Today we join up with Alison and her band of merry historians for the start of the Northumbria tour. This means moving out of our current hotel and heading 500 feet down the road to the hotel we are staying at in the tour. I know this doesn’t make much sense but the Milner was quite a bit cheaper for a still lovely hotel and I didn’t want to get the cheap room for my pre stay at the Grand and not get upgraded when the tour started. So two trips pushing our luggage down the street while raining no less was how we started the day. Actually we started the day cramming our stuff back into the suitcase but everything fit well enough for the short distance it had to travel.

Once at the Grand we checked in with the tour and were greeted by Alison, Nicola, Julian and Michael the main historians in the tour. Sarah and Tracy are joining later. Elizabeth Norton is also along for a bit of this tour so excited about meeting someone new and a whole new set of books to look.

We talk to some other returning guests we have met on other tours then headed out for a walk before lunch. It had at least stopped raining so we walked along the battlement walls for a bit before returning to the hotel for a light lunch.

After lunch a small group of us went out to Beningbrough Hall. A stately family home built in 1716. It was used as barracks for part of the RAF and the Canadian Royal Air Force during WWII. There was a cute story of an air force officer and a local WASP who carved their name in one of the mantels, Gypsy and Ollie. As the story goes both lived but did not stay together. Gypsy came for a visit much recently and gave staff a lot of information about what went on in the house during the war years. According to Gypsy one guy road his motorcycle up one staircase down the hall and then down the other staircase to win a pint of beer in the officers bar.

The house was pretty plain. It was built by a son (replacing the much smaller Elizabethan structure) in the Italian style. He had recently returned from his grand tour when he inherited the property and wanted it to reflect his new modern and cultured aesthetic. One item in the house made me think of my first trip to Italy and Switzerland where we met this older couple from the Deep South. She was so proud of the David sculpture they had bought (that was before they saw them on every corner) but anyway she went on and on about it and I can only imagine it having a place of honor in her house still today. So when I saw the small Italian sculpture that was brought from the world tour that inspired the house design I wondered if someday those mass produced David sculptures will show up similarly display.

The house was also housing an art installation which was odd but seeing how the gardens were the highlight of the place it wasn’t completely out in left field. It was big twig sculptures. One was huge and took up most of one of the larger rooms. The rest were small table size sculptures but the one was massive. There was a video showing how she made them which i didn’t really watch since up to then they had all been small. I have no idea how she got this one in the room or if she made it in the room how long it took.

The rest of the house was done in the style of 1750 or so with two large posted beds demonstrating the style at the time.

The house wasn’t much but the gardens were spectacular with flowers, fruit and vegetables. It was clear they used the fruit as they were out picking fruit from the trees while we were there. The sun came out but with the wind it was still a pleasant day so it was nice to ramble through the garden admiring the flowers.

Our first dinner was at the hotel. The beef Wellington was delicious. I had a bit too much wine and now I need to go to bed. Nicola was at our table so we discussed Margaret Beaufort still one of my favorites. Alison gave a talk on the medieval monistic orders and the delusion of them by Henry VIII. It was informative. I just wish I had not had so much to drink so I could remember it.

Tomorrow we are off for a new adventure.