Great Britain
Day 18 - Sunday, 25 May 1997
At breakfast, Lyn turned out to be a very interesting hostess, telling us about how only tough animals could live here. The sheep have to have long shaggy wool which is much too coarse to be used for anything but stuffing furniture. Their farm is a breeding farm, and they only raise animals for sale as breeders. She and her husband had raised the top-selling animal for several years in a row, and this past year had taken second place.
She talked about her brother for whom she had little regard, describing him as being "a waste of space," and "of no use nor ornament." She had other quaint little expressions which I didn't get committed to paper before they faded from memory. We sat at breakfast longer than we had intended, just listening to her and talking with the only other two guests - Edd and Laura Bills from Morgantown, West Virginia! He is in forestry, and they are both associated with a missionary alliance.
Housestead's Fort
When we finally left there, we went on to Housestead's Fort where we wandered over green pastures, through more Roman history and shaggy animals before heading on to York.
Jim got a cute picture of
two little black-faced lambs who stopped by the path and posed for him.
For lunch, we bought some items at a little store, then stopped at Toytop Park and ate at a little table in the woods. It was lovely, a relaxing and peaceful stop. The sign at the entrance reminded us that we were in England:
Cars and touring caravans welcome
NO lorries or coaches
York
We arrived in York in time to check in to the Sycamore B&B, tour the town, and have dinner at the Hogshead Pub before going to Evensong. Because it was Trinity Sunday, services were held in Holy Trinity Goodramgate. One of the scripture readings was done by The Rt. Hon. the Lord Mayor Councillor Mick Bradley. The Lord Bishop Suffragan of Selby, The Right Reverend Humphrey Taylor delivered the sermon.
We felt quite special to have experienced this. The church is
usually closed and is only used on special occasions such as this one. The Lord
Bishop made mention of there being an overabundance of church buildings in
York. The service was conducted by the Chaplain to the Friends of Holy Trinity
Goodramgate, the Reverend David Porter - doubtless a long-distant relative of
my father, Jesse Porter.
York is an old and quaint town, with a still-standing wall you can walk on, the remains of St. Mary's abbey in the middle of a lovely park, the ruins of a hospital nearby, crooked streets and alleys, quaint and interesting little shops, pigeons and children playing together in the museum gardens, and the River Ouse flowing through it.
We walked on the wall, had tea and trifle on a street called the Shambles, wandered through the open air market and had a wonderful doughnut cooked right before our eyes. Just remembering it makes my mouth water for another one!