England, June 18-July 5, 1983
Philip Brunelle, brilliant music director, superb pianist/organist, and imaginative program designer, suggested a group of us travel to Aldeburgh, England and Snape Maltings, a center of music training and performance founded by Sir Benjamin Britten, now directed by his partner, Sir Peter Pears; there we were to enjoy a performance of Dominick Argento’s one-act opera, Waterbird Talk.” We happily joined the merry band, bracketing the Brunelle blowout with other sightseeing, including the Henley Regatta of rowing.
![London, June 18-21, 1983; We four Hoeschlers, plus adopted grandfather, Manny Elson, arrive at Gatwick on Saturday, June 18. Despite Manny's lost luggage, we head for our hotel, freshen up [as best we can since our room is not ready until 12], and st](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62e163b72ac2810ad9183578/e0cee82f-cc0e-4910-bb4d-80f3cb5cc946/Scan+2.jpeg)
London, June 18-21, 1983; We four Hoeschlers, plus adopted grandfather, Manny Elson, arrive at Gatwick on Saturday, June 18. Despite Manny's lost luggage, we head for our hotel, freshen up [as best we can since our room is not ready until 12], and start our day in London town. We watch the tail end of the changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, then walk across the street to lovely St. James Park.
We spot a band concert in the park, rent chairs & promptly fall asleep (waking up occasionally to clap politely!); Manny appears to bless the crowd as he sort-of wakes up. After the concert we spot some Scots Guards.
Our flower, Kristen, poses with roses. Near Whitehall we see some more Guard changing.
Off to Trafalgar Square where a Christian chorus cants in counterpoint to a punk family & friend! We walk back to the hotel where we see new blend with old. Daughter loves her first day in London!
Monday, June 20. We wake up raaather late. Indeed, some locals have finished their rides in Potter's Row & are returning to the Royal Mews across from our hotel. Manny and I head to Burberry's to outfit him since it is clear his luggage is lost. He has a whee of a spree, then we head off to meet Jack & the kids at the British Museum. The Museum's frieze matches the original, the Elgin Marbles.
More ancient trophies of the Empire.
After a stop in a magic shoppe, and a merry dinner at the Gay Hussar, we head to Covent Garden and a Punch & Judy show near the original spot P&J shows were first performed. A "bird" is amused by the show, as is a 12-year-old American.
A band in Covent Garden; the two boys, Fritz and Manny, outside Covent Garden;We cap the day with this delightful 1928-musical reprise, "Mr Cinders." The kids get Dennis Lawson's (of Star Wars etc. fame) autograph. Manny falls out of the Men's Room, severely frightening several women. He has neglected to Mind the Step!
Tuesday, June 21. A deluxe tour of Lloyd's of London, then a roam through the Tower of London. We get Manny's new clothes from Burberry's then head to Canterbury (we go around certain roundabouts 2 or even 3 times!). We stop at the first bed & breakfast we see, a winner; Jack & I go for a walk after dinner. We start with the nearest church & cemetery, of course (St. Dunstan's).
We cross the River Stour and enter Canterbury town through the West Gate.
High Street tour in Canterbury: Jack spots an architectural tour for locals & of course we join in. We are educated about all the High Street styles.
We have lunch here the next day as it turns out. The cathedral as seen along the last leg of the Pilgrim's Way. A Hospital Close. Nearby we find an Italian restaurant where we have an exquisite meal, the best of the trip. A lovely end to a full day.
Wednesday, June 22. We start our walk with a peek at the neighbor's (left), then a stop at St. Dunstan's to read stones. Outside West Gate along the River Stour walk. Resting in a romantic setting by the river.
In a garden along Riverside Gardens--never again will I brag about my roses after seeing these Kent beauties! Great trout in the river, great roses, and lovely tourists. Manny, a St. Mildred's vandalizer! Inside Canterbury's West Gate.
Canterbury Cathedral! Outside Christchurch Gate with our new copy of Canterbury Tales in hand... we read these throughout the trip.
Inside this magnificent cathedral...
The site of the heinous event (assassination of Thomas Becket) which turned Canterbury into a pilgrim's destination. Before a ghost's image which cannot be removed.
Other sights in Canterbury...
"Twelfth Night" in Chilham Castle Gardens. The play's the thing to end another lovely, full day! The play is preceded by an Elizabethan festival of games and food. The castle grounds slope down to the Stour - note sheep in background.
Chilham Castle. We walk along the wooded road after dinner & before the play. The setting for the play. As a result of this experience, the children become Shakespeare enthusiasts. Rain held off until the very end.
Thursday, June 23. We leave our B&B in Canterbury & head for Rochester. We start our tour with the Dickens Walk. The Guildhall houses the town museum. Bull Hotel as in 'Pickwick Papers' or renamed 'Blue Boar' in Great Expectations. Watts Charity or Six Poor Travellers' House. In Christmas Tale called 'Seven Poor Travellers.'
Eastgate House, site of Charles Dickens Centre (Westgate House in Pickwick Papers, or Nun's House in Mystery of Edwin Drood); Uncle Dumblechook's House in Great Expectations; Dickens' chalet moved from Gad's Hill to Eastgate House.
Restoration House (Charles II). Home of Miss Havisham in Great Expectations; A landmark & its namesake?! Cathedral as seen from castle: begun in 1080 & consecrated in 1130.
Norman nave and Gothic choir; Brass rubbing in the crypt.
Inside Rochester's Norman castle. We leave Rochester & take Pilgrim's Way to Kit's Coty; On the long walk up to the site; Kit's Coty.
On to the lovely Leeds Castle; Golf course on one side of the castle.
Romantic ruins by the castle entry; White & black swans glide about. Behind wall are aviaries and garden; Illegal interior still life (unknowingly breaking the rule - am happy I did it!); Two pals in the garden (Fritz and Linda)
View from the garden; Manny, Jack and Fritz; Wild poppy blooms on garden wall; More roses!
Peacocks show their stuff at Leeds Castle grounds entry; After a barren trip to East Mersey, we found this delightful place in West Mersey (a town we remembered from our 1977 trip). The innkeeper guided us in our trip to Constable country & in finding accommodations in East Anglia. Great food too!
Friday, June 24. After breakfast & a load o two of laundry, we walk along the beach in West Mersea; A furry West Mersea friend; Motorcycle on beach had character, lacked speed! in front of museum in nearby Colchester. Norman castle built on site of Claudius's Roman temple (Old King Cole); Excellent history museum, small too.
The Brunelle tour begins. Aldeburgh (pron: Ald-bur) photos courtesy of Art Kaemmer; The hotel from seaside; Britten-Pears Library reception (we were too late); Views from the hotel.
Aldeburgh is a fishing town as well as a resort. The reception at the hotel after the concert of Dominick Argento's one-act opera.
The party was quite gentile... for a while.
And then things got a bit ...unconventional! Philip Brunelle demonstrates the use of the nose flute (brought to Aldeburgh by Dr. Kaemmer so we could all play Happy Birthday to Philip); Jack plays HB & other tunes; Benjamin Britten's secretary unsuccessfully attempts to master the instrument... and instead forms her own mouth whistle!
in honor of the full moon, the 3 Cancers (LLH, Philip and Art Kaemmer) 'grow' fang. Dr. Kaemmer hangs spoon on nose cum fangs; Dr. Kaemmer drinks wine cum spoon. The children watch the telly while waiting for the adult nonsense to pass.
Saturday, June 25. We have breakfast with our Minnesota friends, then as quickly as we came, we all leave Aldeburgh - some for France and Italy, the rest of us stay in England. We 5 (our family and Manny) go about 40 miles into East Anglia where we end up puttering around for the next 4-5 days. First we go to Constable country - the Dedham Vale area; East Bergholt. We continue reading Canterbury Tales while we wait for lunch. Two fine boys (Fritz and Manny). Constable was born in East Bergholt; E.B. church - Kristen in her favorite church environs; Belfry; Bells in resting position - Cromwell never let them be hung in the steeple belfry.
Rose Fete for Conservative Party in East Bergholt, on site of Randolph Churchill's home; Fete had food, games, jumble sale & majorettes! Constable's view of a similar fair in 1811. Cherub puzzles over the fete; A Conservative or a Liberal? Or a Labour interloper?
Constable Scenes: 1800s & 1983. View of Dedham Vale, June 1983 (from East Bergholt, R. Churchill's house).
Flatford Mill, 1983.
Willy Lott's much-painted cottage, 1983.
More Constable.
Sluice on the Stour, 1983; Water meadows, near Dedham, 1983; Water meadows, 1829 (nr. Salisbury... could be near Dedham)
Iris at Churchill's; Fritz reads his his jumble sale book; Kristen rents a boat for the grand Stour tour; and Manny seems a bit nervous about her rowing.
Father trains for Henley; Fritz leaps along the Stour (glad to be out of the boat?); A family of unruffled observers.
Hadleigh: Church of St. Mary, 14th-15th century; Kersey; Main street; Hadleigh Guildhall; Well and pump plus fancy straw roof.
Feeding ducks in the Kersey ford. We ended the day, Saturday, by settling into our bed and breakfast abode in Bildeston. We thought we'd just stay the night, but the historic setting, good company, and excellent food, seduced us to stay for four. Indeed, we only left because we had to get to Henley!
Sunday, June 26. After a lovely breakfast we head off for church in Bury St. Edmunds, stopping first in Stowmarket, then in lovely Woolpit (below) which was vying for 'Prettiest Village' or some such award; Woolpit; Manny matches Woolpit germaniums; Woolpit church interior, wherein we read the Suffolk folk tale about the little green people who were first seen in this community; Woolpit name comes from Wolf Pit since it was here they killed the last wolf in England; and Woolpit roses.
Bury St. Edmunds. Abbey ruins. Here English barons met in 1214 to demand that King John ratify the Magna Carta; In 1539 Henry VIII dissolved the Abbey and it fell into ruin; Controversial statue of St. Edmund, last king of the East Angles, who after being shot with arrows and beheaded was made a saint and his bones buried at Beodericsworth, today, Bury St. Edmunds; Norman tower, once the ceremonial gateway to the Abbey, now the Cathedral belfry; Inside Abbey grounds, looking towards the Cathedral.
After church at the Cathedral of St. James, we walked to St. Mary's Church, where the verger gave us a splendid tour; A Gothic heroine within the Abbey ruins; Famous ceilings.
This daughter of Henry VII and sister of Henry VIII is buried here; A merchant who had his tomb carved to look like his skeletal corpse.
West Stow Saxon Festival; Demonstrations of Saxon crafts of 700-900s; Five periods of recreated Saxon homes on site of original Saxon village; Spinning & weaving; Fritz cum goats; Milling grain.
A cooper; Playing on a goat's bone and other Saxon instruments; Frederick Reeves with a Saxon friend.
And the Vikings (Danes) invade the Saxons! First or second skirmish; Fritz as a Saxon; Red haired Viking battles to the end; Saxon admires a comely lady.
Ickworth, last tour of Sunday. Woman (as girl on right) still comes back to visit; Orangerie; Entry; from the formal garden.
Ickworth from the lake; Along the garden walk.
Monday, June 27. We have decided to follow this "Wool Town Heritage Trail" (which doesn't go as fast as I thought it would, causing us to stay in East Anglia until Wednesday!). Having seen Ickworth the day before, we start off in Lavenham. Here we take a long walk, make a few purchases (antique angel paintings and Kristen's Henley dress) then proceed on the trail; Church of SS. Peter and Paul, mainly 15th C.; Interior cum 14th C. rood screen.
The streets of Lavenham; Where the city ends, the fields start; Guildhall, ca. 1529.
Children dressed in Tudor style; Silk weaver at DeVere Hall. He showed us how to make cut velvet; A music stand sill life to consider (but don't purchase); Church of the Holy Trinity, 15th C., Long Melford (last stop of the day!!).
Tuesday, June 28. On Monday we had discovered Kentwell Hall in Long Melford. Since it only handled school groups during the week, and since we would not be back there on the weekend, we begged our way in... and were told to come back Tuesday at 10:15 to join a school class, which we gladly did. An excellent experience! "We entered through a tunnel & came out into their time." (FRH); "Where do you want me to take them?" "Boy, are you deaf? Get those sheep;" "A pretty young lass of 14 should be getting married. Will you meet me at the preacher's?"
Explaining their work to us; the Lord of the Manor; Getting the class to help with the raking; Chasing out the cat cum mouse & carrying out the wood.
First stop, the kitchen where the food is prepared according to 1569 recipes.
View from the kitchen; we discuss the Catholic/Reform debate with a visiting preacher; Hand-sewn shirts; making lace. The women spoke ever so softly and genteelly.
A woman gets her herbs heated; A classroom where we had lessons, saw a teacher trying to preserve the art of illuminated manuscripts; A concert and a dance demonstration; Wench with curds and whey (tasted good); More needlework.
Itinerant beekeeper explains how to move hives; We meet with the Master on horseback; Jack, having been given potions for baldness, is given an herb so we can have more than two children; We learn bowling on the green.
The moat on the backside of Kentwell Hall; Cooking lunch; Comely lass sniffs a pomander; Cooper.
Lady of the Manor who is the real owner; Potter wears elderberry for good luck; Manny discusses merits of a dung kiln.
By the stables; An anabaptist at the gate; Girl in our tour group with recorder; Two nice kids.
The women who sneaked us in; Girl from tour group; Continuing on the wool trail we went to Sudbury where we toured Gainsborough's house (dull) but stopped in a church where we found this young girl practicing reading from the Bible--most charming; Later in the day Kristen held up her elderberry for good luck! (Clare).
Clare, last stop of the day. A pleasant walk after a disappointing tour of the Cavendish Vineyard & its bitter wine! Moss and flowers grow on roof; local museum; More pargeting.
![Wednesday, June 29. the day has come when we must leave our Tudor abode. Sad; One last long look at Bildeston; E.J. throws down his sheets; Four with Pippa, our hostess; The long view of Martin's Weft; kids loved this name [Death & Son Ltd.]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62e163b72ac2810ad9183578/77001b8b-55ae-49d0-8a1f-15be2aa0d381/Scan+71.jpeg)
Wednesday, June 29. the day has come when we must leave our Tudor abode. Sad; One last long look at Bildeston; E.J. throws down his sheets; Four with Pippa, our hostess; The long view of Martin's Weft; kids loved this name [Death & Son Ltd.]
Windsor Castle, after a tiring trip around London; Victoria still reigns, no sign of merry wives, merely millions of tourists! Inside the Keep; Fritz is taken off balance! Having no luck in finding a B&B in Windsor, we head for the outskirts. There we send Manny into a pub where he finds a fine B&B for us in Ascot where we spend the next two nights. Dinner at Eton with a tour of the College.
Thursday, June 30. We leave our B&B that morning & head for Henley where we enter another century. On seeing all the well-dressed ladies, K. & I head into town to buy hats; in our new chapeaux; The boys are all suited up too; Watching races on the lawn, in front of an eating tent.
Out and about; Eating tent; the Duke as dressed by Burberry's (tie 10p at silk outlet in Sudbury!); Inside the Steward's Enclosure; Bunny eats crepes.
And now from the turn of the century as well as some in modern costume; Dixieland on the Thames.
We meet and cheer on the Georgetown Crew; Fr. Healey and Manny; Coach Jay Forster is interviewed by Washington Post.
Last minute pep talk by JJ Forster.
The race, hard fought but Georgetown loses.
A proper judge's boat; Well dressed spectators; Along the towpath.
A view of the start; Other races; The Ready signal; On your marks...
A man from Clare bikes to check and cheer his team! A common towpath sight; At about the 1/4 mile mark.
Some final portraits at the end of a delightful day at Henley! That night we went into London to the American Club for a reception for the Georgetown Crew. We then took in crazy 'Trafford Tanzi' before returning to our B&B in Ascot.
Friday, July 1. Jack & I go cum kids & E.J. back into London & the Rubens Hotel. JGH and LLH spend the day at Wimbledon (Tickets courtesy Stan Smith); McEnroe; Lendl.
McEnroe and Lendl bow to the Royal Box; Curran; That day E.J. cum kids went to Parliament & Madame Tussaud's. E.J. thought the kids lost & went back to hotel. After some tension & suspense, all were reunited & the day ended well.
July 4, 1983; July 5, 1983; MSP Airport; Once again Northwest Airlines has lost a piece of luggage!