A Country Week

• Item: one week
• Item: one bedroom, all to one's self
• Item: one fridge, already stocked
• Item: one bathroom, all to one's self
• Item: a wonderful hostess who doesn't allow you to lift a finger to help her
• Item: all the best of the mid-western English countryside
• Item: one of the best weeks so far!

Imagine you're watching a Jane Austen movie. You get to the part where it shows the rolling green hills and hedgerows sitting in a light mist. (pause the movie) I've been there!

Wednesday, Marion took me to Coughton Court, which has been the home of the Throckmorton family since 1405. It's a manor house owned by The National Trust here in the UK. The house is most famous for the family's involvement in the Gunpowder Plot in 1605.

Today we went to British Camp, also called Herefordshire Beacon. This is where Brigham Young came to pray about printing the Book of Mormon and a new hymnbook in England. It reminded me of Ensign Peak -it's a short little hike to the top and the view is incredible. Just take a look:

Then we went to Gadfield Elm Chapel, the oldest LDS chapel in the world. It was first owned by the United Brethren, who gave it to the Wilford Woodruff to use as an LDS chapel following their mass conversion.

After a stop in Ledbury for lunch (with a quick peek of the Ledbury Parish Church,

we went to Hereford Cathedral. This is where they have the Hereford Mappa Mundi, a map of how the world looked in about 1290 AD. I guess it was pretty different back then...

Here's the outside of the cathedral:

Now, off to Cambridge. Just to give you an idea of what I've been doing the other days this week, I've read 3.5 Shakespeare plays and 2 Virgina Woolf novels. Lest you think this is all I needed to do, note that I should have read 5 more novels and 3 more Shakespeare plays before...Monday. Ah well. I'm only in England once, right? It's ok to see the country instead of stay inside reading all day.