Robin Hood's Hometown

This weekend, a large group of people stayed at the manor rather than traveling with the school. I was so looking forward to having my first unscheduled days since arriving in England. (Maybe even since before camp!) I had no plans except to catch up on some work and little things and to watch lots of movies.

On Friday, Ashley and I went into Grantham to run some errands and wander without time constraints. It was absolutely fabulous and we couldn't get over it! We discovered our new favorite grocery store (how did we miss it?) Morrisons - which is the first store that I've been able to find every single thing I was looking for! We headed back to the manor and both spent some good hours having "me" time in our rooms (that are across the hall from each other. We can also yell the other person's name from our rooms if we need them...). That evening we ordered take-away (it was awful) and watched Pride and Prejudice in one of the common rooms. It was a very English evening!

 A view of the buildings from the city centre.

Saturday morning, we decided to be a bit more adventurous and took the train to Nottingham. It is about a 45 minute drive north of us and so the train ticket was only 4 pounds 70 round-trip! We were accompanied by our friend Jake and had a great time. We had no plans as to what to do once we arrived because we didn't know what to expect of the town. Upon arrival, we realized that the town was very cute and had tons of things to do and see. There was shopping on every corner, from department type stores to boutiques to small hole-in-the-wall types. We meandered for awhile, stopping in all the necessary stores and, of course, the really touristy ones. We treated ourselves to lattes and a cheese and tomato baguette and people/fashion watched for awhile. Ashely and I are very enthralled with the current English fashion of not wearing pants (by pants, I mean jeans, not underwear as the English would assume) but instead leggings or tights. I think I've seen a total of 4 English in jeans. Very strange. We have decided, however, that we very much approve of this fashion. Don't be surprised if I come back wearing only leggings.

Ashley and I in the fountain.

Anyway, we continued our journey passing a very awesome fountain in the city square. It was a flat surface with water on top that created a waterfall off the edges of the flat. What you couldn't see was that the flat surface actually got deeper and so if you walked through it, you could be down to your shoulders in water! It's very hard to explain but we were fascinated by it! And because the locals were playing in it, of course we had to try!

Me and Robin Hood.

After discovering the fountain, we we headed toward Nottingham Castle where everything was dedicated to Robin Hood! We wandered around the grounds viewing the castle and seeing the different statues. The castle was on a hill and overlooked most of the rural areas of Nottingham. I began to realize that I actually knew nothing of Robin Hood except that his villain was a lion and his friend was a bear...I think I should either re-watch the Disney version or pay close attention in British Studies when we discuss him!

We decided that was a thorough enough adventure in Nottingham for the day and headed back to Grantham. Once in town, we headed to The Goose, a very Harlaxton popular pub, for dinner. We had the BEST dinner thus far in English restaurants and for the cheapest price! I had a giant piece of lasagna, two pieces of garlic bread, a salad, and a drink all for under 4 pounds! It was the best deal ever. After our delicious meal, we decided it was best to take the taxi back to the manor to, of course, watch more English movies. What a weekend!