1651: British Things

When British people have visitors from overseas — such as we have at the moment — it is seemingly obligatory to do at least a few things that are as British as possible, just to clarify the fact that yes, it is the United Kingdom of etc. etc. that they are visiting and not just, say, the next town over to where they normally live. And in doing so, it can often be quite eye-opening to contemplate the quirks of one’s own culture when seen through the eyes of those from elsewhere — even those with some cultural crossover with Britain, such as our present visitors, whose cultural background includes both Ontario, Canada and Texas, USA.

For part of today, we took a trip out to a local National Trust site that I’ve forgotten the name of. It was about eight miles away from where Andie and I live, and featured a modestly sized stately home — “modest” being a relative term here, obviously — as well as some nice grounds and gardens. It’s the sort of place that Andie and I would probably never go to by ourselves, but since Mark and Lynette wanted to activate the National Trust passes they had for the remainder of their visit and this site was the nearest place that would allow them to do so, we figured we may as well pay it a visit.

It was enjoyable and impressive to see the house, which had been kept in very good condition and had an interesting history. The grounds, too were pleasant to look at, with a nice walled garden area and part of the River Test running through the grounds. There wasn’t too much to take in there, either; no feeling that you needed to spend the whole day there to get your money’s worth.

We followed the visit up with a trip to the Forte Tearooms in Winchester, one of the most British eating and drinking establishments I could think of that wasn’t a chip shop (that’s on the agenda for tomorrow) or a pub. Unfortunately we weren’t quite in time to enjoy a cream tea as well as our rather late lunch, but the food we did have time to enjoy was tasty enough.

After that we grabbed some food from Sainsbury’s — meat pie, chips, Mr Kipling fruit pies — and came home to eat, accompanied by the deliciously British sounds of classic Radio 4 show I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue.

All in all it’s been a thoroughly British day, and surprisingly enjoyable. Tomorrow we’re going a little further afield to Oxford for a few different activities — two different “room escape” games a la Zero Escape, some authentic fish and chips and a visit to Oxford’s board game cafe The Thirsty Meeple. Should be a lot of fun, so expect a full (and likely exhausted!) report tomorrow.