Woburn: Day 2

The morning was earlier than I would have liked, but somehow I made it out of my comfy bed. Isabel and I headed to breakfast and sat with Eliza and Yedong. It was fun to chat and I actually learned that Eliza’s (who lives in Britain) dad was born and grew up in Rochester. Crazy! What a tiny tiny world! I just thought that was so cool!

After breakfast we grabbed our stuff, hopped in the taxi and went back to Woburn. Today was way better than Thursday!! First my group looked at ceramics! I LOVE ceramics! There was a Wedgwood Cane service that was really plain, but awesome at the same time! It was a picnicking set. Yeah Wedgwod for a picnic… everyone does that! Then we looked at the Japanese pieces, and moved on to the Sevres services. Amazing. We got to handle some of the things after we looked in the cases and that was amazing. I got to see (not touch though) a Sevres wine cooler. It was two inches from my face with no glass in between! It was awesome. I would have loved to hold it, but we weren’t allowed because it was worth so much.

After ceramics it was time for paintings. We got assigned a painting (Isabel and I) And we had to catalog it and present to the group. The first group did a horrible job. It was painful. We had a painting of Lady Jane Gray and I think it went well! The painting session flew by and before I knew it we were out in the garden looking at the Chinese inspired dairy. It was ok… just an empty pavilion now. Then it was lunch time and I tried to keep it cheap by just getting a baked potato (with cheese!) and some coleslaw. It was tasty and the weather was nice enough that we got to eat outside.

We had an hour break before our afternoon talks so two girls and I walked around the gardens. They were EXTENSIVE and very pretty. We didn’t see much of the property in an hour! Our first afternoon talk was from the archivist. I feel horrible for her… it sounded like torture to me! She seems to LOVE her job though, so that’s good I guess! The second lecture was much more interesting. It was from the General Manager and he talked about the business side of the estate. It was crazy. We learned that the family OWNS parts of London (Russell Square, Bloomsbury Square etc) and in 1918 they sold Covent Garden. How can someone parts of London?? That property basically allows the abbey to run, upkeep and staff everything. There is also a safari, golf course and hotel. It was just crazy. AND since it’s a private home there is a line between privacy and wanting to drawn attention to the collection. It’s a FINE line. It was awesome to learn everything. I wouldn’t want to be the duke and run that enterprise!

We had time for one last walk through of the house. It was nice to go through without tutors and without having to think! I bought a guidebook because it had really good pictures of the house in it, and we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside since it was a private home. After that we climbed back into taxis to the train station, got on the train and pulled into London at about 6.

All and all it was a nice trip. It was long, but I liked the house and learning about how it was run. I got home and realized that my “fountain of life” sign above the store downstairs was GONE. Instead there is a ugly white sign that says “Household Gods, Towelling, and Clothing” on it. That would explain the refurbishment! I miss my blue sign. :(

Random things:
1. I want to be a Duchess. I would have to marry a Duke however. That is the only way a woman can be a duchess. I have a problem with that…
2. I was in a car for the first time in 4 months. I felt carsick every time. That will be fun when I go back to the States!
3. I want to live in a country house….

P.S the picture is of the Chinese Dairy and little pond