Sudbury And Children's Museum

We headed north, planning on visiting a few more English sites before crossing into Scotland. First was the great house at Sudbury and its associated children's museum.

Sudbury frontal view

Another great grand staircase

Comfy comforts

China in the dining room

The insects painted on cover blemishes from the old firing
process

Beautiful great hall, particularly the ceiling

In the two-story library; note reading case
and spiral staircase in background

Embroidered jewelry box

Dorsal view

The children's museum is in one of the side
buildings; I would have enjoyed it more
had I not taken a wrong turn a visited the
large and very disturbing exhibit on child
labor in the 18th and 19th centuries...it's
hard to look at the toys of the few when so
many children never had childhoods; or
died young; I credit the Trust for thus telling
the whole story, which is not pretty

Hand-powered hobby-horse trike

Old-fashioned toys

New-fangled toys

The collection is particularly strong in 19th century
automata, machines really, which, I surmise, were less
for children than for adults and their inner children

More London Scenes, 2013

After a few days in Brighton, we returned to the Crystal Palace campground in London. We did several trips out, mostly to amuse Penelope, and saw a few more of the sights. But it was mostly about Penelope. On July 31, Mommy returned, and we spent the afternoon packing up and then having a nice dinner at the Gurkha Cottage restaurant. Going to bed that night was really the only difficult time with P during the whole visit. I think all her separation anxieties had been pent up and finally came out after Mommy came back. But then she was fine. We took daughter and grand-daughter to Heathrow the next morning, August 1, and bid them a fond farewell after a wonderful visit.

Penelope really enjoyed riding the Underground and the double decker buses

At Hamelys, the famous toy store

A madhouse inside, which we attributed to its being high season; but no, we
were told, Hamleys is always a madhouse

At BBC Broadcast House again

We got through all four or five floors of Liberty of London without  breaking
or buying anything

Another day at the V&A; a painting showing the opening of the
Crystal Palace, 1851

Illustration of Crystal Palace when first built; I'm still pretty fascinated by
the place

The Museum of Natural History--another mob scene--we'll return sometime
when it's not high season

Silence of the Dodo

Darwin presides over the Museum's great hall; Huxley at the
other end; a pretty impressive place

Brighton and Royal Pavilion

After Monk's House we took Rebecca to the Brighton train station for her trip to London and stay there for a few days. We had been talking to Penelope about this, as had Rebecca, for some days. There was an initial sadness and crying when Mommy got out of the camper, but it lasted only a few minutes and was distracted by talk of going to the beach. After that, she was fine. In fact, during the whole two weeks, there were only a few "miss my daddy" or "miss my mommy" incidents, all dealt with with the reminder that she'd be flying back on the airplane soon to see Daddy or that Mommy would come back from the big city in a few days. Such is the power of preparation. Plus, she's the best baby/now little girl ever. We had been in Brighton in 2009 but had skipped George IV's Royal Pavilion. After three months of palaces and great houses we were palaced-out. But this time we did the Royal Pavilion as well as other things in Brighton.

Probably the cheesiest place in the UK

 Brighton Beach; late July, still hardly anyone in the water

Impressive sand sculpture exhibition

Penelope in rock paradise

The Royal Pavilion: Hindoo on the outside, Chinese on the
inside, British Empire throughout

Another view; of course, George IV never
visited India nor China; he did make a trip to
Scotland once...

Another, flowery view

George IV; he retreated to Brighton and built
the Pavilion while waiting the many years for
his dad, the daft George III, to die; unlike
his dad, George IV at least had the decency
to die relatively young, having eaten and
drunk himself to death; oh yes, there was a
mistress too; social and political change
came to the UK not long after the Georges

Sadly, there's a no pix policy; but I did get a few...

Massive chandelier in one of the state rooms; seats eight

Sharing ice cream dessert with Grandma

The Monk's House

We drove on to the campground in Brighton where we intended to stay the next few days. Next morning, before taking Rebecca to the train station for her London visit, we drove over to Rodmell to see Virginia (and Leonard) Woolf's country home, The Monk's House. Below are my pix of the house, gardens, views, and the Writing Shed.

Penelope knew what to do in the Writing Shed; although she's
a few years away from actually writing...

Highclere Castle, 2013

The Earl and Countess of Carnarvon take a somewhat different approach to the fame and notoriety of their great house. I honestly believe you could visit Highclere Castle and leave unaware that it is none other than Downton Abbey. (OK, you'd have to have been living in a mayonnaise jar for several years not to know what Downton Abbey was; and you'd have to have ignored the numerous visitors' objections that, "isn't the desk supposed to be over there?" or "the table couldn't be this small", or "these are supposed to be carnations, not roses," etc.). There is nothing about Downton Abbey in the house, and, astonishingly, nothing at all in the gift shoppe, either. Not even a "Keep Calm and Watch Downton Abbey" coffee mug. It's all about Highclere Castle and the earls of Carvarvon (some of whom are pretty famous). Personally, I think this is just good business sense. The house has to maintain its own long-term identity. Anyhow, we pretty much spent the day there, since Rebecca and Vicki are big fans; and I do not live in a mayonnaise jar. Well, not exactly....

Our party approaches

Official photo

Closer up

Rebecca said be sure and get a picture of this bench and this tree and this side of
the castle

Full frontal; there is a strictly enforced no pix policy inside; a shame, since there
is much of interest; and especially all the Egyptian stuff...discovery of King Tut
and all that; anyhow, the current house was designed by the same guy who did
the Houses of Parliament; grounds by Capability Brown (for an earlier version
of the house)

Family portrait on The Bench

Another at the Jackdaws, the folly

Thus

The Earl and his head gardener; apparently a very hands-on kind of earl

In the garden

Flowery meadow over which the castle towers tower

Spoiler: after WWII, with inheritance taxes at 80%, the heirs sign Downton Abbey
over to the National Trust; but there's a happy ending, and potential spin-off: the
lord and lady get to run the gift shoppe, and the butler and housekeeper run,
respectively, the custodial staff and the cafe