Hallooooooo!
As you might know, or not might know, today I started a 7 day road trip through England. I'll go as far North as the Peak District and down South as Winchester. The entire trip was set in motion by non other than the dream to visit Chatsworth. What was supposed to be a 3 day get a way, turned into a full on 7 day roadtrip and now I'm going to visit as many Pride and Prejudice film locations as possible:)
4.30am
After hardly closing an eye during the night (I have yet another mouse in my room and he kept waking me up. For such a tiny animal, it sure can make alot of noise!) I got out of bed before my alarm clock. I know, that is how you can tell it was bad. But that left me with plenty of time to get ready, have a little breakfast, put away the last thing for my trip, clean my room a bit, etc. By 7.10am I was out the door and on a bus.
Europcar, can they ever get it right?
By 8.30am I was at Europcar Kings Cross to pick up my rental car. This is the 3rd time I've rented with them and it was the 3rd time that something went wrong at the check in. Rather than '10min and you're on your way' it is '20minutes and you have to login on your online bank account to provide bank statements for your address'. You'd think 3rd times a charme, can't wait to turn 25 just to have any issues with renting a car. I've been driving for over 6 years now, for Pete's sake. Anyway, eventually I got my keys and I got to pick up my car for the next 7 days. It's a Volkwagen Polo. Renting a car is an excellent way to test drive cars by the way ;)
Straight out of London
The guy at Europcar kindly gave me a little map of the congestion zone in London. I quickly figured out that I didn't need to be in the zone, but it is a very useful map anyway. And yes dad, I'm saving it for you :) From King Cross I made my way out of London without accidents (whoop whoop!) and now I'm crusing as per usual :)
First stop
Was already 2hour drive from London and unplanned. Weekley is a tiny tiny tiny town about 30minutes from Stamford. One of the house is used as the rectory of mr Collins in Pride and Prejudice (2005). The town is about 5 streets big and yet I couldn't see the film locations. I decided to make a random left turn and tada! I could see Lizzy and Charlotte and mr Collins x)
Comparison photos will follow, but I don't have the tools to make them on my travel laptop.
Stamford for the afternoon please
Around 12pm I was ready in Weekley (took me about half an hour to see everything anyway) and I had a bit of a dilemma: either go to Belton House in Grantham or spent the afternoon in Stamford. I choose the latter :) Stamford is another film location in Pride and Prejudice (2005). A specific street features as Meryton in the film. As a lot of the buildings were actually sets, it is now unrecognisable so you have to use your imagination and knowledge of the film a bit.
Again, comparison photos will follow.
I'd parked the car for the entire afternoon, so I after I took the photos of the film locations, I took the opportunity to finally eat something around 2pm. Breakfast was the last thing I'd eaten. I found this cute little Cafe du Chocolate where I ate a delicious savoury crepes.
After that I walked around a bit, but then I started feeling a bit odd. Obviously my stomach had a bit of trouble digesting my lunch, plus, I had a headache. Great start of my holiday...
After about an hour and a half of walking around town, shop in, shop out, sitting on benches etc I went to the nearest coffee shop to get a peppermint tea. I made myself comfortable in an armchair and sure enough, within 15min I was dosing off... Like a proper nan, I was dosing off. I could tell that I didn't get sufficient sleep, but the peppermint tea did help :) I left the coffee shop around 4.15pm to enjoy Stamford by night during Christmas time.
By5 I was back at the car and headed to my hotel. It's only 8pm now, but I can feel it is going to be an early night for me :) No mouse to wake me up! (only other guests with loud tv's, but I can sleep through that if necessary).
So this is where I'm going to end today. Tomorrow Belton House and driving to the Peak District!
Thanks for reading!
xo Sara
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