Henlow, Arlesey, And St. Peter's Parish Church

After Coventry and Costco we headed east in increasing heat--it would get into the 90s that day--and we were looking for relief, a quiet place to hold up for a few days, to plan, to rest, to do a few minor camper repairs. Vicki had found the Henlow Bridge Lakes Campsite, Angling, and Leisure Park. It's in Bedfordshire, near the border with Hertforshire, about 3 miles northwest of Letchworth Garden City, four miles north of Hitchin, and 6 miles south of Biggleswade. Sounded perfect to me. We stayed four nights, and, in addition to resting, planning, and repairing, we also did the wash and took several walks into nearby Arlesey, which has 2 convenience stores, 2 pubs, a car wash, and an interesting 12th century parish church.

Regarding parish churches: we have seen a few, including some wowsers like Tewkesbury and Kilpeck, but while we were in Menlo Park last winter, Vicki came across Simon Jenkins' mammoth doorstop bestseller (seriously) England's Thousand Best Churches, which was also a hit TV show (not as big a hit as Bake Off, I suspect). We ordered a copy from Amazon and brought it with us to the UK, which is indeed exactly like carrying coal to you know where. And we have now acquired a second copy, since Vicki likes to tear pages out of guidebooks to carry on site. This is not something she learned in library school, and I am appalled. We are thus the only Americans in Britain with 2 copies of the Jenkins tome. Anyway, having seen most of the cathedrals, we're now going to be looking more at the parish churches, many of which are equally old and interesting.

Quite a nice place, quite diversified: in addition to camping sites and cabins,
there were 5 fishing ponds (for a price; this is England), a hair salon, a daycare
center, a store, smaller venues for weddings, reunions, etc., and a large venue
for concerts or whatever; oh yes, also motor-home and caravan storage, and a
garden store (this is England)

Nicely landscaped, too

The train not taken: Arlesey station was a few hundred paces away, and we were
tempted to make a dash for London, not far away; but we didn't

The campground just had so many interesting activities... (when was the last
time you saw the word circa in the US?)

The big attraction for us was the St. Peters parish church in Arlesey, 12th century
origins and lots more

Nave view; not a huge church, not a huge town, not even in Jenkins' top 1000;
but still interestingly old; just another of the 16,000 parish churches here

Very old font

The parish churches are also sometimes community centers;
so you have conversation areas, or kiddie areas, right along
with the 13th century artifacts

The pews and tiles are probably quite young by British standards

There is carving all around, masonry and wood; here, a thoughtful angel

Thus

And thus

And thus

And..whoa!!! That's an angelic Sheela-na-gig! What a find! (look it up) (click to
enlarge)

Anyhow, now in the kiddie section, an aquarium and goldfish in a niche where
something sacred to someone's memory once stood (or lay)

Also in the back of the nave, the kitchen area, with 2 microwaves

Side aisle

Tower; lots of Fred and Wilma

Cemetery

St. Peter's parish church, Arlesey, Bedfordshire, England, UK of GB

Double-decker school bus

Half-timbered with solar panels and plywood siding (a patch?) (waiting for more
600 year old half-timbers to come of age?)

Fishing pond back at the campground; you rent the little docks (beaches) by the
hour

An interesting respite, deep in darkest England; 47 miles from Big Ben

Kenilworth...Coventry...Costco!

So the restaurant Dave and Marian had chosen for our reunion was in Kenilworth, in the very shadow of the great ruined castle. Vicki had found a camping place very near...the Kenilworth Rugby Football Club (which housed a very popular neighborhood pub), and Dave and Marian picked us up there, and we had a most pleasant 4 hour dinner together, catching-up, discussing future plans, and so on. They are travelers, as we are, and so the talk mostly was of travel. They're going to do western Canada and Alaska next, very shortly, on their 1200cc BMW motorcycle, for their 50th wedding anniversary. (Le Duc is only 1900cc, but it has twice as many wheels.) Alas, as is often the case in such reunions, we got so involved we forgot to take any pix. Oh well. We have our pix from Africa, and those are the best. Next day we proceeded on, now to the east, but not before a visit to Coventry's Costco (!). Yes, Costco. A bit of home, far abroad.

Quite a lively place, especially after the pub opened at 6

Actually, but not disappointingly, it was pretty much exactly like a Costco in the
US; Kirkland stuff everywhere; we got a fine poulet roti for 4.99L and even
had lunch at the food court

There were a few concessions to British tastes and preferences

The most significant, and positive, difference, was that there were free samples
(tapas) even on the booze aisles; seriously

Food court offerings

Ever adventurous, I went for the Aberdeen Angus Cottage Pie--1/4 inch of beef
mince buried under 2 inches of mash; definitely a once in a lifetime thing

Vicki wisely went for the "gelato"

Oxford And The Ashmolean Museum

Coventry and our dinner date was not very far from Winchester, so we decided to spend a little time in Oxford, on the way, and specifically at the Ashmolean Museum, the museum of Oxford University. We had visited a few years back, and, alas, remembered little.

The Ashmolean

"Not another museum"!

Tea, anyone?; a giant historical collection of tea cups, saucers, services, etc.

A whole room of stringed instruments, including two Stradivarii

How to make a violin in 13 easy steps

By the time we'd seen all the paintings rooms, we remembered why we didn't
remember much from the Ashmolean...it's really more of an archaeology sort of
place than an art history sort of place; Ucello's The Hunt in the Forest is definitely
memorable, indeed the only painting in its collection that the museum promotes
among its biggies

Proof that the Mother of God was a Remainer

Thus

Anyhow, we moved on to the archaeological collections of interest, Egypt, the
classical world, prehistoric Europe...

Wine container from el-Amarna, Egypt, 12th century BCE or
thereabouts...

I checked in the Hugh Johnson Guide we keep in the camper, and the year 7 was
indeed a good vintage

Unusual classical pose

Big collection of Cyclades

And ceremonial jadeite axes

 

Alas, it would have been nicer to simply wander the
interesting streets of Oxford...but it was time to move on
to Coventry