Remembrance at the Tower

As many of you well know, this year is the centenary of the beginning of the First World War.

There are events, remembrance services and exhibitions going on across the UK, but Historic Royal Palaces have done what I view is the most inspiring. I haven't had a chance to see it yet, but according to Instagram and Twitter, they are nearly finished!

The Tower of London is surrounded by a (dry) moat, and hundreds of volunteers have been recruited to 'plant' ceramic poppies in it. The result is a river or sea of red, and it looks absolutely magical.

More importantly, it is a fitting way of remembering those who lost their lives defending us, in one of the most awful wars of this century. 

All of these pictures are from Historic Royal Palaces' Twitter account, but hopefully they will inspire you to go and visit the Tower this summer to see it fully finished!

The Tower Remembers installation is from 5th August - 11th November 2014. You can buy one of the poppies at the end of it for £25.

http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/stories/firstworldwar/TheTowerofLondonRemembers

Hatfield House: Residence of a Queen

The other day I had one of the most incredible experiences that a history-lover can have. I got to explore the archives of the house that Elizabeth I grew up in: Hatfield House.

My family lives near Hatfield, so I grew up going to craft fairs and having picnics at this lovely estate. We took this trip to the archives due to my grandfather being stationed here during the Second World War when it was a hospital. But for those of you who don't know....

History of the House

The 'house' actually consists of two parts. The older part (only one remaining wing of the original), which is a few metres away from the newer house, was where Elizabeth I had her household when she was a young princess. It was built by the Bishop of Ely and Henry VII's minister John Morton in 1497. After it was 'seized' by Henry VIII, both Elizabeth I and Mary I lived here; Mary was made to be a part of Elizabeth's household between 1533-36 to punish her for failing to recognise the marriage of her father and Anne Boleyn.

Elizabeth used Hatfield as her main residence right up until 1558. She was told her sister had died and that she was Queen under a tree on the estate (a plaque currently marks the spot!).

The next King, James I, gave the house to his chief minister and 1st Earl of Sailsbury, Robert Cecil. He promptly tore down three wings of the royal palace and used the bricks for the newer house as we know it today.

During the First World War the beautiful gardens were used for testing tanks (such a shame!) and during the Second World War the house was used as a hospital for wounded men to convalesce.

The Trip

The point of our day was to see the wonders of the archives in relation to my family (please note that you have to get permission to see this. Sadly it's not open to public access). I had to be careful of how many pictures I took but here are the few I could...

My great-grandfather worked at one of the Cecil family's estates, called Cranborne, from the 1920's. As you can see, we found him in the employment books:

There weren't any pictures of my grandfather, but there were lots of the house as a hospital.

After looking through these, we were very content to shut the door and head home. But our guide had other ideas! We were treated to some of the absolute treasures of the archives. Lord Burghley, Elizabeth's chief minister was also behind the origins of the secret service. Most of the records here are because of his record-keeping skills, and it is truly incredible that they have survived!

Now, I don't want to give away too much, but some of the gems we saw were:

- A letter by the 15-year old Elizabeth, protesting her innocence against rumours about an affair and pregnancy between her and Thomas Seymour.

- A letter that supposedly incriminated Mary Queen of Scots in the assassination plot against Elizabeth.
- A letter signed by Henry VIII about how much he disliked the way Anne of Cleves (his fourth wife) looked!
- Books of hours (devotional books) from the 13th Century, and books commissioned for Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.

Again, it was hard to take too many pictures, but how incredible that these are still preserved!?

Now, onto the house. Here I did take pictures....

The older part of the house contains originals of most famous paintings, including the wonderful 'rainbow' portrait of an older Elizabeth, which is at the back of the Great Hall here:

Check out the painting in the chapel!

The stain glass window is pretty magnificent too.

We were told by one of the guides that this story of Moses looks a little odd because the artists presumed the palaces of the pharaohs looked like european ones....and that pyramids looked a bit like plinths....

There are tons of little treasures hidden around, and the house also includes what is perhaps the first silk stockings in England. There is room after room of Downton Abbey-style:

One of my favourite rooms had to be this made up bedroom, full of oriental furnishings:

As we were there until late, I didn't get many good photos of the old palace or the grounds. So here are some I found elsewhere, but they give you an idea about what is on offer as a visitor. You can also book a place on the medieval banquets that take place every few months during the year; the link is at the bottom.

Apologies for the quality of my photo, I thought it was best to only take my phone!

http://www.hatfield-house.co.uk/content.asp?id=11&p=78&The%20Hatfield%20Banquet

The International Air Tattoo at Cheltenham

In my previous post I talked about the air show I went to at Cheltenham called the 'International Air Tattoo'.

I took SO many photos, and wanted to write all about it, but the sheer number of pictures would have been long and boring. Instead, here are two of my highlights: the Red Arrows and the vintage stalls!

The Red Arrows' full name is the "Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team", and they are largely the public face of the Air Force here in the UK. The first team was formed in 1964, and this year was their 50th display season.

The 'Red Arrows' are a whole team, and the staff including engineers and ground crew number a grand total of 120. Although most countries have aerobatic teams, the Red Arrows are known for being one of the best teams in the world; something that I saw confirmed at this air show! Each of the 9 pilots in the Red Arrows has usually served in the Royal Air Force beforehand, and specialises in a particular part of the formation. 

On with the air show. We had only just sat down before we noticed a plume of smoke at the end of the runway:

Ummm....is that normal?

Suddenly, the Red Arrows took off, flew around a bit, then disappeared. It's fair to say I was a bit gutted! However, about 5 minutes later, they reappeared roaring over our heads in a flurry of red, white and blue. It was a struggle to get my camera out in time:

Then, they began to show us their different formations:

The Palm

Concorde

The Diamond

Another Palm

The Snake (sorry about the wire in the way!)

A Fly-past! In action below:

Now THAT was a show! After all that action, we fancied a walkabout the show, and stumbled across the 'Vintage tent':

There was a little tea corner too, where all the servers had 'victory rolls' in their hair:

In the midst of our snooping, there was an outburst of 'Ave another cup of tea' by the victory roll ladies! I tried to take an action shot:

And if you were really inspired, you could even buy fifties-style dresses:

It was such a great day! I would really recommend not just the International Air Tattoo, but any air show. These show us how amazing our Air Force is. You can watch from afar, but if you buy a ticket there is lots more to see - as I hope I've shown you!

x

Review: Ellenborough Park hotel

We were heading off to the International Air Tattoo at Cheltenham (aka an air show) last weekend, and thought it would be a good idea to stay overnight somewhere on the way. This little hotel is a gem of a historical find, so I thought I would post a quick review!

Ellenborough Park is in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. The building on the site was known as Southam Manor in the 1500's, and the land was owned by Henry VII and leased by a farmer called Thomas Goodman. On one of the windows there were even some stained glass panes commemorating Henry VII and his wife, Elizabeth of York. It remained unfinished when it passed on to Sir John Huddleson, and remained in his family until the 1800's.

At this point, it passed to Edward Law; a distant relative who was also the Governor General of India. He made the house what it is today (minus the modern parts obviously) and was also the first Earl of Ellenborough. It's worth checking out the website for the backstory on Edward's scandalous wife, who had numerous affairs and a grand total of four marriages!

The house became a renovated modern hotel in 2008, as it had been a girl's school and a hotel before.

The house is in a perfect place for anyone wanting to explore. Nearby is a Roman Villa, but also Sudeley Castle. The Castle is where Catherine Parr (the last wife of Henry VIII) is buried. I was absolutely gutted we didn't have time to see it!

Hopefully I can make up for it with my review.....

As you can see the hotel itself is absolutely beautiful when you first see it. The old manor contains some of the bedrooms and the main reception, so you get to see all of the preserved history even if you're not lucky enough to have a suite!

We were housed in the 'newer' part of the hotel, which was styled to make it look like the old part. For me, the best part of the hotel were the grounds:

Some of the old buildings were still incorporated....

Despite how beautiful the outside was, it was the afternoon tea we NEEDED to sample! Sadly there were two events on at the hotel at the same time, so the service wasn't as good as we had hoped. I thought that the pretty tea set made up for it though (I'll never be a complainer!)

After we had a look at the teas on offer by smelling them from little vials then choosing, the cakes arrived. The scones weren't just scones, they included about 4 different varieties including chocolate and raspberry.

The 'cake' plate included trifles, strawberry and white chocolate mousse, mini tartlets and carrot cake. I felt so sick afterwards, but it was so worth it:

The room was likely the old chapel or a reception room, as it included two fireplaces, a viewing gallery and these lovely windows:

So, on offer at this lovely hotel is:

- A great afternoon tea

- A heated outdoor pool

- History, history and more history

- Proximity to Sudeley Castle and the beauty of the Cotswolds

For us the only downsides were the price and the service. It was a bit more expensive than I would have liked, and the service was a bit slow (understandably). Otherwise, it is a great way to spend a weekend!

http://www.ellenboroughpark.com

x