England Day 3: A Whirlwind in Wirral

Day 3 was to be a bit of a departure from the rest of the trip, literally. I was leaving the goblin gang for a one day getaway with a friend I was so eager to meet. In the morning, Bryony was kind enough to drive me an hour and a half west to the town of Wirral on the coast, just across the border from Wales. It was time for her to “hand me off” for the day and the next morning to my friend Martha.

Martha and I have only been close for about a year and a half, but in that time, we’ve developed a friendship where we talk all day every day. It would be weird to even go a half day and not talk to her now. I was so excited to be able to spend some time with her on my trip!

The plan was for the “drop off” to take place at the Lady Lever Art Gallery, which has a Pre-Raphaelite collection. We got there about a half hour before Martha, and waited in the entry. It got a little warm in there, so I went outside to get some air, and saw her as she drove up. Giving her a giant hug when she got out of her car was a memory I cherish!

Bryony toured the museum with us, and the first stop was to see my first John William Waterhouse painting in person ever. The Enchanted Garden is one of my favorite pieces by him, and was left unfinished when he died.

Frustratingly, they have it hung so high up! Why? But it was still splendid to see it in person.

Across the same room from the Waterhouse artworks was The Beguiling of Merlin by Edward Burne-Jones. My two favorite historical artists both in the same room? Be still my heart! As usual, I was smitten with all the detail, and Martha caught a photo of me taking a photo of said details.

Then we explored the rest of the gallery, which had so many more beautiful pieces, familiar and unfamiliar. Including a handful of gorgeous mythic white marble women lounging about casually.

I really admired this statue of Pan, and again Martha caught me admiring. Have you ever seen a grinning marble statue before?

Then there’s A Dream of the Past by Millais. Bryony pointed out that this is the longest horse ever to exist. Why did I never notice this before? Haha.

This was a 20th century piece, but she felt kind of fey somehow.

This piece really spoke to me. This is Grace as a little girl, living her dream through reading a book.

This might be my third favorite artwork at the gallery.

I just want to get out an iron for her dress. The Black Brunswickers.

We all stood around discussing which dresses we most wanted.

Then of course we went to the gift shop, where I ended up getting the pink flower crown I’m wearing in the rest of these photos. See, the gallery had just had an exhibit of Cicely Mary Barker art, and the flower crowns were on sale. But Martha ended up buying it for me, because I had a bit of a scare where I thought I’d lost my wallet (!!!!!!) It ended up being in my bag, just buried in the bottom of it.

We said farewell to Bryony and I put my carry on bag in Martha’s car. We then set out to adventure together.

Our first stop was in Wales! Martha wanted me to visit a castle by the sea. This is Flint Castle, built in 1284. The castle actually features in Shakespeare’s Richard II, and somehow knowing that blows my mind even more than seeing the build date written out. Wow.

My first actual historic authentic castle. Not a folly (no shade, I LOVE follies) or a reproduction in the United States, but a golly gee real castle.

Of course photos had to commence, with my trusty tripod. Martha and I met through my Patreon, and she told me it was really interesting to see behind the scenes of what it’s like for me to get these photos.

You can see the sand beyond the castle in the below photo.

We were in a bit of a time crunch to get the things done that we wanted to do before Martha had to go take care of a job related duty and leave me at the Airbnb for a while, so we ran out of time a little at the castle. Unfortunately one of the areas she very much wanted to show me was closed off because it was flooded!

Oh, actually this is a good opportunity to mention the weather of the trip. Before I left, friends had warned me that Yorkshire in November would be rain. Rain rain rain rain rain. And before I arrived, Bryony warned me that it had been rain. Rain rain rain rain rain. But…as you may have noticed from the last two days of shares, I rather lucked out in the weather department. It rained, definitely. But other than two incidents in 11 days, the rain never got intense or affected us very much. This day was the same sort of luck continuing. In fact, as we were leaving the castle, we even saw a rainbow.

In contrast to the elegance of the castle ruins, on our way to the car I had to take a photo to prove that I had been in Wales. My choice? The dog poo sign. (Giggle of a five-year-old)

Heading to the BnB, Martha asked me if I wanted to go straight there and have more time for photos (you’ll see why she asked me that momentarily) or take a detour to a village that was very picturesque. Well, more adventure is more!

We also had to take one last detour, which I am deeply very happy we did. Martha wanted to share an iron age holy well/sacred spring with me. And…it was an incredibly special, magical experience.

When we arrived, there was a woman at the well, staring at the greenery along the edge. She was exceedingly friendly, and we found out that she was the volunteer who took care of the plantings at the well. She was very enthusiastic about me, and wanted to know about my outfit, told me I looked like a faerie, asked me what I thought of the well. She also uncovered it so that we could see it…something I doubt I would have had the courage to do myself, out of worry it was disrespectful.

I felt incredibly drawn to this place. I’m honestly not sure how much I want to say about it. But I can say that being there at dusk, with the light shining through the trees, it was exquisitely beautiful. There was a willow tree that dipped its fronds into the water, and the sun just glowed through it.

Before I left, I took a tiny stone from the base of the tree, and the woman took a photo of me that she shared on the Facebook group for the “Friends of the Well” later. I very much want to go back here in the future.

Then it was time to see the Airbnb! I was only staying one night of this entire vacation at “my own” place, so I figured it was worth a splurge. At least I decided it was worth a splurge once I browsed Airbnb and saw this beauty.

The rain was starting to fall now, just gently, but enough to make it a little bit of a nuisance. I got out my tripod once my bag was inside and Martha had left, and started to take photos. The Bothy had an old fashioned key to the front door, so I closed the door, set the key in the grass, and commenced to take photos at the back of the building first. Unfortunately I found out that we weren’t allowed beyond the roped area in the back yard, which made it challenging to get photos from certain gorgeous angles I had really hoped to get. But I got creative.

I enjoy how this below photo turned out. And keep this spot in mind. It’ll come up later.

When I finished up in the back, I took more photos at the stunning front of the Bothy. I stayed out there until true twilight, and then popped back inside.

And what a stunning inside it was! There were so many enchanting details, gothic arches anywhere they could tuck them. I would love the opportunity to decorate this place like a fairy tale, but the building itself was just incredible anyway. And the views? Can’t be matched.

Both the bathroom and the kitchen were absolutely luxe, with top of the line mechanicals and soaps and lotions. The kitchen had every sort of fixture you can think of (even an extra tap with instant boiling water for tea), and a washing machine which came in handy for the muddy hem of my poor skirt.

The pictures of the Bothy were what tempted me to stay here. But the real final convincer was the description on Airbnb that said “watch the hares, pheasants, and other wildlife that roam the grounds daily.”

As you all might know, hares are my favorite animals, and they are so so very meaningful to me. But of course I’ve never seen one in person. I wanted so so very badly to see a hare, and I hoped against hope I would.

Slightly damp from the photos outside, I came into the bedroom and stripped my skirt off, casually gazing out the window. Wearing my warm knitted tights and the pink blouse, I glanced down to the gravel below the window where I had just been sitting to take the photo you saw above. And saw a grey-brown furry thing hop casually across the back of the house, left to right literally just on the other side of the window two feet away.

It took a moment for my brain to process what had just happened, and then I started careening through the house in my stockings, half dressed, glancing out window after window. I couldn’t see where he had gone, so I went back to the bedroom window and quite literally pressed my face to it, gazing out at the twilight.

And oh, dear friends, I saw five hares over the course of the next half hour, and started sobbing. I was so incredibly, inexpressibly happy. My favorite sighting was this guy below, who sat there for a couple of minutes cleaning his back leg and scratching his ear. Of course my phone took entirely inadequate photos and video, but it is enough to remember this moment.

Martha came back and I told her about what had happened. I think even if I hadn’t said a word she would have been able to tell from the glowing smile on my face. She was thrilled that I had had such a momentous and moving experience in her own town. Then a few days later, a package arrived at Bryony’s house for me. Martha had bought me this beautiful rose gold enameled hare necklace from Fable England as a reminder of the magical experience. I’ve hardly taken it off since.

We still had to have supper, but first we went back out briefly so that we could see one last special spot nearby. There are several lamp posts in England that claim to be the origin of Lewis’ Narnia, but I really love the story behind this claim.

Friends of C.S. Lewis lived in this town and are buried in the graveyard right next to it. The story goes that Lewis was attending a Christmas eve service, and it started to snow. As you leave the church, you exit through this door which is at the end of a long dark hallway. Once you exit, there is a long lane of tall tall yew trees that loom tall and dark along the walkway, and at the end of the lane is a lamp post.

Honestly, I hope this story is true. It’s the most romantic one I’ve ever heard for the origin.

Sadly the lamp post wasn’t lit, but I’m still so glad we went to see it in the dark.

Martha and I went back to the Bothy, and she made a lovely pasta supper. Afterward, we did some playing dress up, and I love how this photo turned out.

When Martha left for the night, I simply had to try out that massive bathtub, didn’t I?

What an inexpressibly incredible day! On day four, Martha would drop me off at the train station with an overnight bag that weighed a trillion pounds from all the little gifts she stuffed inside. And then I would meet up with the goblin gang in Manchester for another day of adventures! More to come…