Well today may have been my most dual day yet of blessing and "put me out of my misery". Today was the very anticipated day of traversing to Penshurst in the county of Kent. Historically known for many things, this great English countryside house is perhaps most easily known for being owned by Henry VIII and being visited by Queen Elizabeth, herself. The great poet Sir Philip Sydney was also a member of the original family who owned the house. Fun fact of the day: He died of a musket shot to his thigh and was so greatly admired by the popular people that the Queen granted him a Court funeral (which is a really really big deal!) Later owned by Viscount De L'Isle who was a highly revered British war hero.
Sounds really magnificent, doesn't it?
That's because it is . . .
Now that you know how breathtaking the end result is, let me tell you how we got there.
First we have to take the bus to get to the Tube. Then you take two different Tube lines to get to Victoria Train Station which takes you all the way out to the countryside where we get off at Penshurst. From there, y'all we walked four miles!!!! And that's just FORWARD, not COMING BACK, as well.
The first quarter of a mile or so, we see this . . .
Still pretty nice, right? We wanted to take pictures of ourselves walking to prove that Americans can actually walk a ways to get to something. (This is of importance as a matter of fact.)
The next grueling part was walking the next mile and a half UPHILL. It might have been fine if we had been prepared for it but our professor expressly told us that the majority of the walk would be downhill -____-
However, at the top of the hill, we diverted off the side of the road into this little passage area . . .
As cute as this is, we were slightly annoyed that we were having to climb fences and we still didn't know exactly where we were going. Breathless and tired of dodging sticky brambles, we stumble our bodies onto this . . .
I'm really not quite sure I have seen anything this beautiful before. I could not have felt more like a character in a Jane Austen novel and I realized that my dreams were coming true. All of us just stood in awe for a good five minutes as Dr. Murray read aloud, certain passages from
Pride and Prejudice.
Once we collected ourselves, we trekked through this open field, past the sheep . . .
through the current inhabitants private entrance . . .
and into the beauty that is the inner courtyard of Penshurst . . .
From here, we were asked to take absolutely no photography of the inner house but here are some more fun facts about this house (yes, believe it or not, that is what it is). Any squeaking door or creaking floor sounds used in the
Harry Potter film series were recorded here at Penshurst. Also, part of the filming of
The Other Boleyn Girl was done here along with certain staff members being extras in the film. They also had a couple of original costumes on display. All one of my friends could say was, "Wait, you mean to tell me that Eric Bana has been in this house??!!" haha.
The tour was fantastic, but then our guide released us onto the grounds, specifically the gardens, which are open to the public daily. . .
Needless to say, spending nearly five hours here and having lunch on the grounds was like something out a Victorian novel. I could've spent the entire day there. But, alas, it was quite hot and we had to head back.
This honestly, was the worst part because we were already exhausted, hungry, and dehydrated. Walking four miles cross country (literally) was a big challenge for all of us.
Despite all of that, I still had one of the best days of my life, being in the presence of true High Class and the experience of an afternoon of Tea Time . . .
this is too cool!
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