Today was our first outing that took us outside of Lincoln. We boarded a coach at 9:15 and drove 1-½ hours to Burghley House, which is near Stamford UK. It rained heavily on us during the coach ride down and on the coach ride back, but not at all during our 3+ hours walking around there.
Doug stayed back in Lincoln and did laundry at a laundromat.
Burghley House is the largest and grandest house of the first Elizabethan age. This glorious house was built between 1555 and 1587 by William Cecil, the First Lord Burghley (1520–1598), Lord High Treasurer and Chief Minister to Queen Elizabeth I. The house and gardens were and continue to be inherited by his descendants across these 425 years. With impressive collections of art, furniture, porcelain, and ceramics, Burghley offers a unique glimpse of the way great houses have been lived in from the time of Queen Elizabeth I to the present day.
Jon didn’t get enough coffee at breakfast so he went straight to the café for more coffee before starting the self-guided tour.
Burghley has a massive kitchen with fireplaces, copper implements, and copper pots and pans. The house has 19 other state rooms, halls and antechambers furnished and open for display. Together, these rooms contain over 300 great works of art including one of the greatest single collections of 17th century Italian painting. The rooms also contain fine antique furniture and a superb porcelain collection.
Louisa says that in one bedroom there are steps leading up to a high bed. Embedded in the third step is a chamber pot.
Most of us ate lunch at the Orangery Restaurant before exploring the extensive gardens. There were several different gardens with different themes. It appeared everyone was satisfied that they had seen what they wanted to see by the time we boarded the coach for our 2:00 ride back to the hotel.
Melissa passed around a signup sheet for Saturday’s entrees.
Despite a very few missteps, probably not noticeable to the congregation, we had many great moments in our Wednesday Choral Evensong. Afterwards, Jack told me that he thought the Nunc Dimittis was particularly glorious.
After Evensong, Frank’s shirt was still wet from walking to the Cathedral in the rain.
–Henry Griffis
Pictured below: Burghley House
