In Harry Potter's Footsteps

Yesterday I went to Lacock Abbey.

You know I really don't feel like blogging about this.

I at least don't intend on making this a formal post. (Read: incorrect grammar and fragmented sentences ahead)

It was a great trip but I need to figure out chemistry but I feel like I need a book to do that because I don't really get what's going on.
I think I shall have one of these "freakingoutwhydoIprocrastinate" introductory paragraphs before I actually go into my post.

Being homesick makes me grumpy. Not having a car makes me grumpy. Not getting sleep makes me grumpy. Eating the same things many times makes me grumpy. What if I just want arby's?? GAH!
I like my digital picture frame though. Definitely one of my favorite Christmas presents even if I don't want to admit it. Hey I got him skyward sword. That is a good game! I miss it.
I am holding back the desire to cuss for the kiddos that may be reading this that are related to me. Oh did I mention I also get grumpy when the third fire drill in 3-4 days wakes me up from bed YET AGAIN.

So this was a nice little daytrip. Didn't take a whole lot of planning. The Abbey didn't open up until 10 or 11. Rode a train (3.50 pounds for a return ticket/there and back) to Chippenham. Explored it a bit. It's a pretty small little town. The main street was shut down for a market. We (Matt and I) walked around St. Andrew's church and saw a couple of tudor-style houses and we walked past a building called The Bear and we found the bus station eventually and we ate breakfast at Gregg's which is this bakery and I had hot chocolate (which really wasn't that good but it was a hot drink) and a bacon and sausage sandwich thing for 2 pounds. It was great. And the bread was fresh.

Well we had 45 minutes until the bus left, so we checked out the Chippenham museum. The two elder gentleman manning the visitor's desk were very eager to talk to us and impart knowledge. They were very friendly, it was a good use of time. The museum itself was alright. We found out Chippenham established the first police force in England. I think Gloucester was not far behind. They told us to eat at the George.

So we got on our bus to Lacock and we got off a stop too early but we walked around and charmed by how cute the little town was and how incredibly English it was. When an American thinks of an English town, the image that comes to their mind is this city. Perhaps it's because a lot of filming is done there.

The abbey itself costs about 10 pounds to get into. The abbey is surrounded by gardens, but the crocuses were only just coming up. You could see the purple buds but the only thing that was blooming were a couple of rare daffodils. Some daisies and round pink little flowers were coming up, and some tulips too, though there are not going to be any tulips in the rose garden this year because a badger ate them.
I'd say the 10 pounds was worth it, because then you can go upstairs and stay out of the cold and explore the rooms. There are a lot of interesting things in there because the Talbot's had a lot of scientific interests and collected seashells and books and many other knick knacks. There are paintings of people that lived in the house all over the walls. Some looked quite familiar, but it could have been the style more than the actual painting. There were stone fireplaces everywhere...
Really the whole reason I went was because some Harry Potter scenes were filmed in the cloisters. It's the only part that still feels like it was an Abbey. It was one of the last churches/abbeys to be destroyed by Henry the 8th because it had the most money. To destroy churches, they would strip the lead from the roof. Someone bought the abbey and used it as a home and took down the church, but the cloisters remained untouched and most of the changes were made to the upstairs.

The abbey is also where the first photo negative was taken. It was taken out of one of the windows with a rather primitive camera. I think it was taken by a camera in the style of one of the "mousetrap" cameras in the picture on the right.

And that's really all I have to say. The food at the George was pretty good. It was 7.50 pounds for me to eat fish and chips and a water (Fish and chips always come with peas here), so that's not so bad for a touristy area.

More photos of the Abbey. (The window the first photo negative was taken out a bay window next to the octagonal tower. You can see it in the first photo (farthest left) in the third row down).

 

The following photos are from the great hall.

 These photos are from the garden