My UK Adventure – Day 3

 Today Jacky and I started the day out by going to an English restaurant and having a true English breakfast. She asked me if I wanted an English breakfast and I said “sure”, not know what I might be getting myself into. The big platter of food came and let me tell you it was a big platter of food. There were baked beans (probably not called baked beans over there), friend mushrooms, 2 pieces of bacon (bacon there is round and not in strips), 2 sausages, 2 eggs and toast. I was very surprised by the beans and mushrooms on my breakfast plate. I like both of them and wasn’t complaining but just thought it was an odd combination. The sausage has such a different taste then the American sausage, must be their secret spices. I really loved the taste of the sausages. The whole plate of food was delicious and of course I ate it all along with my cappuccino. Since we ate so much for breakfast the next thing on the agenda was to tour the local castle and walk off our breakfast. The whole time Jacky has been living their she hasn’t ever toured this castle which I thought was odd but then I thought back to the places in Wisconsin that I have never went to and I live right there but others who come to visit want to see these places.

 We went to the town called Arundel and toured the Arundel Castle. Here is a expert taken from their website. You can read more about it by following the link.  

 “The seat of The Dukes of Norfolk and set in 40 acres of sweeping grounds and gardens, Arundel Castle has been open to visitors seasonally for nearly 200 years. It is one of the great treasure houses of England, each having its own unique place in history and is home to priceless works of art. Come and see paintings and furniture, tapestries and stained glass, china and clocks, sculpture and carving, heraldry and armour in stunning room settings.”

 This was an amazing site to see. To see a real live castle that is still being occupied by family members. They opened this castle up to the public so they could generate some income to offset the cost of maintaining it. I couldn’t even imagine what it cost to maintain the castle or even heat the castle. It is hugh. We toured the keep which was a lot of walking, so many different areas of the keep and different stairways that were very small and many winding steps. There were different props set up to give you the feeling that you were there and knew what it was like back in the day. Not a period of time that I wanted to live through but to each its own. My favorite part of the keep was the dungeon where they kept the prisoners, they also used that deep dark hole as there fruit/vegetable cellar. Another favorite part was the hole in the wall that they said was their toilet, they put a wooden seat over a hole in the side of the wall and you used that as your toilet and the waste just went outside the castle where it rotted away. Got pretty stinky and attracted rodents and flies in the summer.

 The next part of the tour was the castle itself with all its artwork, amazing woodwork, and decorations. The set ups in these rooms were real and not props. The décor was unbelievable. The weapons and armor they used were on display, a lot of item from back in the day were on display. We couldn’t tour the whole castle as the family members wanted their private spots kept private but what we did get to see was so indescribable and so very lovely. The armoires were beautiful, vases and collectable were just perfect. Some of the real artifacts of the kings and queens are still on display in the castle. It’s something that everyone should see, that’s all I can say about it. You won’t be disappointed on this tour.  

 From the castle tour we went to The Black Rabbit for tea time or should I say beer thirty.  I had one of their home brewed beers, sat outside by the river overlooking the castle and watched the beautiful swan family swimming in the river below.

From there we were on our way to go pick up Marie. Marie is out of my Sand Spring Chesapeake lines bred from my stud Norman. I raised Marie until she was 7 months old; at that time she was able to enter the UK without any quarantine. The UK doesn’t have rabies and they don’t want any rabies so they have very strict import rules. I was just delighted when Jacky told me she wanted a puppy from my lines. An American puppy going to live in the UK, who wouldn’t be happy about that? Marie is co-owned by Jacky and I but lives with Steve and Zoe. We met up with Steve and Zoe and it was time to see if Marie remembered me. I got out of the car went over to Marie said hi to her, hugged her and she gave me a big kiss. I guess I would say she remembered me. We packed up Marie in the car and away we went back to Jacky’s. On our way back home we stopped for another English meal, fish and chips. Another fabulous meal. Everyone in the states told me I needed to have fish and chips that it was a must. I’m so glad I did as it was very tasty. I wish I knew what they did to it to make it so yummy but I know if I tried to make it at home it would be a flop. Guess I have to make another trip….oh darn!

 Back at the ranch Marie hung out with her old playmates Mara, Cooper and Robby. She just adored Robby and I think she was very happy to see her buddy again. After play time was done then she curled up in a ball right next to me on the couch and again I knew she remembered me. I was in my glory, was in a foreign land that is absolutely beautiful, was with a great friend and had my puppy (who now is not a puppy but 17 months old), life couldn’t be better.

 Off to bed for us.  We got a big day ahead of us tomorrow. We are going on an English driven pheasant shoot; we are the handlers for the shoot so we need our rest for all the retrieving that is going to take place. Nighty night!

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