Horses, Lions, and Beaches - Oh My!

Hi Everyone!

For the first time in history waking up at 7 am was the easiest thing in the world. Why? Because today I got to go horseback riding in the New Forest to see wild ponies! Can you tell by the grin on my face that this is the best day ever?

 My horse’s name is Jessie, and Jes was on Esme. 

Jes had a bit of struggles with her New Forest pony since Esme liked to snack and not trot. We were out in the forest for two hours, and went right through herds of wild horses and cattle. It may be July but there were four foals and one calf. So cute! Jessie was the smoothest ride in the world, I only got in trouble a few times and it was because my horse wanted to race the pony ahead of me, and I may or may not have been willing to let her gallop a bit. These guides kill all the fun, and I know I know they’re doing their jobs and keeping us all safe. But literally my guide was like 19 years old and had such an attitude, “my arab this” and “my arab that.” I was like I get it love, you’ve got an arab. Good for you, but also you telling me you totally drop the reigns and win every race across the fields doesn’t impress me at all, you don’t even know the name of your car insurance. Call me when you pay your first apartment bill. Jes and I were just giving each other knowing looks and in my head I could hear Jes go “You’ve had your license for three years? Awww bubba…” We laughed our heads off when we finally were within the protective walls of the car ride back to the Filly Inn and could really let ourselves go.

Despite the sassy escort, the ride was phenomenal, especially when we were in the forest and all we could hear were the sounds of the birds chirping and the silence of a forest. We did have a little issue where Jes tried to show off her horsemanship skills and spooked all our horses! I’m so proud of Jes for staying on! We were literally rounding a corner and before I knew it all four of the horses were running off in all different directions. Funny how instinct kicks in, within a second I had my reins pulled tight and was leading Jessie into a hard left circle so that she couldn’t pull any funny tricks and was forced to slow herself from a gallop to a walk. No clue how Jes got her horse to stay chill but was so impressed when I saw her still riding astride a few minutes later. After two hours riding, lets just say Jes and I were quite sore at the end of our ride. Our mums were laughing at our funny gaits.

Whilst Jes and I were frolicking in the forest, my mum and Mumma Bailey went to the beach! I think they enjoyed their daughterless morning.

We left the New Forest and Filly Inn for Arundel Castle. I have to say, that this by far was the best castle we have gone to! The family here is the Duke/Duchess of Norfolk. Their decorations were just amazing, architecture, not so much. We had to climb 135 stairs to get to the top of the tower.

I can't deny that the view were worth it though. 

Here’s the door where the servants threw rocks and boiling water out of the tower when they had unwelcome visitors. Mumma Bailey said that’s where the Brits got their English hospitality from, which made us all laugh.

There were so many dead animals everywhere, it was gross…That is probably something I will never understand the appeal of. Like good for you, you shot a lion with a GUN. I’m sure that was a fair fight. Now, the tribes that bring home lions without guns…I’d say fair game, you earned your pelt. Knives/Spears vs. Claws, even steven, otherwise you’re just cheating.

The castle library was to die for. I was sad I couldn’t sit there all day and read, it looked like something right out of Beauty and the Beast. (Can you tell by the number of pictures that it was my favorite room?)

The rest of the castle was pretty decadent as well. 

I love how much we played around with the props left for children in play boxes (young at heart am I right?). The bows and arrows were fastened to the walls, so Jes improvised. 

We then went out into the gardens and had an absolute blast. My mom was in 7^th heaven with all these flowers. 

She and Mumma Bailey were playing the naming game, and were so good that Jes said she’d take both of them on her team if she went to a botanical pub quiz night. Mom was so excited to see how the family kept the birds out of their gardens with their netting system, so stay tuned for that being installed into our home hahaha. I on the other hand was debating whether or not to pinch a few loquats. They’re my favorite fruit, and the Norfolk family obviously didn’t need all of them, am I right? In the end mom said it was not worth getting thrown out of the castle for, so I didn’t get my fruit even tho I’m pretty sure I would have gotten away with it.

Here are some more garden moments! We definitely took our time finding flowers and taking in the fountains.

Jes was sad that a plant was taller than her, but that sucker was taller than me! 

These next few shots are my favorite, you can just see how goofy the four of us got, climbing trees and playing around. 

The last part of our journey was a drive to Brighton (I’m sure my avid followers will recognize this name, since it’s my third visit back. I definitely love it here!). Jes took us to this ocean view restaurant about thirty minutes along the coast from Hove that had the slowest service ever. This was perfect for us, because we just wanted to sit and chat. We literally laughed so hard we almost peed. Hands down this was the best meal of the road trip. 

Not only was the food phenomenal, but also the views were gorgeous and the ambiance was perfect. Obviously the company is what made the entire night (do I get brownie points for this sap Mumma Bailey and Jes?). Since we climbed so many steps and laughed so hard, we said that this road trip had turned into an exercise program called Menopausal Mums – Bums and Tums. *cue more laughter and almost peeing our pants moments*

Today was the best day, one that I will definitely look back to when law school gets hard. This road trip was probably the smartest thing Jes and I planned during my trip to England. Tomorrow is a beach day and we all know how much I love the beach! (Almost as much as ponies.) Stay tuned for more sunny tales.

Love,

Carolyn  

Shams, Stones, and Salisbury

Hi everybody!

This morning we started off bright and early to head to Sham Castle. What is Sham Castle you say? Well the City of Bath felt that they did not have enough castle heritage in their town. So the council decided to build a facade of a castle so that people could look and take pictures in front of it. Well Council of Bath, your ruse worked, and these four tourists fell for it hook, line, and sinker. So here’s pictures of me in front of this silly castle!

I do have to say that there was an amazing view of Bath, and that was definitely worth the trip up.

Then the four musketeers traveled to Stonehenge! Basically it used to be a circular ancient burial ground with 56 stones. Then, humans slowly changed the stones and added the huge ones. It eventually developed to the structure we see today that acted like a big time keeper for the summer and winter solstice. No one really knows what it was meant for, but watching the videos and trying to imagine how they moved such stones is really intriguing. Like look at it, they lived in huts but moved many stones like this!

Either humans had super strength that we gave up at some point in time, um hello pyramids of Giza or Machu Pichu, OR we got dumber and lost some skill we had in the past. My favorite personal theory is that we abused our super strength so the Gods punished us by removing both our abilities and our memories/knowledge of such time hehehe. I know, I’m a bit of a dreamer, but hey, if all the Mensa kids can’t figure out Stonehenge, then my theory is just as good as theirs.

Afterwards we headed out to Salisbury for lunch. Does Salisbury sound familiar to you? That’s because it was in the news a few years ago when the entire town got evacuated after Russian spies tried to kill and ex Russian spy using Novichok this terrifying drug that kills you just by touching it. Jes was joking the whole time saying things like “don’t touch the Novichok doors.” Mom was appalled, whilst I was laughing saying that there’s no way there was any Novichok on all these touristy things. What can I say? Living life on the edge suits me, I’d say I’m a moderate adrenaline junky…I mean have you seen the real adrenaline junkies? My parents got it easy with me.

Tired of paying our dues to the Church of England, we kind of snuck into the Salisbury Cathedral. I mean all the people were really old in there…so it’s not like they really noticed. God probably noticed, but I don’t think she minds, I mean I literally just paid my zakat from my own personal savings and that went to the poor directly instead of getting diluted in the church. Also, the four of us have given more than our fair share to these pastors here, don’t get me started again on how much of a rip off Westminster Abbey was. So yes, the four of us snuck into a cathedral and I’m really going to enjoy sharing that story with other friends thirty years from now.

Top two things in this cathedral:

1. The oldest working mechanical clock in the world is housed here. This clock has ticked around 4.4 billion times since it was put to use in 1386 (and that’s with the clock taking a break for a few years!)

2. The best kept Magna Carta is kept here. Which basically is the fundamental to our Declaration of Independence and Constitution, which is basically the foundation to my job, so basically I saw the original inspiration for my entire career. Cool right?! Unfortunately no pictures allowed, so you all will just have to use google. 

After we survived Salisbury - no Novichok for these pro spies! – we made our way to New Forest. Your city girl here thought that if a place is called a forest, then it must be a forest? Lies, this place had a Bentley dealership lol! I was definitely in for a surprise. I would like to point out though, that this “forest” has WILD PONIES. Well, and cattle too, but that’s not important. We are talking about WILD PONIES guys. Can you tell I’m excited. I don’t think I stopped looking out the window for even a second.

We stayed at the Filly Inn, I know, I know, I might have a problem. I feel really guilty for making the mums suffer a bit since the accommodations were less than ideal. BUT it did have an amazing garden and patio. The lighting outdoors was amazing...hello golden hour!

Mumma Bailey, mom, and I just sat outside enjoying the sunshine, listening to the birds, and identifying flowers while we had fizzy drinks and then dinner. We laughed because the portion sizes were so huge, it was hopeless for us to be a part of the clean plate club. But like always, we definitely had room for dessert. Jes doesn’t like meringue and Mumma Bailey doesn’t like chantilly cream. So we ordered and Eton Mess to share but asked them to make it an Eton Tidy. Literally they deconstructed it and we each made a spoonful of Eton Mess that catered to our tastes one bite at a time. The waitress must have thought we were insane! But we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Tomorrow I’m going horseback riding in the New Forest with Jes. SO EXCITED! I hope I can fall asleep tonight.

Love you guys,

Carolyn