Hallowe'en Harlequins at Hardwick
25th October 2017
With good weather ordered (and delivered); Jo, Alison,
Lynn and Helen J finally met at Hardwick Hall which apparently has the same
satnav code as the Hardwick Inn. HJ certainly won’t make that mistake again via
all the narrow lanes of Stanley! Missing,
but not forgotten: Helen M, Maggie and
Charlotte, all busy entertaining elsewhere, and Pam, on her first birthday
holiday somewhere over a mountain far away.
Always lovely in sunshine
But, shouts of ‘just knock ‘em down’, was fortunately delivered
and met with good humour as we all stood in the way of the Hardwick tuk-tuk whilst
debating what to do first, as if we didn’t know our own ritual.
So, it wasn’t long before we got down to the serious
business of holiday catch-ups before we’d even joined the coffee queue. Alison, with comical anecdotes about cruising
around the Canaries; managing to spend less than 20 euros over the whole 10
days. Lynn, with countless tales, of a
holiday to Die for. And, Helen J full of
admiration for the Civil Aviation Authority after her very lucky ‘Monarch-no-Monarch’
holiday.
Topping up our suntans.
However, it wasn’t long before we got seriously
distracted:
Ladybirds out tricking, not treating
Not entirely sure about the origins of this ladybird, we were
loath (at the start of the day) to squash them, but some say they have a kind
of pheromone group-speak when swarming, causing consternation and this unsettles
our native ladybirds. Another theory is
that they carry a deadly STI… I dunno, they come over here and take our… oh,
no, that refers to the GI’s, a different story altogether! Or, is it?!
Refreshed, we decided to amble around the gardens,
complete with swarms of children armed with clipboards out spider hunting.
He’s behind you (oh no, another Harlequin reference! Out
damned spot…)
It wasn’t long before Jo got up to her tricks, foraging for food
Brussel sprout curry tonight anyone?
Quintessentially, not yew or cherry!
Bet Alison will be hopping mad when she sees this photo….
Humulus lupulus
Whilst Lynn nearly had to be censored whilst …
Having a cheeky little moment!
Well, one can’t go to Hardwick without one more visit
into the House. Following our theatre
visit to see Bess of Hardwick, and mindful of fulfilling Helen M’s wishes, a
re-enactment was indeed undertaken, starring Lynn as Bess, Alison as Arbella,
Helen as Mary Queen of Scots and Jo backstage as Queen Lizzie 1.
Watch out for us on BBC Look North filming close-by.
Such is the wonder of National Trust properties that
there is always something new to look and today it be mostly about stitching,
starting with a rather wonderful story of Tobit whose eyesight was restored
after being blinded by sparrow dung!
unfinished work... how tardy..
The 3-D wall tapestries were amazing
What a relief!
Although Arbella had spent many a year under close guard
in Hardwick, it did cross our minds that had she spent more time crafting her
skills, she may have avoided ending her days in the Tower of London
Elizabethan selfie, by Arbella
Selfie- explanatory
So, with children rushing around and some clipboard crowd
surfing, we decided to return to yet another queue. With further topping up of tans and yet more
hallowe’en ladybirds, now with wasps in tow
we finished off with a rather lovely lunch.
Whilst there were probably a million squillion harlequin ladybirds around, we spied only a few birds:
blackbird
blue tit
buzzard
carrion crow
great tit (Lynn saw a pair!)
jackdaws
kestrel
magpie
pied wagtail
wood pigeon
and a possible flock of fieldfare
