Yes another post about our travels! After all our exploring of York over a number of days, our next main destination was Dover. It would be quite a long drive so DH checked out what town/village/city might be about halfway between York and Dover.
One place that fitted that geographical requirement just happened to be Peterborough and after that, it was 'a done deal' that we would stop there overnight. It was in Peterborough that DsD1 taught for most of the 2 years she worked in the UK, after graduating from QUT here in Brisbane. So basically we were going to have a sticky beak at the town where she had lived. When her dad sent her a message saying where we were planning on going, her answer was, 'Why would you want to go there?'...hmmm not really a great recommendation by the sound of it! But a few hours later, we received another message from her with some suggestions of some interesting places to explore in and around the town.
When we arrived we had our usual walk around the town ...
The markets...
We had seen this chain of shops on our travels throughout the UK. As my niece's youngest son is known by the nickname, Wilko, I took this photo to show him later :-)
Looking across the town square...
DsD1 had also told us about the old bank building which was now a Starbucks...
DsD1 had told us about the Peterborough Cathedral where Catherine of Aragon is buried. DsD1 had said that the Cathedral was easy to miss, but we found signs easy enough because we were looking out for them.
The Cathedral is in a large precinct of old buildings owned by the church...
These houses are homes of staff in the Cathedral precinct...
We took a couple of photos of the cathedral to try to show the ornate stone work...and the size of this place...
We have no photos of the interior of the cathedral as we chose not to buy a photography licence which would have allowed us to take photos inside the building...but it was magnificent and especially the area inside the building which is Katherine of Aragon's resting place. But on this website, there are some photos which show the magnificence of this building, here.
Our next stop was Stanground College where Miss Meg taught for over a year. It took us a while to find it as the 'sat nav' didn't seem to have a clue! :-) But find it we did, eventually....but it wasn't what we expected...this building seemed too new to be where DsD1 taught in 2009/2010.
So we parked the car and went to investigate...there was no sign of any older buildings...just this rather large building that looked like an office block...
It was school holidays at the time we were there, but I went up to the gate and pretended to speak into the intercom...
We walked off towards the car but then we noticed a man walking out the gate and getting into a car...we 'caught' him just as he was about to drive off and explained why we were there. He told us his name and said he was the maintenance man at the college. Before he drove off he told us that the old school buildings had been demolished after the new school was completed recently.
The huge space in front of the new school that had been levelled after the buildings were demolished, was going to become sporting fields ...
Then a young man wearing jeans and teeshirt came out the gate carrying a big pile of folders etc...he had to be a teacher doing work during the holiday break! But no! He was the Principal. We explained why we had been loitering around his school but Gerard Rae had not been on staff when Meg worked there. He told us that the local council had stepped in with funding ( 24 million pounds) for the new school when the UK government pulled out of funding the project.
Photo taken from the school's website; Mr Rae is dressed in his work gear!
And it looks like the results for Stanground College in the Systemic tests have improved quite a bit... Best ever GCSE results! Well done to the school community!
Then it was time to find our accommodation which was a village just outside Peterborough...the countryside we drove through was beautiful...
Soon we arrived at our hotel in Nassington...The Queen's Head.
Views up and down the street from the hotel...
The shop across the road from the hotel/inn...
We stayed in a lovely room that was probably a stable block when the inn was first built...the back of the inn was beautifully landscaped...
This was one place that we wished we were staying a lot longer; lovely room, beautiful food in the restaurant attached to the inn and an archetypal English Village.
One place that fitted that geographical requirement just happened to be Peterborough and after that, it was 'a done deal' that we would stop there overnight. It was in Peterborough that DsD1 taught for most of the 2 years she worked in the UK, after graduating from QUT here in Brisbane. So basically we were going to have a sticky beak at the town where she had lived. When her dad sent her a message saying where we were planning on going, her answer was, 'Why would you want to go there?'...hmmm not really a great recommendation by the sound of it! But a few hours later, we received another message from her with some suggestions of some interesting places to explore in and around the town.
When we arrived we had our usual walk around the town ...
The markets...
DsD1 had also told us about the old bank building which was now a Starbucks...
 |
| This lovely old building is now a bank! |
 |
| Some more modern buildings...note that sign... |
DsD1 had told us about the Peterborough Cathedral where Catherine of Aragon is buried. DsD1 had said that the Cathedral was easy to miss, but we found signs easy enough because we were looking out for them.
The Cathedral is in a large precinct of old buildings owned by the church...
These houses are homes of staff in the Cathedral precinct...
We took a couple of photos of the cathedral to try to show the ornate stone work...and the size of this place...
Our next stop was Stanground College where Miss Meg taught for over a year. It took us a while to find it as the 'sat nav' didn't seem to have a clue! :-) But find it we did, eventually....but it wasn't what we expected...this building seemed too new to be where DsD1 taught in 2009/2010.
So we parked the car and went to investigate...there was no sign of any older buildings...just this rather large building that looked like an office block...
The huge space in front of the new school that had been levelled after the buildings were demolished, was going to become sporting fields ...
Then a young man wearing jeans and teeshirt came out the gate carrying a big pile of folders etc...he had to be a teacher doing work during the holiday break! But no! He was the Principal. We explained why we had been loitering around his school but Gerard Rae had not been on staff when Meg worked there. He told us that the local council had stepped in with funding ( 24 million pounds) for the new school when the UK government pulled out of funding the project.
Photo taken from the school's website; Mr Rae is dressed in his work gear!
Then it was time to find our accommodation which was a village just outside Peterborough...the countryside we drove through was beautiful...
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| I got DH to stop so I could take a photo of this cottage... |
Soon we arrived at our hotel in Nassington...The Queen's Head.
Views up and down the street from the hotel...
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| What a shame! We would be in France when this was on! lol |
We stayed in a lovely room that was probably a stable block when the inn was first built...the back of the inn was beautifully landscaped...
Looks to me as if you found the best sites that Peterborough has to offer !. I love that you met the new HT of the school....that is a wonderful photo. You managed to have adventures everywhere...in the most unlikely spots ! jx
ReplyDeleteNice to be enjoying your travels even after your return.
ReplyDeleteYes Maria, I'll second what Vireya above says.
ReplyDeleteLovely to see all that splendid architecture. How cool that the local council can cough up so much money! The community and everyone benefits - and that's how it should be.
You managed to find such a lot of delightful places to stay during your travels too. It's nice when the food is good as well.
Oh, and I do love that thatched cottage photo - adorable aren't they.
Thanks for this beaut post :D)