6 Things I Love About England

As I was looking through my archive of previous posts I came across last year's post for the Fourth of July about the five things I miss about America. It made me think that I should really do a list of things I love about England. As an expat you will always love your home country, but usually you find reasons to love your new home just as much. Here are the six things that sprang to mind when thinking about what I love about England.

6. Royal Family. Say what you want, I love the royal family and think they do a great deal of good for this country. I just love the Queen, she is the ultimate legend. But it's not just the Queen, I love them all,  even Prince Charles! I mean Prince Charles reported the weather for the BBC, how cool is that?!

5. Elderflower Cordial. It might not be to everyone's taste, but for me, nothing is better than elderflower cordial in sparkling water. Cordials are basically flavoured syrups, which are quite popular here in the England. Elderflower is the flower of the elderberry, quite delicious and something I had never experienced in America.

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Enjoying Afternoon Tea in Stratford-upon-Avon

4. Tea. I have never been a coffee girl and it is so nice to be in a country that appreciates/loves tea as much as I do. Whether it's just having a cuppa in the evening or going all out with an afternoon tea, England certainly does right by tea. Even the largest of problems can be solved with a cup of tea. Boyfriend dumped you? Family member died? The first thing any English person will do is dash off to the kettle and fix you a brew!

3. History. In Las Vegas a building from the 1950s is considered old and anything before that, practically pre-historic but it's a whole different kettle of fish over here. In fact they have so much history it's practically bursting at the seems. Take the 2,000 year old Roman mosaic in Spoonley Wood for example. There are no maps to it and the only thing protecting it is a bit of tarpaulin! Every where you go, even the smallest of villages, there are buildings and and stories of some significance. If you love history, England is definitely the place to be!

Roman Mosiac in Spoonley Wood

2. The Beatles. The Rolling Stones. Pink Floyd. Led Zeppelin. My top four favourite bands of all time are from England. I take it as a sign that I was destined to live here, and also perhaps in the 60s or 70s. These men are all rock gods!

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1. English Literature. This small island has given the world some of the greatest masterpieces and authors. You have my personal favourites Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass or J.K.Rowling's Harry Potter series, but don't forget J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, C.S.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia, J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, the Brontë sisters. Do I really need to go on?

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Q: What do you love most about England?

Erin x

The White Queen Review 1 | Birth of a Max Irons Fan Girl

Last night the first episode of BBC's The White Queen, 'In Love with the King' aired on BBC One. The ten-part drama series in based on Philippa Gregory's series of novels known collectively as The Cousins' War which includes The White Queen, The Red Queen, and The Kingmaker's Daughter. The Cousins' War series is set against the backdrop of the War of the Roses, a long and bloody dispute for the English throne between the Houses of York (white rose) and Lancaster (red rose).

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Last night we were introduced to Elizabeth Woodville (Rebecca Ferguson), a commoner by birth and widowed by the war. The story begins with her beseeching the newly crowned Edward IV (Max Irons) that her husband's lands be returned to her. Edward IV is struck by her beauty and seeks to make her his mistress to which she refuses although she is attracted to him. I mean obviously, he's sexy and he's the king.. but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Spoiler Alert: In the end Edward IV can take the anguish of being apart from her no longer and makes her his bride. This of course causes great uproar in the royal court because of her humble status and the fact that her family are from the House of Lancaster, although they do switch sides to York, which causes still further uproar.

I don't want to spoil the whole story for you and if you haven't seen the first episode already I urge you to watch it on BBC's iPlayer. Sorry America, it looks like you'll have to wait until 10 August to get your chance to see it on Starz. However here is a recap of the 5 best bits of last nights episode of The White Queen. Also known as the 5 top things you missed out on if you were unfortunate enough to not watch it!

5. The cleanliest 1464 that has ever existed. Let's be honest the 15th century wasn't known for being clean, most people didn't have a dental hygienist and indoor plumbing had yet to be invented. So the fact that all the actors had perfect complexions, waxed eyebrows and aren't surrounded by their own filth is not exactly realistic. However I say to hell with realism, give me a well groomed 15th century any day!

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4. A lack of Yorkshire/Lancashire accents. Now I wasn't expecting every one to sound like they were from Lancashire or Yorkshire, but I did expect one or two to have a Northern accent.  With the BBC always striving to be politically correct I expected some Northern accents or at least some horribly put on Lancashire/Yorkshire accents I could make fun of. It seems that although a majority of the cast is British, with some exceptions, it appears no one from the North was up to scratch.

3. A Swedish woman is playing the Queen of England. Like I said, there are a few exceptions to the British cast, the most noteworthy is Rebecca Ferguson, a Swedish actress, playing the role of Elizabeth Woodville. I don't have anything against the Swedes, I mean they gave us IKEA with all it's flat-packed furniture. However, I would like a Queen of England to perhaps have not such a thick Swedish accent next time. It's hard to take her seriously when sometimes you just find yourself thinking about her eating Swedish meatballs and giggling.

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2. The mother-in-law from hell. You think your mother-in-law is bad? I can guarantee she is nothing compared to Lady Cecily, Duchess of York and mother of Edward IV.  She greets her new daughter-in-law by exclaiming "I am not happy about this marriage." Lady Cecily then goes as far as telling Elizabeth she was disown her own son to put a stop to their marriage. Not exactly a warm welcome to the family moment.

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And last but certainly not least, the number one best part of last night's The White Queen is...

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1. Max Irons, son of Jeremy Irons, stars as the Yorkist King Edward IV. I swear you could hear the collective sighs of a nation when he walked on the screen. Remember when Twilight was all the craze and everyone was screaming "I'm Team Jacob!" "I'm Team Edward!" and I wept for today's youth. Well move over Twilight there is a NEW Team Edward in town and this is a Team Edward I am HAPPY to get on board of. When he said "Please let me send my page boy for you tonight" I couldn't stop myself from shouting at the screen, "Send your page boy to me!" even though I was watching The White Queen with my husband. There was some serious drooling going on last night in my house. I think I watched every moment Max Irons was on screen with my mouth open. Fingers crossed The White Queen becomes a bit more like The Tudors, because I could use some Max Irons nude scenes. (Sorry Luke I love you, but Max Irons might be my new pass.)

Q: What did you think of The White Queen? Am I justified in my Max Irons fan-girldom?

Erin x

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A Visit to Woburn Abbey

It has been a long time coming but it appears that Spring has finally sprung in England.  One thing I admire about the English is how when the sun is shining they really take advantage of it. Sometimes to the extreme, really there is no need for you to walk around without a shirt on, it's not that hot! There seems to be some unspoken set of rules for how one should take advantage of good weather in England.

1. Have a BBQ (Pimm's and Lemonade must be present)
2. Drive to the beach
3. Go to a garden centre
4. Visit the gardens of a stately home

Living in Milton Keynes, we have great access to a number of England's finest houses including Woburn Abbey - home of the Earls and Dukes of Bedford for nearly 400 years.

A Brief History

• Woburn Abbey was built in 1145 as a Cistercian Monastery
• In 1538, Henry VII dissolves the monastery
• Henry VII gives Sir John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford, the Abbey in 1547
• In 1619 the 4th Earl moves family into the Abbey
• The 5th Earl's eldest son, William, is executed in 1683 for his alleged role in the Rye House Plot to assassinate Charles II
• In 1694 the 5th Earl gained the title Duke of Bedford as means of apology for the wrongful execution
• The 6th Duke commissioned in 1805 the famous landscape gardener Humphry Repton to create designs to enhance the Gardens and Deer Park
• In 1816 ecological experiments in the Abbey Gardens will influence Darwin
• In the 1830's the quintessentially English tradition of Afternoon Tea is said to have been started by Duchess Anna Maria, wife of the 7th Duke
• Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visit Woburn Abbey in 1841
• Woburn Abbey was turned into a military hospital in 1914 by 11th Duke
• 1939-1945 Abbey serves as lodging for Wrens from Bletchley Park
• In 1955 the Abbey opens to public visitors

The Abbey has grown with the times and while many grand houses now serve as little more than museums, Woburn is so much more than that. Not only do the 15th Duke and Duchess still live there but the grounds also hold a Michelin-starred restaurant, antiques centre, and safari park.

As you drive up to the house you will drive through hundreds if not thousands of nine different species of deer. It is quite an impressive sight to watch these beautiful creatures, especially when they are running. There is something so majestic about deer; I can understand why they are used on various coats of arms.

We spent most of our Saturday afternoon in a table outside of Duchess' Tea Room drinking Woburn's special blend of tea, eating scones topped with cream and jam, and talking about our upcoming trip to Pau in July.

Finished with our tea we went for a stroll around the gardens. During the turn of the century, and perhaps even earlier than that, it was considered fashionable to go out for a walk at the weekends. You weren't anybody unless you were seen walking through one of the parks. I think they had the right idea, who wouldn't want to be seen out enjoying the sun and beautiful landscape.

After we soaked up our daily quotient of Vitamin D, we went for a little snoop around Woburn Abbey Antiques Centre.  I don't watch the Antiques Road Show or anything, but I do enjoy antiques. Luke and I both agree when we have some more excess cash we would love to get some pieces. This antique centre had pieces for 200 BC that were going for as little as £65! I can't be the only one who finds this amazing.

I also had a bit of a moment when I was in one of the antique rooms. We walked in, and I immediately felt cold like there was a draft. I felt like someone was running their fingers ever so gently up and down my spine and I kept getting a shiver. It was slightly unnerving and I don't know how to explain it other than to say I felt a prescence.

All in all, it was a lovely and perfectly civialised way to spend the afternoon, even with the ghostly prescence. Woburn is approximately an hour from London, Birmingham, Oxford, and Cambridge, it is really worth a look in! For more photos from our trip to Woburn Abbey, check out Quintessentially English's Facebook page.

Erin x

If you would like to know more about Woburn Abbey, such as opening times, please visit woburn.co.uk

Station X

Bletchley Park, or Station X, is the historic site of the codebreaking centre which helped to secure a victory for the Allied Forces during World War II. It is asserted that were it not for "Station X" the war would have lasted for at least another two years. Winston Churchill himself called the codebreakers the "geese that laid the golden egg". And last Wednesday, I was fortunate enough to go and see where it all happened. For it being such a massive part of history, Bletchley Park appears to me a place that time forgot. Considering the nature of the work done at "Station X" was kept silent until the mid-1970s, I suppose this is understandable. And it wasn't until 2004 that Bletchley Park was opened as a public museum.

The Bletchley Park manor house

But before Bletchley Park was a code-breaking centre it had been a Victorian mansion belonging to a wealthy London financier. Originally an old farm-house, the eccentric style of the manor is due to the family's love of travelling. They would go abroad, find a house they liked the look of, and when they came back add an extension in that style. In looking at the manor house it is quite clear to see each of the different extensions, and although they are all quite different it does seem to work.

The working Bombe reconstruction

The codebreakers arrived at "Station X", as Bletchley Park became known, in August of 1939. The most famous of these workers, was Alan Turing, the head of the section for responsible for German cryptanalysis. Alan Turing developed a number of techniques for breaking the Germans ciphers, such as the bombe, a machine which allowed the codebreakers to decipher the Enigma machine (which the Germans believed to be uncrackable). Achievements such as these are what helped bring an end to World War II.

At the conclusion of the war, Churchill ordered that every scrap of evidence was destroyed. This is most likely due to the fact that England did not want their former ally the USSR to know of Bletchley Park's wartime accomplishments. Thankfully a number of photographs survived, and using these a number of working reconstructions of the machines have been created. I tried to make sense of these machines, but failed miserably.

Two days after my visit, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh came to unveil a memorial statue to the work done at Bletchley Park. The ceremony was attended by some of the surviving codebreakers and would explain why I saw a number of workers fervently painting sections of the property. It appears Bletchley Park is finally getting the recognition it deserves. 

Erin x

This post is dedicated to my Grandpa - who has probably read every book on World War II in existence and whom I thought of the entire time while at Bletchley Park. 

For more information on the history of Bletchley Park please visit the BBC History Page.

Born on the Fourth of July

It was on this day in 1776 that the Continental Congress officially adopted the Declaration of Independence declaring independence from Great Britain. Of course, it took a little thing known as the Revolutionary War to really get the message across to the Brits. Thankfully they don't hold grudges and we have that "special relationship" that allows us to be friends today.

Uncle Sam and John Bull

All over America this day will be celebrated by thousands of barbecues (I can practically smell the charcoaled hot dogs) and red, white, and blue cakes. Inevitably, after one too many beers drunken renditions of patriotic songs will pop up, which let's be honest are must better than their sober counterparts. My friends favourite was the highly inappropriate theme song from Team America, which if you're easily offended I wouldn't bother looking up. Alas in the United Kingdom, the Fourth of July means none of these things and I'll have to go another year without my hot dog and drunken renditions.

The Fourth of July saw the birth of a nation in America, but in the United Kingdom it was the birth of another great. On this day in 1862, in a rowing boat on the River Thames, somewhere between Oxford and Godstow, Lewis Carroll was telling a story that got curiouser and curiouser by the minute to Alice Liddell and her sisters. This story would become the basis for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, one of my all time favourite books.

John Tenniel's A Mad Tea Party

So less we forget, today we celebrate the birth of two greats - the United States of America and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. A truly great day to celebrate!

 

Erin x