John's family is from England, so today was family history day. We headed toward South Hampton where the Talbot clan is from and stopped at Winchester Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral. Winchester Cathedral is known for having the longest Nave (entrance hall that leads to the high altar) in England. It was a beautiful cathedral. We especially LOVED this town. What a great little town with a hot and happening market. We would definitely come back to this University town and while away the day. We also loved the Shakespearean actors and the abridged play versions they presented to groups of people sitting outside of the cathedral.
I am pretty sure that my kids aren't the only ones who love to climb, but seriously, it gets old. The kids are climbing all over anything they can put a hand and a foot on. I wonder somedays if they will become professional rock climbers.
"Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears...."
"Macbeth"
Ads has always crossed her legs when she sat, even as a little tiny toddler. I love to look at her face when she is fixated on something that she is watching.
Ads was invited to come up and choose some nasty words to call the lad they were putting in the stocks.
Climbing........again.
Ads getting the autograph of William Shakespeare. Something about the directness of his look in this picture freaks me out a little.
William is that age where it is a bit tricky to handle him. For example: he is very much a physical boy, which is fun, however, since he IS just 3 he doesn't quite know when to stop. The teenage boys love to wrestle and play with William, but when they are finished they want him to be finished. Being that William is 3 and doesn't understand that we operate on what other people want, he doesn't stop playing when the big kids are finished. Therefore, William will try to get their attention in a way that is exhibiting negative behaviour. Thus Nick's nose bleed. William somehow was able to punch Nick in the nose giving him a right good nose bleed. I am not sure if Nick was down close to Will's face or if Will was standing up on the statue thing, but somehow they were able to be the same height and William punched him a good one. Nick was a great sport about it, and Will got in trouble. We have since disclaimed to people that William, like a dog, when riled up and if you get your face down by his you could get hit, bit, or kicked. Best not to get him too riled or get your face too close. Boys. *sigh*
This is probably my favourite cottage I have seen since I have been here.
We then travelled from village to village visiting each of the churches that John's great great grandparents were christened in and attended. John's family were Protestant until they joined the LDS church in the 1800's. When they joined the LDS church they left England and settled a community in Panguitch, UT. If you are interested to know about the Faith that they felt was worth leaving their homes, friends, relatives and country for, you can read about it HERE. I was able to photograph each of the churches as well as the christening fonts. John and I are really excited that we have now seen the town that my grandma's grandmother was from and now we have seen where John's English relatives lived. All of our relatives lived in lovely little villages. There was one village that we drove to that had a Gipsy encampment near it that was a bit run down, but most all of them were lovely.
Our 3 generations of Talbot men.
loved the way that this tree had grown into the headstone. Amazing.
Our son was named for 2 William's, one on John's side and one on my side. John's great grandfather was William Henry Talbot, and my grandmother is Wilma so named after a William in her family line. This is a picture of the two of them outside of the church where William Henry Talbot was christened.
I have an obsession with windows and photographing them. I loved this particular window.
Original painting on the walls inside the church.
This is the only church we visited today that was locked. Ads was a bit bummed we didn't get to see inside.
After a long day of driving the kids were happy to wrestle around on the grass outside of the church. We loved seeing the family sights and feel very blessed to have the opportunity to be in a country where John has been able to see where his relatives were from and I have been able to see where my Grandma's family was from and I have been able to visit Sweden and spend some time with my dad and his cousins there. John and I are very proud of our heritage, John of English/American and me of my American Swede in Tweed heritage.
