Hilary and Stan in Europe 2011 - Day 19 Manchester to London

Dove Cottage

It's Sunday morning. The rain looks like it has settled in to stay, but Harry and Racquelle had a plan. We would drive to Grasmere, a nearby village, to visit Dove Cottage, the home where William Wordsworth lived between 1799 to 1808. During this time, he wrote some of his most famous poetry.  Dove Cottage, has now been restored to look much like it did in the late 1700's.  Our tour through the cottage was given by an engaging, and knowledgeable guide, who was clearly passionate about Wordsworth and his massive contribution to English literature.

The view from Wordsworth's garden

Later in life,after he had left the cottage, Wordsworth was made Poet Laureate by Queen Victoria in 1843, a position he held until his death in 1850. This prestigious position, for which he was given a generous stipend, was created to allow poetry to be composed for special royal occasions.

However, we learned that Wordsworth accepted the post only on the condition that he only be required to compose poetry when he is inspired to do so.  Inspiration to write royal poems must have been a bit of a problem for him. Wordsworth became the only Poet Laureate in British history to have never composed a line of poetry for royalty while he held this title.
 

Beryl Vallance's home in Manchester

We returned to Manchester in the afternoon, in pouring rain, a good time for a road trip! We went directly to Beryl's home, a cottage the heart of the Jewish district. There, we met her daughter Deborah and husband Lester, and their daughter Marian, who had brought her two children (Beryl's grandchildren), Leo, who is five years old, and little Harry, a very cute little guy who is 18 months.

Racquelle, Harry and his mother Beryl

After they left, Beryl, Harrry, Racquelle, Hilary and I had tea, and a lovely conversation that recalled early moments of our family history, her visit to Vancouver with Rubin years ago, and recent happenings with our Vallance family here in Manchester.

That night, conversations of and about our family continued at Laura and David's home.  Laura, with literally a day's notice (we had no idea of what our plans would be when we arrived in Keswick), had created a dinner party that brought together their three children (Adam, who has just graduated from Oxford, Michael and fourteen year old Eleonore ("Elly"), together with Hilary's cousin Marilyn and her husband Alan, Harry, Racquelle and the two of us. The converstation flowed from one topic to the next... movies, British shows that I had never heard of (and some that I have), David and Alan's dental practice - they have shared the same office for twenty one years - and Alan's very interesting and highly inventive business pursuits.  We then started chatting about family history, and spent time exploring our new family web site. By the time we were saying our final goodbye's, it was close to midnight - on a Sunday evening!  Hilary and I will have lasting memories of this lovley evening.