Harlaxton and Grantham

Isn’t our world amazing? Especially when you learn something that comes from seemingly out of the blue? Like - British pound notes go bad!! Well sort of bad. Bad enough that you can’t use them to buy anything.

So here’s the backstory… Cissy and I went to London in 2015. Our awesome friend Lionel was living there at the time and offered a spare room in his flat. Of course, you can’t pass that opportunity up - stay for free in London AND hang out with a great friend who knew all the ins-and-outs of the city. When we left, we had several pound notes. Since we knew come back in the future, we decided to hang on to them.

This Thursday I went into the local village store to buy a few things. When I went to pay, the very nice cashier said that my money was bad. Bad??? She then explained that these notes were no longer in circulation and I had to take them to a bank to exchange them. Yes, I was surprised. Money can go bad? Apparently it is a thing here. Later talking with a Brit, he said that if it was too old, you would have to send it to the Bank of England and they would then send you back replacement pound notes.

Having Friday off, I went into Grantham and stopped in a bank to ask to exchange my “bad” pound notes. The teller was also very kind and smiled as he took the old notes and exchanged them. Unexpected and most interesting. A new angle to my already amazing and awesome adventure! British pound notes go bad.

As I mentioned above, I went into Grantham on Friday, walking the 3.5 miles there and back because it was a beautiful British winter day – temps in the high 30’s and sun shining. It I Margaret Thatcher’s hometown, as well as the place Sir Isaac Newton came to study to avoid the plague in London when he was young. There is also Saint Wolfram Church, which had the tallest steeple in all of England when it was completed and is in the top ten tallest English churches today.

One thing of note (you’ll get the pun soon), is that I joined the Harlaxton Choir.  We practice in the Great Hall every Tuesday evening and with 25-30 voices, a large grand piano, and the acoustics in the room made for music, it is simply amazing! Our choir director is also the choir director at St. Wolfram’s. He is wonderful (a rival to Hando at Christ Lutheran in Dallas) and this experience is something I am enjoying immensely. I am not sure where we will perform but just singing with this group is so awe inspiring and fills me with joy!

Well, not to bore you with my humdrum life in the manor these days, you know – walking down elegant hallways, wandering through the gardens and grounds, seeing golden etchings, plaster and marble, etc. – I thought I would share several pictures I’ve taken on the grounds and in Grantham. I hope you enjoy them and wishing everyone a wonderful week and good health!!

Cheers, Ron

Alcove of the Great Hall with a grand piano

The students and some faculty sitting in the Refectory listening to a briefing about visiting London.

The set of pictures below are taken as I leave the main door of the manor and walk down the main driveway. (The driveway runs straight and is almost a mile to the front gate on the road into town.)

This is one of the lions guarding the steps to the South gardens along the interior circle drive of the Manor. The main gate can be seen to the top right and a tower in the wall on the top left.

Looking back at the Manor after leaving the main gate

Below is the second gate along the main driveway. (There is a third "Front Gate" on the main road.)

This is on the bridge between the Front gate and Second gate.

This is looking down the drive towards the Manor and is between the main and second gate. It is the wall of the Walled Gardens.

The picture above and the one below were actually taken inside the walls of the Walled Gardens. The one above is looking at the Gardner's house. The one below is a pear tree (?) shared to grow along the one wall. (Bringing these gardens back to life is a new project Harlaxton has just begun. There will be new updates in upcoming blogs.)

The picture below is on the main road going into Harlaxton Village, with Harlaxton's front gate just beyond the trees and the village just past that. (Harlaxton Manor is on the left. The land to the left belongs to the manor and is leased to a local farmer.)