KK's Victory Lap

Friday! I can not keep up with where I have been! Oh yeah, we went to Chatsworth House, which is a stately home in Derbyshire, England west of Chesterfield. It is the seat of the Duke of Devonshire and has been home to the Cavendish family since 1549. It was different from the other stately homes and castles we have been in because it had a mixture of modern and classic decor.

Wikipedia pic of the front of Chatsworth House

Left: Foyer and staircase

Right: Library

Guest Bedrooms

Left: Dining Hall with modern chairs

Right: Fireplace in dining hall

When we got back to Nottingham, we went to Wollaton Hall and Deer Park. It is an Elizabethan country house standing on a small but prominent hill in Wollaton Park in Nottingham. It is now a Natural History Museum and Industrial Museum. The surrounding park is used for large-scale events like rock concerts, sporting events and festivals. It was built between 1580 and 1588 for Sir Francis Willoughby who was an industrialist and coal owner. It is also a free run deer park and they were everywhere!! (So was deer poo)

Wollaton Hall

Wollaton Hall and Deer Park

Wollaton Hall Gardens

Saturday we drove north to York. On our way, we drove through Sherwood Forest and stopped at a precious town named Edwinstowe where the Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre is located. It wasn't open yet so we went into town and had tea (me coffee) and scones.

Statue of Robin Hood and Maid Marian in Edwinstowe

On to York..........York is a historic walled city at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events in England throughout much of its two millennia of existence. The York Minster is the cathedral of York, England and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the second-highest office of the Church of England. The first highest is Archbishop of Canterbury, that I visited while in East Sussex. It is long suspected that the Archbishop of York and his cronies plotted the murder of Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The original wooden cathedral was built in 637, the current structure was began in 1220. They are in the process of making repairs to much of the stonework and stained glass windows now.

Left: front of York Minster

Right: the west window and entry

The nave inside York Minster

The Quire (Choir?) inside York Minster

Left: The Great East Window

Right: The panel 'The Seven Churches' from Revelation 1:20 John being told by an angel to write to the seven churches in Asia about his vision. Each church is represented by an archbishop standing in a shrine-like canopied building

The Great East Window is the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in Britain, the master-piece of Coventry glazier John Thornton. It was commissioned in 1405 and he was paid £56. It is the size of a tennis court and was completed in 1408. He was rewarded £10 for completing in in a timely manner!! It is a work of immense ambition, depicting the beginning and end of all things, from the creation of the world as described in the book of Genesis, to the events that will presage the end of the world and the second coming of Christ told in the visionary Book of Revelation.

York was soooooo full of tourists. It was a Saturday after all, but it was very crowded. There is an area called the Shambles. It is an old street in York, with overhanging timber-framed buildings, some dating back as far as the 14th century. The word shambles is the word for shelves that butchers used to display their meat. As recently as 1872 there were 25 butchers' shops in the street, but now there are none! We ate lunch at a small restaurant on The Shambles! We also saw some sort of procession from the York Minster going down the street.