A tale of two cities… and a few other places… COMPLETED About This Page:

[cubfancolleen]

Finally had the chance to catch back up. The fire damage is heartbreaking, but amazing what did survive. So tragic about the football, as that’s such a famous story.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Cam22

Already loving Polesden Lacey! Great photos!

It was a wonderful place.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by SuperDave

The state bedroom certainly suffered a lot of damage but you do get an idea of how beautiful it originally was by some of the remnants on the walls. The country house and the first room looks very well themed and comfortable. I could definitely live there with a bit of modernizing when necessary.

I like that - a bit of modernizing when necessary!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by cubfancolleen

Finally had the chance to catch back up.

Yay!

The fire damage is heartbreaking, but amazing what did survive. So tragic about the football, as that’s such a famous story.

I know. I thought that was perhaps the worst thing about the fire.

[chezp]

Ok, so I lied... there is an update today after all!

Saturday 23 September – part six: what a spectacular room!

We went upstairs, and learnt more about William McEwan, Mrs. Greville’s father… well, sort of. Let me explain a little more… He founded his own brewery in 1856, but that wasn’t that much of a surprise, given it was the family business. The brewery was making the equivalent of an annual turnover of more than £4 million within the first few years.

He married his housekeeper Helen Anderson at the age of 58, a lodging housekeeper, which raised eyebrows at that time, as you can imagine. Maggie’s birth certificate listed a commercial traveller as her father, which was very odd, as everyone believed he was the father. That tells you something…

I tell you, she must’ve been some force of nature, given to be illegitimate in those days really would put you back, but look what she made of herself. She married Ronald Greville, who was well connected and part of the close inner social circle around the Prince of Wales.

We then toured the upstairs rooms, and in one, I found a diary that documented the days before King Edward VIII abdicated from the throne in 1936, bookmarked because Mrs. Greville was mentioned in it, showcasing how much she was a part of society life in those days.



Isn’t this bathroom just amazing? Having an en-suite bathroom really was the height of luxury when this was put in back in 1907. The floor, radiator cover, and tiled walls are all made of marble. The legs of the sink are even plated with silver to give a bit of extra sparkle to the room. Sorry… I just can’t resist throwing one of these in here at that point:



The sitting room they had up here was beautiful. I could just imagine enjoying time in here.







We then went into this spectacular room….















It really was the highlight of the house. We then visited this room…






… and finished off in the study:



We headed outside, and it was a beautiful autumn day…





What an amazing place. I’m so glad we visited it. On the way out, we browsed the shop, and bought a couple of things, before heading to the Cowshed coffee shop (great name! ) to get a cream tea.

With that, we then made our way home, and that was the end of our vacation in our own back yard….

The weather today was dry and sunny with temperatures in the mid 60s.
The best thing today was visiting Polesden Lacy.
The worst thing today was was the destruction of the fire at Clandon Park. So sad.
Today we tried visiting Clandon Park
And the result was it was fascinating, albeit very sad, to see the state it’s currently in.
The most magical moment today was sitting in the outdoor hot tub.

Next: final thoughts

[SuperDave]

Didn't think there would be an update today. Hope you enjoyed the Donkey Sanctuary, but must have been tough without your beloved Gareth!

Nice rooms you're showing us and so well appointed. Love that room with the piano as so well appointed as well as the dining room. More amazing with the latter is the approach down the end of the beautiful long hallway that is open and not a closed room.

[purplegal]

That bathroom is beautiful and in such great shape, I love all the details in the house.

[manticorjenn]

I can't believe there were people actually sitting on the furniture in the one room. I would think that would be discouraged as they would want to save the fabric from wear and tear. I know I would definitely not feel comfortable doing it in such a lovely and historic place.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by SuperDave

Didn't think there would be an update today. Hope you enjoyed the Donkey Sanctuary, but must have been tough without your beloved Gareth!

It was and I cried a couple of times, but I'm glad we got back there. We made some fun new memories.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by manticorjenn

I can't believe there were people actually sitting on the furniture in the one room. I would think that would be discouraged as they would want to save the fabric from wear and tear. I know I would definitely not feel comfortable doing it in such a lovely and historic place.

The way it's done over here is that they put something over the chairs if you're not supposed to sit on them. If the chairs have arms, they'll put string across from one arm to the other or they might put a pine cone on, for example, so the rules are fairly clear and they usually have volunteers around just to check no-one seats where they shouldn't.

[chezp]

Final thoughts:

This was a very different trip for us in a number of ways. Yes, it was in our own backyard, but that’s not why it was different, as we’ve done similar trips, albeit not for some time. It was different because we were with someone who we knew was still grieving, and dealing with a difficult time of the year.

I wasn’t sure how Jan would cope, not just with that, but being away from home for the first time (she’d only ever cruised with Disney once before to the Bahamas), and jet lag. I have to say she did admirably with everything. She is such a strong person, and has been through so much over the last couple of years. I think many people in her place would’ve crumbled completely.

Despite that, we had a wonderful week together, and a lot of laughs along the way, which is I think was exactly what she needed. We also had some quieter moments, and we did remember Bill, but we took our lead from her on that. If she wanted to talk about him, then great. If she didn’t, then we wouldn’t mention him.

On the day of the anniversary of his death, she coped admirably, at least as far as we could see anyway. I knew that she really wanted to see Stonehenge, and planning that for that day was definitely the right thing to do.

We weren’t sure how she’d enjoy some of the things we’d got planned, like her first ever visit to a spa, but my goodness, she absolutely adored it. She even enjoyed our visit to the Donkey Sanctuary, and got some wonderful photos of me with Gareth.

In hindsight, perhaps we should’ve just kept her visit to the UK, as I have no doubt had she flown into London Gatwick from Orlando, she’d have had a much shorter wait at immigration, and I know Jan enjoyed London much more than Paris (right answer! ) but equally I know how much she adored the Notre Dame, and she told us she’d happily go back there again, so our day in Paris wasn’t completely wasted. I certainly wouldn’t tour the city on a weekend again. I think every time we’ve done it in the past, it’s been on a weekday, and boy it makes a huge difference. That wait at the Eiffel Tower was terrible, even for those of us who’d pre-booked tickets.

I wasn’t sure whether I’d packed too much into the itinerary, something I have a habit of doing. However, it did turn out Ok in the end, and we were able to pack it all in, but my goodness, I also lucked out in terms of getting on the earlier Gardens Highlights Tour around Buckingham Palace, otherwise I would’ve run out of time that day for everything.

It was also the first time that Mark and I had visited some of the places, like the Eiffel Tower, and the Tower of London for many years – probably since 2008, when Sue and Steve came to visit us. I’ve visited some of these places more recently, but with a friend, so it was lovely to go and see some of them again together.

So what were the highlights? Well, we asked Jan that, and she said she couldn’t pinpoint one for the whole week. She even struggled to pinpoint one for particular days, which we took to be a good sign. For me, the highlights had to be a very docile and calm Gareth, something I’ve never seen before, and petting him really was calming for me too, but I also have very fond memories of the rooftop pool at the spa in Bath, just because I saw Jan looking so completely relaxed.

I can’t finish without saying something about the weather. We really did luck out with it, considering a lot of the days had showers forecast. Apart from our first day on our own and our drive back home on the Monday, we didn’t experience that much rain, and had some days where it was dry all day. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to wear crops for much of the week, and ironically as the week went on, the temperatures got warmer. The day after we got back, we were into the low 70s, which is really high for this time of the year.

All in all, it was a lovely week, and I hope we get to see Jan again. We’re trying to persuade her to join us on the New York City to Quebec City cruise next September, as that will fall on the third anniversary of Bill’s death. Whether she does or not remains to be seen, but here’s hoping. We’d love to spend more time with her in the future.

[purplegal]

Thanks for taking us along on your adventures, your trip reports always makes me want to travel to all these places.

[karmic]

Thank you for sharing your trip- it was fantastic as usual!

[Colexis Mom]

What a great property to end your trip! Beautiful! I’m glad you guys and Jan had a great time, despite the circumstances! Thanks for taking us along for the ride!

[disney_duke]

What a stunning place! Sure sure sounded like a social butterfly, despite where she came from. Good for her!

I think your plan of Paris for Jan on the first day worked out perfectly. She was likely to be jet lagged on the first few days anyway, so why not throw in something completely different from the rest of the trip! Then she could concentrate more and be less tired on the England part. See? Perfect.

Always love reading the TR's, and this was an excellent one. Seeing things from another viewpoint is always a good time.
Thanks for sharing!