Newsletter #40 - March 18 to 25, 1960
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Newsletter #40
March 18 to March 25, 1960
England and Wales
Hello again,
Today [march 19] we drove through the pottery center
of Great Britain. This center is called Stoke-on-Trent and
incorporates the towns of Hanley, Burslem, Fenton, Tunstall
and Langton into one township. This township is the home of
the famous Wedgewood pottery as well as of other famous
potteries. We also went through the city of Liverpool - an
important seaport on the banks of the River Mersey. The
docks of Liverpool extend to a distance of over seven miles.
Here we saw a lovely Gothic style cathedral and the
Liverpool University which was founded in 1881. On the
outskirts of Liverpool, we saw the home of the Grand
National Races at the track called Aintree.
Another town of interest was Lancaster, situated on the
River Lune, which has an impressive Norman castle and a
number of fine Georgian homes. Tonight we are staying in
Stafford where the lovely antique Staffordshire figurines
were made many years ago. This quaint town has several old
churches and some lovely, preserved Elizabethan styled
homes. We arrived here early in the afternoon which enabled
us to take a walk into the heart of the town. We browsed
about in several of their shops during our walk.
It is Sunday [March 20] and at last we have a bit of
pleasant sunshine. We only drove a short distance today and
our drive took us through the large city of Birmingham.
Birmingham is a large industrial center with a few grand
cathedrals and impressive public buildings. However, the
city did not possess much more that was of interest to us.
After leaving here, we returned to Coventry, Kenilworth and
Warwick - three most interesting small towns with many
picturesque and quaint buildings. Of course, I told you
about these in a previous letter. Because we were so
impressed with these towns, we planned to return to them
again if we had time. Therefore, we made the most of our
sunshine today and took a few snaps of these enchanting
towns. Several miles away we found a charming hotel at
Stratford-on-Avon and retraced our tracks in this delightful
city. We took pictures of the many places of interest in
this area.
This morning [March 21] we toured all of the
Shakespearian properties because yesterday they were closed
and we only took photographs. We first visited Shakespeare's
birthplace on Henley Street. This house is a lovely
half-timbered house containing many rare Shakespearian
treasures. Our second stop was Hall's Croft in Old Town,
which was a fine Tudor house with a lovely walled garden
where Shakespeare's daughter, Susanna, and her husband, Dr.
John Hall, lived. The third stop was New Place on Chapel
Street where we saw the foundation of Shakespeare's last
home. This has been preserved in an Elizabethan
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garden setting. The Nash House, which was the home of
Shakespeare's second daughter and her lawyer husband, was
next to this one. Our fourth visit was to the town of
Wilmcote to visit the Mary Arden House. This was a lovely
Tudor farmhouse where Shakespeare's mother lived before she
married John Shakespeare. Here we also visited the old barn
which contains old carriages, bicycles and farming
implements of years' ago. Our last visit today took us to
the town of Shottery where we visited the picturesque
thatched cottage of Anne Hathaway. Here she was born and
lived until her marriage to William Shakespeare. These tours
were all very interesting as all five homes were furnished
completely typical of that period - some was the original
furniture of former homes.
We left Stratford-on-Avon about 2 P.M. and drove to
Worcester which is a fine old city on the Severn River.
Worcester is noted for its glove making and porcelain. This
city has many lovely old timbered houses, a well preserved
18th century church, a medieval cathedral, a 7th century
monastery and several other lovely ancient buildings. We
drove on to Shrewsbury, another very old and extremely
interesting town set on land formed by the Severn River. We
saw the 900-year old Shrewsbury Castle and the spacious
gardens surrounding it. After leaving Shrewsbury, we were
soon in the Country of Wales.
We are spending tonight in the town of Ruthin in North
Wales. Our hotel stands in St. Peter's Square and is a
lovely Elizabethan building with seven dormer windows and a
gorgeous stairway. Ruthin is in North Wales above the Vale
of Clwyd.
This morning [March 22] we went to see Ruthin
Castle, which is a very unusual castle, made of grey and red
stone and set midst a charming park. This castle has been
converted into a hospital. We next saw the Clwydian
Mountains, the Vale of Llangollen, Denbigh Moors and several
castles which are now being used as exclusive girls'
schools. We went through the town of Llangollen on the River
Dee with its quaint old bridge over the river. This town is
the home of the Welsh International Music Festival held in
July. Later we went to Llandudno which is an attractive
seaside resort on the Welsh Coast between the headlands of
the Great and Little Orme. This is a very scenic place and
seems to be the northern resort of Wales or the Riviera of
Wales. There is a long esplanade, sandy beach, golf course
and lovely park and garden area.
At Conway, a town nearby, we saw another of the many
fabulous castles of Wales. We drove through an exceedingly
rugged, mountainous area into a town nestled among the
Snowdon Mountains called Betws-y-coed. This means "Chapel in
the Wood" and is a favorite artist colony because of its
location in some of the loveliest glen scenery of Wales.
Another lovely area in this part of Northern Wales was the
Colwyn Bay section with its beautiful coastline.
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Today [March 23] we had two flat tires which makes
us quite disgusted since this is the fifth flat we've had in
the past six weeks. Meredith is getting to be an expert at
changing them. The people in England and Wales stop and want
to assist you which, we feel, is really being quite
hospitable.
During our tour today we saw Aberystwyth which is a small
seaside resort in a magnificent setting on Cardigan Bay.
This town is also the home of the University of Wales which
was founded in 1872. From here we drove long the coast until
we arrived at Swansea. This is another seaside resort which
is situated on the neck of the Gower Peninsula in South
Wales. Nearby we saw Mumbles, another resort with a
beautiful coastline. We also saw the buildings and campus of
Swansea University.
About thirty-five miles beyond Swansea, we came to Cardiff,
the capital and largest city of Wales. Cardiff is also a
port and industrial center of Wales. We went to the
Consulate where we really had a huge pile of mail that
included anniversary and St. Patrick's cards among the
ever-welcome mail. Again, we say thanks to all those
responsible for our "scads" of mail.
While in Cardiff, we saw beautiful Cardiff Castle which
dates from the 13th century. We also saw the many new
buildings as a great deal of Cardiff was ruined during the
War. Meredith was especially interested in this area as he
was stationed here for about two months in 1943. Tonight we
are staying in a town called Raglan - not far from Cardiff.
[March 24] We saw a lovely old castle before leaving
Raglan this morning and then started through more
lovely countryside along the Wales-England border. We first
stopped in the old historic town of Monmouth which is on the
Welsh border and has a castle, very much in ruins, which was
built by William the Conqueror and was the birthplace of
Henry V in 1388. Our next town was Gloucester, once an
important fortified Roman city, which was associated with
many colorful events in history. Henry III was crowned here
in 1216 and it is the city where Edward II was murdered by
his wife and her lover in 1327. Here we saw several relics
of the past as we drove through the city and also a lovely
cathedral which contains the tomb of King Edward II. This
cathedral has lovely interiors. We next came to a
picturesque Cotswold town named Burford. This town consisted
of only several streets, one being lined by quaint ancient
houses, inns and antique shops. We've been stopping at many
antique shops (at least 30) and in this town we've at last
found a warming pan with a nice brass lid and a handle in
good condition. England has many antiques, but so many of
them are either breakable or too difficult to ship home.
After Burford, we stopped at Cheltenham, a fashionable
resort town with lovely boulevards, distinctive shops and
many large and elegant homes. In one of the antique shops in
this town, I saw two Victorian Glass Domes with walnut bases
which I've searched for in vain around York County and
several other counties. However, they were 25 pounds or
$75.00 in our money and, since I was sure they would break
on the trip home, I had to leave them in Cheltenham.
Furthermore, I didn't think they were a particular bargain.
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Oxford, the ancient and beautiful university city on the
Thames
and Cherwell rivers, was our next stop. We had been in this
same
city several weeks ago so we only tarried here a short time
and
then had a drive among lots of traffic until we reached the
heart
of London. Tonight we are back in the same hotel on Russell
Square
in which we stayed four weeks ago. We took the tube into
Piccadilly
Circus tonight and then walked around to see the shops until
time
for dinner. We ate in a restaurant we had visited on our
last trip
and had a very good dinner. After dinner, we went to the
movies
to see "The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll". The settings of
this movie were all in and around Sydney, Australia and we
remembered
seeing many of the scenes last August.
Here is it Friday [March 25] and the last day of
another newsletter week. We
slept late this A.M. and then drove about London doing a bit
of
shopping and sight-seeing. We saw the crowds in Trafalgar
Square
who were having mass demonstrations because of the recent
South
African shootings. The demonstrators are mostly students who
have
really been giving these London Bobbies a very bad time.
Yesterday,
29 of them were arrested. We had an early dinner in town and
are
now doing our usual night ditties early as we plan to watch
TV tonight.
We now have our tickets for a 12-day cruise along the coast
of
Norway. This cruise will take us above the Arctic Circle
and, if
the snow is not too deep, we may get a tour into the area
where
the Laplanders live. This should prove most interesting. We
had to
get first class accommodations as the tourist class was
completely
taken. Therefore, I fear Meredith and I will look a little
shabby
when compared to the other passengers since we've spent
eleven
months in the same clothes and they certainly are showing
wear.
We have definitely given up the tour of Russia because we
can't
find the time since we want to sail on the 7th of June. Our
trip
to Finland will also be only a short one as we'll have to
fly there
without taking the car. Taking a boat would take several
days and
we just don't have the time. Our next three months will
certainly
be busy ones but then, most people take less time than this
for a
complete tour of Europe.
Our health has still been very good and we certainly hope it
will
continue. Hoping this letter finds all of you in happy
spirits and
good health also, we remain
Lovingly,
Meredith & Charlotte
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