March 15th. "Country living" is a little different in England


My cousin Sarah loves horses.  She rides and jumps and fox hunts. She has a horse and donkey at the house (neither is trained for riding yet), but her riding horse lives at a nearby stable. Bonnie is in her late teens/early twenties and has a great attitude.  With Melissa having taken riding lessens recently at home, she couldn't pass up a chance to add another continent to her list of places she has ridden.
 

Cousin Sarah and Auntie Mon underestimated Melissa's long legs and had to let the stirrups out quite a bit.

Sarah showing us how it is done.


I actually learned to ride on an English saddle, but even with my experience... I still prefer the comfort of a Western saddle.




This old pony just wanders the stable yard, he doesn't have a specific home stall. He wanders between stalls and buddies up with whomever has the tastiest food.

After riding we went back to the house for the afternoon. Melissa and I decided to walk to the end of Sarah's lane. We took her dog, maybe we were missing our pup, or maybe it just seemed like he could help us find out way back if we forgot.


I'm not sure, but I think Melissa is even prettier outside the US than in, I guess we'll have to keep travelling just to be sure.

Bosley (the dog) is quite round and heavy, makes odd noises, and eats everything, but he is still an excellent walking companion.  He even found a tennis ball in the field so we could play.

What a view!
 
Sarah's house through the gate at the bottom of the picture and down the lane, on the right.

Back at Sarah's we decided to say hi to the local equines.

We spent the afternoon at a real medieval castle... tourist park.  Warwick Castle was originally built by William the Conqueror in 1068 (it has been rebuilt a few times) and is now a tourist center.

The have a bird show demonstrating falconry... and peacocks



Many of the rooms include interactive exhibits. That is a nice change from the royal palaces, where touching an artifact could probably get you sent to prison.



I even got in on a quick card game, these guys weren't much competition.

Melissa practiced as a lady's maid.

Across the moat was a wonderful field with England's largest not currently working trebuchet (not pictured).

We purchased tickets, in advance, for the dungeon tour.  I thought it would be an educational exhibit.  It was a haunted house.

Melissa's knee had been hurting during much of out trip (and the preceding year), but she decided she wanted to see the views from the ramparts. They were pretty nice.
 


Then we went to William Shakespeare's house... just because we were in the neighborhood.

And on the way home... another "You've heard England is gray and dreary? Let me show you something..." moment.

 

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