Monday's Memories: Lacock Abbey

Sunday was Apple Day at Lacock Abbey.  I'm not sure what the origins of the day are, but I assumed it had something to do with the apple harvest.  The following Sunday when we were back in London I noticed there was an Apple Day celebration going on there, too.  At Lacock Abbey this included games for kids and families, music, apple scones, apple pies, apple butter, apple cider, and anything else yummy with apples in it.  We watched an exciting obstacle course race.

 I think the middle boy is the only one following the rules.

I guess it is much easier if you just hold the apple.

After our time in Oxford and all the beautiful, different trees we saw I started paying more attention to the trees around us. I took pictures for my mom, who loves a good tree picture.

 

The Abbey was really beautiful with an interesting history.  It had been an abbey (obviously), a private residence, and like the Professor's house in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, had housed children and other evacuees during the war.  Of most recent interest, it was used as a location in the first two Harry Potter movies.  Professor Snape's dungeon classroom was filmed here, as well as scenes in Professor McGonagall's office.

I like tower rooms.

 Recognize Hogwarts?

If I had time I would link up shots from the movie...but I don't.  So you'll just have to look for it next time you're watching.  I think they shot the scenes here for the forbidden third floor in the first movie, as well as the scenes with the Mirror of Erised.  The 700-year-old cloisters were a good backdrop for an ancient castle.

Snape's classroom was the most recognizable. 

I didn't take too many pictures of the rest of the Abbey.  I guess I was just enjoying the rooms and forgot my camera for a little while.  I did really like the great stone kitchen and the lovely old oven.

I loved this for its absurdly long name for a grocery list.

It's also fun to look at the items needed in a 1940s household.

 a little dress-up in period clothes

I could get used to that.

 the South Gallery

I played the piano a bit in this room.

 the famous window from the first photographic negative

And that was Lacock.  We trooped back to the car park and headed to Bath.

Book-Inspired

Friday's Flashback: A Pioneer in Photography

One of the things I most looked forward to planning our trip were the photography opportunities.  I'm sure you never would have guessed that.  I probably had about 10 GB of pictures on my 16 GB card at this point so when we entered Lacock Abbey and found an exhibit on the "father of modern photography" it was a nice surprise.

I wrote in my post from England a little about my amazement at the ingenuity of people.  "Oh, how charming it would be if it were possible to cause these natural images to imprint themselves durably and remain fixed upon the paper!  And why should it not be possible?  I asked myself."  Why indeed?  I for one am glad he took it upon himself to make his dream a reality.

A one-hour exposure time is hard to imagine.

I think the thing we found most interesting was that Talbot was responsible for the first negative.  The earliest surviving negative is of a picture he took of the below window.

There was also an exhibit about George Bernard Shaw.  Some of the self-portraits displayed were familiar to me, but I think I most recognized his name from his writing.  I didn't realize his relationship to photography in the UK.

I really like this picture.

Though I don't look nearly as cool, it reminded me of this one.

I think this is a more accurate picture of my photographic history, though.

 

Speaking of images fixed durably upon paper, I really need to order some prints.  It's been awhile.

Party People

Sunday night we had a little gathering of friends from the Mission Community and new friends from our neighborhood.  It was our first time to really use our outdoor space, and I really enjoyed it.  I've got lots of patio improvement ideas now.

While we were in the midst of setting up the tent the sky clouded up and the wind started blowing.  We were so thankful for the Lord's kindness in this way.  I think we would have been miserable with the sun burning down on us.

I'm glad pictures freeze happy moments in time...about an hour later the hammock swing fell with Ella in it.  She suffered no worse than a scraped toe and a knock on the head from the top of the swing, but still...she had this happy moment.

We spent the day with my family yesterday at my brother and sister-in-law's house.  It's always so good for us all to be together.

 The kids had lots of fun with darts and water guns.  How many pictures will I take this summer of James shooting people with water guns?  My favorite yesterday was this one of him cutting his eyes and seriously contemplating spraying his great grandmother in the face.

Yum.

SCRUMPTIOUS cake my mom made

(with the best icing I've ever had)

 my favorite law enforcer

 my favorite kids

 I think they look alike.

We had a really pleasant day, though of course we were tired when we got home.  We had a few other adventures...like stopping in the bad part of town because both kids had to go to the bathroom AT ONCE, and then of course the place we stopped, well, their bathroom was out of order.  After that we loaded a crying James back in the car and drove across the street.  

On the way back home James was completely wired.  That 4th of July baby drank way too much sweet tea, and we all felt the effects.  He wasn't really unpleasant...just extremely talkative.  

We played around with sparklers before bed, and then I walked up the street to take pictures of our neighbors' fireworks since we decided not to venture out with James after bedtime.  Maybe next year.

James Hits it Out of the Park

He makes contact.

And he popped it right over the back fence.

We all cheered.

And Uncle Kameron did a celebratory dance.

I love that little slugger.

Monday's Memories: Lacock

We loaded up our car and got an early start Sunday morning for the village of Lacock, an old village left virtually unchanged by time.  I think this is due in part to the fact that the land was owned by the Talbot family until just after WWII.  Matilda Talbot, who never married, gave the estate to the National Trust in 1944.  A lot of period films and television series are filmed here because there's not much that has to be done to make Lacock look 200 years older again.

The church was filled with happy people celebrating a baptism, and there was already a guide leading a group of tourists through the streets.  We explored several little shops that were narrow with winding staircases that kept going up and up.  I was trying to make careful purchases, but now I wish I'd bought everything.  There were a lot of antiques and handcrafted items.  KJ took charge of the camera while I shopped.

I'm not sure if KJ was photographing the spiderwebs

or the sign, but I really like the webs in the morning light.

Have you seen Cranford?  If not, you obviously should.  The village of Lacock is Cranford.  Those characters...and those actresses...are brilliant.

a look at how they transformed the town

Lacock was also used as the village of Meryton in Pride and Prejudice as the location of the ball.

 

You can also see it in the background of the Bennet girls meeting Wickham in Meryton.

It's been such fun recognizing these places in our favorite movies.