Some stones, an abbey and a town


You can't get a more iconic than that can you. 

Stonehenge

4500BC

That's the longest time ago. Like mind-blowing time ago. And you have to ask yourself how did they decide to do it all without the tech knowledge we have. I digress, we headed up to the Stonehenge area in the morning. It was cold and wet. And the wind was freezing. Like Easterly, cut through the bones, wind. Brrrrr. And the henge is at the top of a hill. Brrrr.

But we didn't come all this way to not see it. So we sucked it up and headed up on the bus to have a look.



It was pretty damn cold! I think our faces say how cold.












It is pretty amazing. They are huge, and you don't even see all of it. 

There is also a surprising amount of clever that has gone into it. For example, it is positioned so that the sun rising and setting on solstice is exactly in the middle. There is a large circle that runs around the outside of the circle. There are also marking stones further away and a large 'highway' that has been clearly marked out. The level of sophistication and design is incredible when you think it was 4500 BC.

Did you know that some of the stones didn't come from the area around the henge? The 'blue stones' came from Wales. They had to find them, move them down rivers, across some ocean, up some more rivers and then over a few hills till they got them in the perfect position. That is incredible.

These next two photos show how they think they moved them. They are massive lying down too (they are just replicas but still ...). Everyone had a go trying to pull them. Turns out we would have needed a few 100 more people to help.



There was also a little village that we could look around. This is a terrible photo of me and a very unimpressed photo of Hannah (this seems to be normal when I say time for a photo).


After looking around the museum, having warm drinks in the cafe and looking around the shop we headed back to the car. 

Asher found a memorial on the way to the car. 



Lacock

Lacock is a pretty special town. It has been used in movies and tv series. We set off to discover some places and explore the town. 

Our first discovery was this house. You may or may not remember it from Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince (Great book, terrible movie version ... so disappointing). We did a quick selfie or two at the gate. Such fun!




We wandered past a few old houses and cars. This was pretty.



Imagine this without the cars, and a covering of chip, and you have an old English town. Isn't it cool?! Hannah and I sort of wanted to chuck on some old dresses and prance around. 

We wandered towards the Abbey, a large house in the area. After looking at the museum that focussed on the creation of the first camera by Fox Talbot, the Lord of the Abbey we headed towards the Abbey.


We headed around the house towards the entrance. The grounds were beautiful. It would be a great place to take a Ruby dog for a run. 


The house began as a convent, established in the early 13th century by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, as a nunnery of the Augustinian order. It was a nunnery until Henry the 8th decided he didn't want the Catholic Church anymore, at this point, it was sold and turned into a private residence for rich people. We were looking forward to exploring some more.


Inside we discovered the Abbey still looks very much like the original convent, as well as looking like something out of the Harry Potter movies ... actually, it was!




I love how it was built in a square with a green in the middle. It must have been lovely walking around during its time as a convent.




There was an art installation going on and involved listening to music and looking at changing lights and movement. It was very peaceful. 


We continued to explore, discovering where the filming had been done. 


Here Hannah and Asher are in 'Quirrell's classroom'. Hannah is holding the large 'lizard' Quirrell has in the movie. You can totally see it eh?!


It was pretty old and interesting. We looked around a very large kitchen and then headed into the house.


Because it was built on top of the convent the house was smaller than expected and filled with many long, thin rooms. You could see outside towards the other areas, that are used for private residence, cafe and other bits and pieces. 





This window is the window that Fox Talbot used to take his first photo. It still takes a good photo.

We explored the music room, great hall and foyer. Dan found a grandfather clock. He seems to think we should get one at home. Hmmmm



The ceiling was filled with great detail. We could use mirrors to look at it. Can you see all the tiny sheilds?


We wanted to explore the grounds too, so we headed outside again.



We found some woods, a swing and some fun. 










It was time to head back into town and explore the township a bit more. Found a hall that we are allowed to have music and dances in. 



Found a church, the church we could see from the grounds. 





We also found Harry's parents house, where he didn't die. It seemed to be in need of some work on the roof though. Perhaps Voldermort forgot to fix it after he 'blew it up'.





Eeek! Isn't it the greatest English town you've ever seen?!

This is where we were staying, though not in the house (it is a Rectory) but in the purpose built 'houses' down the back.


After a small rest, we headed back into town for a bit of a celebration, as it was my birthday. 



It was a great night and the food was yum! No cake though, too full. 

And a final note - I thought this was hilarious (though she isn't slow, she's quite bright).


Comments

  1. Hi,
    How are you going?
    hope you are having a good time away.
    We miss you,
    please come back. Oh yeah I went to the venom movie in the holidays.
    I will see you In three weeks.

    kind regards
    Rhys

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great post guys! Laycock is just chocolate box isn't it and how cool that you have been Pottered some more! You are all looking so fabulous. I have the awesome habit of breaking into song in every church...you guys??? :) . So glad you had such a memorable birthday Shazz, totes amaze right! Great collection of photos that really capture the loveliness of Team Spragg and their adventures x travel safe :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I may one day forgive my wife for not seeing the signpost for Stonehenge. It is so difficult to play heavy metal or prog rock without having visited.

    ReplyDelete

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