Day 21 - The prodigal son returns

I was awoken early to the sound of English birdsong. Much of this song will be from swallows who are preparing, at this time of the year, to migrate. British swallows spend their winter in South Africa: they travel through western France, across the Pyrenees, down eastern Spain into Morocco, and across the Sahara. Some birds follow the west coast of Africa avoiding the Sahara, and other European swallows travel further east and down the Nile Valley. Swallows put on little weight before migrating.

A swallow preparing to migrate

They migrate by day at low altitudes and find food on the way. Despite accumulating some fat reserves before crossing large areas such as the Sahara Desert, they are vulnerable to starvation during these crossings. Migration is a hazardous time and many birds die from starvation, exhaustion and in storms. Migrating swallows cover 300 or more kilometres a day, mainly during daylight, at about 30kph.

We saw them gathering in huge numbers on the cables between electricity pylons.

Before we set of to see my parents, we decided that we would retrace last evening’s journey to the Rose and Crown. It had been dark when we went and the English country lanes often have high sides formed of hedgerows so we had no idea what we had missed. There is a large country house nearby called Castle Ashby Manor, one of the seats of the Marquess of Northampton. The house dates back to 1574 and has been changed and extended several times since. Capability Brown worked over the gardens in about 1730.

Castle Ashby Manor - the south side

We were due to lunch with my parents at The Joiners in Bruntingthorpe (www.thejoinersarms.co.uk). Bruntingthorpe is a small village, population about 350, in Leicestershire. It is one of the places that my Mother was evacuated to at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. She had not been back in the 75 years that have elapsed since then.

The Joiners at Bruntingthorpe

We had an enjoyable luncheon which we washed down with a bottle of Irvine Merlot. We broke our rule of not buying Australian wine in England because this Merlot, from the Barossa, is a magnificent drop. We have drunk several of their other varieties and we knew my Father would appreciate this one – which he did!!

Jobs anyone?

Our menu

A surprise desert!! Liquorice pannacotta and blackberry sorbet

After lunch we walked around the village and up to the church (St Mary’s) – which my Mother remembered. 

St Mary's Bruntingthorpe

We wandered around the cemetery – a strange Sunday afternoon occupation perhaps to indulge in with one’s aged parents but an enjoyable one nonetheless. We walked down into the village and found the very house where my Mother and her two sisters (aged 11, 7 and 3) were billeted. Life for them seems to have been very hard: she remembers gathering snow to melt for washing themselves and the toilet was outside.

A pair of interesting gravestones. John Kilsworth' first wife predeceased him. Three children by the second wife dies aged 15 years, 3 months and 2 years. Times were rough then (mid to late 19th century)

Eventually she unilaterally gathered her sisters and did a runner back home. I am not sure things got better as they were evacuated again.

This man would have been the rector when my Mother was there

The organist for 77 years!! Clearly that gained her the BEM - she was playing when my Mother was there

She also remembered the post office and the phone box. I was surprised that there were public phone boxes 75 years ago. In fact I discover that the payphone was invented in the US in 1889 by one William Gray. The first telephone box in the UK dates apparently to 1903 with the creation of a national network of telephone boxes beginning in 1920. The red telephone box was the result of a competition in 1924 to replace the first design (which was not attractive or popular).

My parents gazing in wonderment at a phone box that now contains a defibrilator

We drove back at a leisurely pace. We were rewarded by the sight of a bronze coloured Bristol 2 litre – the first automotive product of the British Bristol Aeroplane Company. This is one of the world’s most beautiful motor cars. I wonder if there are any in Australia.

There must have been a club meeting as we also saw a lovely red Triumph Herald convertible. Interested readers will remember this Michelotti-designed car as having a the smallest lock of any car. We also saw a 1930s (I guess) four-light sports saloon that I could not identify.

Bristol 400 2 litre - look at those curves!!

Triumph Herald 12/50 - still a lovely design

Our journey to and from Bruntingthorpe took us close to both Bosworth and Naseby. The Battle of Bosworth Field (or Battle of Bosworth) was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the Houses of Lancaster and York that raged across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Richard III was killed in this battle and Henry Tudor (whose claim to the throne as tenuous to say the least) took over as Henry VII. He was the father of Henry VIII and the rest, as they say, is history. Richard III’s body has recently been discovered and he is finally to be laid to rest in Leicester. I have never been convinced that he was the villain that the Tudors painted him to be. I don’t think he directly murdered the Princes in the Tower but I think he may not have been too worried that they were murdered.

The Battle of Naseby was the decisive battle of the first English Civil War. On 14 June 1645, near the village of Naseby in Northamptonshire, the main army of King Charles I was destroyed by the Parliamentarian New Model Army commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell. This led to the Protectorate which lasted from 1653 until the restoration (of Charles II).

So both these places have played a critical role in the path of English – and indirectly I suppose Australian – history.

My Mother had baked me a birthday cake – exactly like she used to bake for me 50 or more years ago. We lit candles, they all sang Happy Birthday, and we ate the cake – which was exactly as I remember it. My Mother broke her wrist in February so this was useful physiotherapy for her!!

We headed back to Pastures Farm in the Mercedes which is a beautiful car to drive. We have still not worked out how to turn off the radio but we have turned up the volume on the satnav!! The iPhone integration – which is claimed to be good – is not good. It’s not integrated. “Integrated” means I can run the iPhone through the USB connection like I can in the TVR. For this car you need a separate 30-pin adapter. That is not integration in my book – it is just an interface.

Harumph!!

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