Long Way Home Through Derbyshire

After we said goodbye to the students and staff of Clare College, Mark and I traveled by train to the Peaks District in Derbyshire to Rowsley where the Peacock Inn is located.

The Peacock Inn was built in 1652 for John Stevenson, whose name you can see was carved in the stone above the Inn's front door.  Stevenson was a land agent to the Manners family, who occupied Haddon Hall, which I discuss further on in this posting. 

A pretty sight across the street from the Peacock Inn.

On this beautiful Saturday, we decided to visit two famous residences in this area:  Chatsworth House and Haddon Hall.  So, let's start with Chatsworth House:

Chatsworth is a family home set up as a working community with beautiful and accessible 737 hectares of landscaped grounds.  It is currently set up under the Chatsworth House Trust where the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire live. 

During their marriage in the 1500's, Bess of Hardwick and Sir William Cavendish built Chatsworth with the money he made in the service of King Henry VIII.  As you will see from the photos below, Chatsworth has been handed down through 16 generations, five centuries, of the Cavendish family - from father to eldest son or the nearest male heir. 

The many interior rooms bring together paintings, sculptures, furniture, furnishings, and history collected by the family and experienced by well-known British royalty and politicians:

 

 

The grounds around Chatsworth are well-worth a long walk through individual gardens, expanses of lawns and beautiful views, and unique sculptures and fountains:

After Chatsworth, we headed over to Haddon Hall, time-traveling further back in time to Medieval times.  Haddon Hall, a fine example of Medieval and Tudor architectures, is the home of Lord Edward Manners, whose family acquired it over 400 years ago and has existed on this site since Norman times. 

Considered to be "the English castle par excellence" by Pevsner, Haddon Hall sits in the valley of the River Wye, which Mark fished in 2013 when we visited last.  The castle sits above the river on a limestone bluff and is considered a good example of a "fortified manor house." 

Haddon Hall was unoccupied from the 18th century until the early 20th century when Lord Manner's grandfather, the 9th Duke of Rutland, returned to Haddon and restored its glory.  On our visit, there was a "Tudor Muster" display being presented.

 

These gardens were created by Lord Manner's grandmother and are inspiring as we walked through the "rooms" of colorful flowers and lawns. 

We leave for California after this weekend so we must say farewell to beautiful England and to a great study abroad summer. 

Farewell Dinner, Farewell Students

On Sept. 11^th, Mark gave the final exam that Thursday morning, from 9:15 to 12:00.  The students were very relieved when it was over but there was one more social event that evening they needed to attend: the Farewell Dinner!

The Great Hall in Old Court set a very long table for all 33 of us, in the middle of the main dining room.

 

As the students gathered, they filled their seats and enjoyed each other’s company.

 

Our menu included seared curry seasoned scallops in a caper & raisin dressing, duck breast, lyonnaise potato and shitake mushrooms, with dessert consisting of salted caramel tart, praline macaroons, and glazed oranges with sorbet. Everything was delicious and the Clare College dining staff did a great job!

 

After dinner, Kevin and Riki stood up to declare “awards”, such as the cutest couple (Daisy and Kevin), the professor a few degrees from Sheldon Cooper (Dr. Sanders), the student most likely to win a Tony award (Clayton). 

As the group disbursed, they wanted to take photos!  Here are some of the photos being taken:

Greg and Jessica take photos of L-R:
Brian, Brandon, Niki, Kelsey, Angela, Greg, Megan,
Mark, Daisy and Kevin
 

 

Greg with his camera, Heather and Kevin

 

L-R: Elizabeth, Nate, Leah, Riki, Rebecca, Mark, Kevin, Maura,
Heather, Elizabeth and Clayton

 

Nate, Riki and Monica clowning for the camera

 

Allison, Mark and Marylou

 

Next morning, we said goodbye to a few of the students in the buttery -
 L-R: Greg, Maggie, Brandon, me, Mark, Megan and Kelsey -
Kelsey sent us this group selfie taken with her cell phone

We enjoyed leading this study abroad class and applauded their cohesiveness, friendliness, and consideration for each other as they tackled the subject matter of the class and the challenges relating to living in new countries.  Hopefully they made long-lasting friendships and happy memories of their class and new friends while in Vienna and Cambridge.