Day 172-visiting the Clarkes

This rig has a tricycle tractor; not designed for heavy loads!

   June 24-Everyone slept in today and then slowly made our way down for the restaurant’s breakfast.  Once we got revved up, James and Gill headed for home, while we went over to the Bury Transportation Museum near the train station.  There were some interesting restored automobiles, busses, railcars, and tractors inside, along with many hands-on exhibits for the kids to play with.

This steam roller was used until 1970. Unfortunately, it is now nonfunctional.

This Marshall Model M diesel tractor has a single cylinder and only 49 moving parts. Amazing!

We all got to play dress up here, too. We might have been able to fit into Victorian England. 

   We got our fill and then drove around Manchester to the Clarke’s house in Warrington.  Gill and James own a cat, which became the immediate focus of attention for the kids.  Thankfully, the cat could go outside and get away from them!  Gill and James took us on a walk around their neighborhood and the farms down the road, where we got to see some lambs and feed and pet some horses.

 



Gill and Sally returned home to check on the cooking meal and to visit in peace

   Meanwhile James took the rest of us to the Grappenhall Heys Walled Gardens, which were the gardens for a 19^th century manor house.  It is now maintained by volunteers who have managed to keep it beautifully landscaped.  They still use some portions of the gardens for growing vegetables and fruit.

James and the kids in the beautiful garden.

These fruit trees are trimmed to remain close to the wall, which absorbs the Sun's heat during the day and then warms the trees at night. This allows them to survive in the othewise inhospitable English climate.

   We returned to the Clarkes’ and played some more games until it was time for supper.  After supper, we all got into the Clarkes’ hot tub and relaxed a while.  Then, we had some dessert and said our tearful good-byes. 

Joslyn and Spencer play bocce ball.

Gill and James in their kitchen.

Gill and James in front of their house and their pretty yellow bug.

   We drove a couple miles away to our hotel where we had a bit of excitement.  Sally checked us in and we all followed her to the door of our hotel room.  She unlocked the door, turned on the light, and started walking in when a man jumped out of the bed in the room and started bellowing at her!  Needles to say, she jumped out quickly in surprise and yelled back that she had the key for the room.  The man charged the door twice and Sally sprinted back down the hallway to the front desk!  Shan stayed with the baggage near the door to the room and a few seconds later the man peered out and apologized profusely.  He had been asleep and was dreaming of someone coming into the bedroom at his house when Sally had come in, so he had reacted in that way!  He felt pretty bad about it.
   It turned out that the attendant on duty earlier in the evening had given this man and his family (with three kids as well) our room, since their room was not quite ready.  Unfortunately, she forgot to note that she had made this change, so the attendant Sally talked to had thought the room was empty!  So, we moved our bags into a different room and walked over to the neighboring pub for a drink to calm our nerves while the attendant made up the room for us!  We got to watch the overtime periods for the English team in the Euro 2012 soccer semifinals fortuitously this way.  The game ended with the score still “nil-nil,” so we walked back to our room and got ready for bed while we watched the penalty kicks; Italy ended up winning, so it was probably just as well we did not see that in a pub filled with English fans!