Stonehenge and Stourhead

Saturday morning, after a very large English breakfast that included fruit, vegetables, eggs, cereal, juice, meat--just about everything you could possibly want--we made our way to Stonehenge.  I really think it is impossible to be disappointed in this place.  I just speaks of spirituality and ancient wisdom.  No one knows who built it, or even how, but it is majestic and magic.  What I didn't know was that there was also an "avenue", a kind of promenade built from over a nearby hill to the site, which makes it even more mysterious and powerful.  It is  really out in the middle of nowhere, in some very pretty countryside.  Sheep graze nearby and birds poop on the top of the stones.  They don't care about its significance.

After Stonehenge, we drove to Stourhead and I felt like I had stepped into a Jane Austin novel.  Here is the manor house, perhaps a bit like Pemberly in Pride and Prejudice.  

 It has a "fair prospect from the front step, as Elizabeth Bennett would say.

 The rooms are lovely.  Here Ellen and I add a bit of class to the place by posing in our jeans in front of the parlor fireplace.

 Then there's the music room.

 And the gallery, where I expected to see a portrait of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy.  The house is, in fact, built around the time of Austin by a family who collected lots of art and furniture.  They also built almost a fantasy garden on their property.

 The garden is well known for its rhododendrons.  They are generally not out, but some are in bloom.  This is one of the bushes we saw during the day.  The day was very lovely and warm, by the way. Just perfect to take in the garden.

 This place was almost like a theme park, with everything you could ask for including a grotto with Neptune waving hello....

 a replica of the pantheon.....

 and the Temple of Apollo.  This is the building that was the backdrop of a crucial scene of the latest version of Pride & Prejudice when Elizabeth has just learned that Mr. Darcy took action to stop his friend Mr. Bingley from marrying Elizabeth's sister Jane.  She runs to this "temple" and Mr. Darcy follows and declares his love for her and she rejects him.

 Here is the view from the temple....

 and here I am pretending to be Kiera Knightly looking at the water.

This place was so serene and calming.

It prepared us for the journey to Wells, which twisted through many small towns with even smaller roads.  We began to dread the signs that said "(name of town) welcomes careful drivers," which generally meant we were going to have to navigate two-way streets that were not big enough for one car.  But we made it.  Wells and Bath in my next posting.