So a couple of weekends ago my friends James, Emily, Tim, Valeria, Matteo, and I were invited by our friend Venetia to come and visit her at her home near Gloucester. We took off in the morning and I was quite glad to be in the car with James and Emily as the others managed to get quite lost on the way there. We blast our proper motoring music (Classical Radio of course) until Emily finally changed it to something a bit more contemporary (BBC Radio 1). Upon arrival at the Manor we were shocked and amazed at the buildings and grounds. All I can say is breathtaking. Shortly afterwards we were introduced to the Polar Bears who guard the Manor. They had two Pyrenees Mountain Dogs who were absolutely adorable and liked to shed their white fur all over James' dark clothes. Extremely entertaining to watch James with the dogs, but not nearly as funny as Matteo who, while he would pet them, would not let them rub up against him and spent most of the time trying to get away which the dogs thought he was playing with them.
After meeting the Polar Bears we were shown around the house and two our rooms. I was staying in what was apparently an old nursery and their was a second kitchen right next to my room where Emily and I had a good chat before dinner. Also I got to stay in a proper four poster bed, which I was super excited for.
After the others finally joined us from their detour we had a spot of lunch in the pool house. Personally it would quite hard to get me away from the pool house if I lived there it was absolutely gorgeous. After lunch we, obviously, went for a long swim and a splash in the hot tub. Some people even did a bit of tanning.
Our swim eventually led us on to a tour of the grounds, where we met a swan at the lake and saw the helicopter pad the previous owner had put in. We also went to see this old tree referred to as the "Sleepy Hollow" tree and it was quite scary looking. Our party then broke up to take a nap before dinner. Emily and I went to find the kitchen for a chat. We knew that our rooms were in the part of the house the reminded us of the secret garden, and we found Emily's room right away. But we forgot where my room and the kitchen were. We did eventually find them but it took some time.
We had planned to scary Matteo that night with some mask, so about an hour before dinner we went back to the helipad(in the dark) and got some scary masks from the storage shed there. They were put in my room as mine was the most out of the way room and therefore the were least likely to be discovered there. However later that night we gave up the plan and I quickly moved the masks to the kitchen as they had started to freak me out, and I would have found it very hard to sleep.
We all met for dinner in our formal clothes and Venetia graced us with some lovely harp music while we sipped champagne and discusses cultured things. (James and I, being somewhat of suckers for culture and worldliness, had already determined it was the culture weekend. In fact the biggest insult you can give James is he is uncultured.) We also had a bit of fun playing with some Venetian masks. Makes sense that Venetia would have Venetian mask. Music was followed by a delicious dinner and of course some wine. And dinner followed with some desserts which were amazing. All in all I ate way too much that weekend, but it was so nice to get a proper meal for one. Dinner was of course followed by a movie, once we'd cleaned up. The movie was not the greatest but the company was so that made up for it.
Then it was time for bed and we were all quite tired. But it felt like I'd only just fallen asleep when Valeria and Emily tried to get into my room and made fun of me for barricading my door shut from the masks. I would like to point out that I did not barricade the door, there was a chest that made it hard to open and close the door. The girls were all up, dressed, and ready for the day at 9 am, but the boys were still sleeping. So we did what any sensible girl would do and went to get the papers for the family and the Financial Times for James as he simply cannot live without his weekly FT.
By the time we got back at 10 some of the boys had rudely started breakfast without us. But we forgave them, as it is what any Jane Austen character would have done and we all felt like we'd stepped back in time a little bit that weekend. (I would actually say it was more Agatha Christie without a mystery, but it could easily have been Austen as well. Manners at the Manor.) We toasted our breakfast muffins, crumpets, pancakes, and bread over an open fire and I even drank some coffee. Shocking I know, I still hate coffee, but thought I'd been offered tea and felt it would have been impolite to not at least sample the coffee.
The afternoon was spent chatting and feeding the chicken. Which I must admit watching a city slicker like James feed a chicken was hilarious. We had to take photos just to prove he could actually do it. Lunch followed quickly and then it was back home to the RAC. Good news a sequel weekend is in the works, bad news I had to eat dinning center food yet again. The food they serve here actually makes me miss ISU dining food, now that is saying something.
Next time in Dana's Blog look forward to the events of White Night, Mr. Methane, some comedian, and my plans for break!
PS. Took this quiz just for giggles, though you might like to know how British I am.
You Are 70% British |
 Congrats, mate. You're are probably British. (If not, definitely Australian. Or Kiwi. Or Canadian.) You enjoy most aspects of mainstream British culture, without being stereotypical about it. You also have a typical British temperament. You wouldn't dream of being impolite. |
No comments:
Post a Comment