English vacation (Day 9): Bodiam and Bateman's

First off, Happy Birthday, Mom! You're the best mother-in-law I could hope for, and such a great grandma to my kids. You're a great mom to your son too, and I'm glad you make such an effort to be a part of our lives even though you live so far away.

We started off our day this morning with a visit to Daisha's old ladies. Daisha volunteers to be a befriender to a couple of older ladies (mother and daughter) on Tuesdays, so we went with her, minus Hyrum and Kiersa. Kiersa started getting a cold and was a little irritable, so Hyrum got the fun job of taking care of her while we visited.


After the visit, we headed out to see more castles and homes. We started out with Bodiam castle, which is a real battle castle. There were ducks everywhere, so the kids chased them. We thought they might attack the kids like they had attacked Mel's boy, Joseph, a couple of years ago, but no.


Bodiam was built with the most sophisticated methods of defense for the time, but it was built in the 1300s, and it didn't actually ever see any battles. Though the outside looks daunting to an invader, the interior was actually quite luxurious at the time. Now, it's just a ruin. It was fun to explore, but I have to say I'd hate to climb the spiral staircases to the top of the towers wearing armor. The descent felt even scarier, especially with kids. I've always wondered how people went to the bathroom in castles. What they did was had bathrooms located along the outer wall and their waste would go into the moat. Pretty nasty, but actually pretty functional. I guess falling in a moat would be a bit like falling in a sewer pond, which would make it an ever better defense.


They had a WW1 bunker at Bodiam also that Hyrum and the kids checked out.


After Bodiam, we went on to Bateman's, which was the country home of Rudyard Kipling (who's buried in Westminster Abbey).

He was the author of Jungle Book. His house had really short doorways and was rather dark, but I loved the grounds! I adore it when vines are growing up the exterior of homes. His pond was so clear and still that it looked like there wasn't even water in it. It looked like the goldfish were swimming in air.


I found a lot of funny things while we were there that I couldn't resist taking pictures of. Sorrel! Like on 7 Brides for 7 Brothers (a Cluff fave).

These are the warts you get from sneezing on yourself.

These kind of sinks are everywhere in England, with the seperate faucets. They're so annoying! My house had that, until we ripped them out during the remodel.

I guess the gardener has a sense of humor.

In case you're dangerously thin, this water might help.

I found this book in Bateman's gift shop. The gift every man needs??


On our way home from Bateman's, Hyatt and Kiersa fell asleep holding hands. I love stuff like that!


We stopped at the grocery store (Tesco) and I couldn't resist taking pictures of the funny or cool things they have at their stores. First of all, if you have kids, you get priority parking with a large space.


Next, the shopping carts have a list holder and a hook for a purse. Also, all four wheels swivel, instead of the back wheels being fixed, which makes for an interesting ride through the store, and it's difficult to push on even the slightest incline.

The store was impossibly cold in the refrigerated areas. I thought I was going to get frostbite! No really, it was seriously cold!!! The produce section is just bins of fruit, rather than gorgeous piles of colorful produce stacked up beautifully and artistically.

Here's a sign you wouldn't see in America. Squash is concentrated fruit drinks, like Ribena (black current juice).

When something is seedless or without pulp, they say "no bits".

I couldn't resist!


All the large pop bottles are tall and skinny for space saving. They're all shaped like this. And the juice comes in rectangle cardboard boxes (you see them next to the pop).


After shopping, we had really great burritos for dinner, then we started watching Cranford, a BBC costume drama. It was our engagiversary today, but we forgot about it until late in the evening. Oops! Also, Hyrum had a few work crisis back home and he thought he might have to fly home tomorrow to make sure his business didn't go crazy without him, but after a long skype and phone call, things were smoothed out, thankfully. On a sad note, Hyrum's Grandma Rae died a few days ago. He wanted to be at the funeral, but wouldn't be able to get a flight back to make it in time. The funeral is today in Wyoming. A lot has been happening, good and bad, but we're enjoying ourselves, even with sickness and loss. We're glad to finally have made it out here.