VISIT TO EAST OF ENGLAND 2011

MONDAY 5th

Early breakfast, blue skies and sunshine but venturing outside found there was a cool wind blowing.

Our first stop of the day was St. Ives as it was market day, an event dating back to the 1400s. We found a car park which was £1.60 for 4 hours or £2 all day, personally I would have gone for all day but the men didn’t.

By the riverside was the ‘Norris Museum’ which we were encouraged to visit by one of the local ladies. A lovely colourful garden with a heavily laden grape vine spreading along the walls and down steps leading to the river. Inside the museum the staff were once again very friendly and Julia picked up a map of the town tour for us to follow later.

Studying the map we began the tour at St. Ivo Parish church which unfortunately was locked, the key being available at the Museum. We were on the lookout for a Parish Church that would have icons on display. These had been done by a cousin of Julia’s who unfortunately passed away about a year ago, her family having originated from Norfolk. Retracing our steps to the riverside, where we watched the ducks and swans being fed and told a couple of fishermen that all the fish were down where we had been stood, we passed the Museum to arrive at the market square where among the market stalls stood a bronze statue of Oliver Cromwell. Why was there a statue of Oliver Cromwell in St. Ives when he was born in Huntingdon? We would find out later.

With a few spots of rain we entered another church but despite the help of one nice lady we found no icons here. The Church had undergone major alterations making use of the downstairs area for a cafe and educational centre whilst upstairs was a library, Church office and the main centre being used not only for worship but for entertainment and exercise. The stained glass windows as usual were beautiful and the lady told us how nice it was to see the Church used every day instead of just on a Sunday. Before we left she recommended we paid a visit to the Corn Exchange. She didn’t say that there was a craft and antique fair taking place!

Continuing the town tour we walked along the back streets of St. Ives coming across the ‘Oliver Cromwell’ pub so stopped by for lunch. It was very busy and the food was delicious. I wouldn’t have minded returning for an evening meal.

We returned to the car just before our 4 hours was up. This afternoon I suggested we went a couple of miles to Hemingford Grey and visit a house and garden by the river that had featured in the paper recently. Reaching Hemingford Grey and driving along the road we failed to see any sign for the house so Keith turned around and we went in search of somewhere to park our car. We found a space down by the river close to the bridge that led pedestrians into St. Ives. We had actually walked as far as this bridge whilst in St. Ives as it has a church in the centre of it but again we had to obtain a key to take a look inside.

So, back to our search for the house and garden. I asked a lady if she could point us in the right direction. She spoke with a foreign accent and thought it was straight ahead. No it wasn’t, so we took a walk along the wooded path and back to the car stopping to ask directions a couple of times. We were told to go along as far as the pub and turn right. Hurray! - we pulled into the car park of Hemingford Grey House, but the sign inside the car park stated it was a private conference centre. We set off along the gravel drive and as I was about to go and say "hello" to the donkeys in the paddock the gardener came along and asked if he could help us. The others were quick to take a step back saying I knew all about it so I could deal with it! He smiled and said we weren’t the first to come to the wrong house. We needed the 'Manor House' which was further along the river. So off we set again but beginning to doubt we would ever find the place. We came to the end of the road with double yellow lines but a couple of young ladies said we could park and walk along the riverside to the house. We didn't believe them so back to the pub to abandon the car once again. Sure enough we came to the hand made sign pointing in the direction of the house and garden – bad news the tour of the house was at 2pm. Still with an honesty box on a table we could look around the colourful gardens. This kept us amused for at least a couple of hours and we learnt that the lady of the house and a friend maintained the gardens.

As we left the house a couple of canoeists came along the river to make my photo of another unusual church a little bit more interesting. We paid a visit to the Church and read information about the bells and bell rings of St. James. Looking at the stained glass windows I noticed how dull they seemed compared to others we have looked at in the area. I thought it must be to do with the age of the Church but could find no dates as to how old it actually was. However, we did notice in the churchyard that there were many headstones dating back as early as the 1700s.

Back to Huntingdon where tonight we would dine out. As I mentioned earlier there appeared to be very few restaurants – an Indian where the menu board displayed a photo of presumably the owner and John Major, or Prima an Itailian. We settled for an Italian for a change and had a fun evening and on offering to wash up instead of paying the bill was quickly informed by our young waiter that he was sorry the washing up had just been done!