious Simon de Montfort who was killed at the Battle of Evesham in 1265. It was then passed to Lord Chandos and by descent through Lord Beauchamp to the Rede Family. In a Deed of 1572, William Rede built the east wing of the House. The entrance hall with its Rococo plasterwork ceiling was built in 1751. In 1808-1809, the Regency west wing was added and designed by Henry Seward, a pupil of Sir John Soane, the surveyor of works & buildings to the Crown. At the same time he ‘Gothicised’ the entire exterior of the House, giving it the character which it retains today.

The House has recently been refurbished by its current owners.

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We drove the Varvel's cream mini cooper. Or I should say Bryan drove the cooper. I wasn't about to drive on the left side of the road in London.

On the drive to the house they rented I was amazed at how incredibly green the countryside was. And also intrigued by the fact that all around stone houses and fields full of sheep seemed untouched by time. Fences to mark the end of property lines and keep the sheep in were made entirely of small rocks placed one upon the other. The only hints of time there was the green moss that had grown upon them.

We drove through the Cotswalds and stopped for lunch in the quant town of Bourton on the water. The morning had been beautiful with blue skies but as we arrived at Bourton on the water clouds loomed and broke with a downpour. We ran from our cars in search for a sey place to eat.

After lunch it cleared just enough for the kids to play near the river and feed the ducks.

We then hit the road again and stopped at an old church. I don't know the name of it or anything else about it for that matter other than the fact that it was surrounded by an old cemetery. Cecily was freezing at this time and I was cold too but it was such a neat place to see.

This is Gary and Sharilee in a cottled cream and scone coma at the restaruant we ate at in Bourton on the Water.

These are English scones and the yummy yellow stuff is cottled cream.

Annabelle and Cecily at the waters edge.

The boys: Bennett, George, Bentley and Jake.

Cecily, Maggie and Annabelle.

The cemetery and church I mentioned above.

By the time we made it to the Estate it was completely dark. Darkness fell at 4:30pm every night we were in England. That night we sorted out which rooms we would all take and then were served a lovely dinner by the house cook Amy. She was very dainty and friendly with a lovely accent. I found myself using similar intonations and sort of crossing over into an accent myself when I answered her questions. It was quite embarrassing but also something I couldn't seem to control. I noticed that Deanne did the same thing when answering questions of any of the locals and so at least then I knew I wasn't the only one.

The next morning was Thanksgiving. Amy made us breakfast and then the fun began. The men went outside to shoot clay pigeons. The kids went out into the fields and ran with the sheep and the ladies stayed inside and began to prepare a Thanksgiving feast.

Bryan, Jack, Eric, the clay pigeon "instructor", Jeff and Gary.

Connelly.

Bentley Boy.

Some of ladies cooking up a storm. Sharilee, Samantha, Maddie and Audrey.

The pie we came to a compromise with. Some wanted a crust on top. Some wanted no crust on top but cruchies on top instead. So we came to a compromise - crust and crunchies.

Shauna had to improvise with a saran wrap roll because there was no dough roller in the kitchen.

Cecily outside the Estate in the yard.

Bentley in the green green field. Remember this was in November and the grass was still this green.

Before dinner we all gathered together and played a game of Charades. Boys verses Girls. Two of the most memorable parts were both performed by members of the boys team. One was Gary acting out 'New Moon' it was hilarious. The other was Jack who was trying to act out Zoolander and flopped around on the floor trying to imitate 'mer-man.'

Table all set for Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone pictured except Bryan who was taking the picture.

Here are some shots of some of the inside of the Estate.

It was so much fun just being together with family. We missed my parents and Allen and Melissa of course but had a wonderful time with those that were there.

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious and afterwards we watched a movie before we went to bed.

Shauna took this picture of the group right before we left to drive back to London.

The next morning it was time to head back to London and on the ride home I got soooooo carsick and Bryan pulled over just in time for me to throw up on the side of the road. Not good but I can laugh about it now.