Last night Dan and I took a trip to Fountains Abbey. Fountains Abbey opened in 1132 and was dismantled at the behest of Henry VIII with the dissolution of the monasteries. Now this thing is absolutely massive and it apparently originally had a copper roof which was taken off of the abbey when it was disbanded. I can't even imagine how the massive windows withstood the wind. They play monks chanting over the speakers and you can hear it throughout the property. The best view was from the back field with the windows all lined up through the center of Abbey. It was just incredible. I also promised more photos of Markington Hall itself (The internet here is very slow so I'm only posting a few pictures and will try to add more tomorrow). Hank told me about all of the work that has been happening to restore older pieces of the house. But because he doesn't have any of the historical plans getting through the historical society has been a bit difficult. I clearly took this as a challenge and have been digging around trying to find the historical plans. I took the information that I knew and just kind of took off searching and following different names. And this morning all my ridiculous searching paid off because I think I found the plans and they are at the University Library in Leeds. Dan and I are planning a trip to go and request to see the historic plans so that we can have a better idea of what they intended certain parts of the property to look like. I think this week I get to start overhauling the kitchen garden and I'm going to suggest that we begin rebuilding the green house before it starts to get too cold. Every time Hank riddles off another project he's thinking about I write it on a secret list of reasons why I'm going to have to stay and help forever.
After my 9 hour flight with a 2 year old screaming constantly behind me, being awake for 24 hours straight, 2 long train rides and a drive I finally arrived at Markington Hall outside of Harrogate. After arriving my sleep deprivation had my anxiety a bit high, but after meeting the Wilberforce family and getting my things put up in my room I began to settle in. Julie and William (Hank) are absolutely the best and I've made fast friends with their son Dan (26) who recently moved home from Amsterdam. Robbie (19) has been under the weather but ate 2 bowls of the soup I made yesterday and made a "Siri" Joke today so we're getting there. The first couple of days my sleep was a bit in chunks due to the 8 hour time difference, but its only been getting more steady. I'm loving the work that I'm doing. Everyday I go and check in on the chickens and collect eggs. The first day we picked up branches that had blown down and bagged them for kindling. Then I got to take the riding mower and collect all of the leaves around the grounds. The second day Hank took me to the farm up the road to collect wheat for the pheasant and partridge feeders around the estate. It was necessary but very heavy lifting and I have the bruises to prove it. Next I collected all of the apples that had fallen for the sheep and picked up the leaves around the front of the house. There is a flower bed along the front side of the property and as I was collecting apples I kept looking over trying to figure out what kinds of berries were growing on the rose bushes. Then I realized they were hundreds of rose hips! It reminded me of the story grandma told about her friend coming over to steal her rose hips to make award winning preserves for the fair. Saturday- Today I didn't have to work, but I overheard the guys talking about chopping apart and felling some trees at the edge of the property and knew I had to go and take photo documentation of such an event. Dan and I sported plaid flannel in pure lumberjack fashion. We all put on our wellies and headed out in 2 Land Rovers, the older of the 2 being a 1973 Defender that saw action in the Falklands (Annika this one is your cup of tea). All started well, we drove up the road and turned into a break in the hedges into a field. I'm glad Dan was driving because I would have had no idea where I was going. We finally made it to the spot where the trees were down across the creek and got out to prep for the cutting. OK, I should say the guys got the chainsaws ready and I stood around taking pictures. But I was mainly there for moral support since in England you have to be certified to use a chainsaw (PLUS those chunks of tree trunk were crazy heavy and I kindly let Robbie do the lifting). Because a tree had fallen across the creek gully half the logs were on the other side of the gully. So instead of carrying the heavy logs and fording the shallow creek Robbie said Dan was going to move the 73 Land rover closer, or at least thats what I thought he said. The next thing we know Dan is attempting to drive Old Faithful across the creek and gets stuck between the 2 sides! It was both hilarious and unfortunate. Needless to say chaos ensued as we discussed and planned how we were going to get the Rover unstuck from the bank of mud. Finally we all agreed that we needed to gather flat cobbles (stones) to place under the tires to allow for better traction. Dan had clearly decided that I hadn't gotten quite dirty enough since my arrival and began dropping large stones into the mud right in front of me. He knows that I'm planning something massive to get him back, but he won't know when its coming. After endless attempts to slowly move the Rover and readjust the stones over and over again we almost had it out, but we had disrupted the bank so much that it just began to sink down. As Hank and I were attempting to use the jack to lift the tires so we could place stones directly underneath Dan and Robbie were busy building a stone pathway across the creek a little way down so they could drive the other land rover over and use the winch to pull Old Faithful up. Luckily that trip across the creek bed was successful, otherwise I think Hank might have had a coronary. But the land rover didn't have the right tires to even hope to get the 73 out of the gully. So Dan and I drove around the field to where a farmer was plowing and asked if he could come and give us a hand. He called his mate who came with his young son in their Land Rover to give us a pull. But unfortunately to no avail the Defender stayed put, in which case we finally got the tractor over and were able to get Old Faithful out of the gully. Dan and I hopped in to go back and pick up more of the logs that had been left back on the other side. But as we drove back up to the original spot we realized that Hank and Robbie had tried to drive back across the gully at the shallower point and had got the other land rover stuck!!!!!!!! Dan and I burst out laughing but luckily were able to quickly hook up the winch and get the Rover out of the Creek. By that point I think we'd all had about enough and headed home for a much deserved cup of tea. I've created a fund my travel website to help me off set some of the costs of my journey. I have a bit saved already but would be grateful for anything you would like to contribute. There are fun incentives including video shout outs, postcards, and souvenirs!
I DID IT! Last night I purchased a one way ticket to London! I will be leaving from Seattle on October 2nd. It is both exhilarating and daunting not to have a return ticket, but I am excited at the prospect of an unknown journey. Things that I DO know: I will be staying and working at an Estate called markingtonhall.co.uk/ outside of Leeds for a bit. I hope to spend some time in Scotland and Wales as well. I think I've needed this journey for quite some time and I'm very excited to get underway.
Stay tuned for more updates! |