St.Albans: Day 4

A beautiful summer day: sun at last and to last. Went early into town to take a better look inside the cathedral and to take some more pictures. There was a programme for schoolchildren, who were sent with information sheets and crayons through the cathedral. In crucial places there were guides/adults, asking questions, pointing out things in the cathedral and introducing the children in a very nice way to the church and explaining to them what a cathedral is all about. The questionnaire was also about the history of this cathedral, and therefore some people dressed in historic costumes were walking around as if going on their daily business. Afterwards the children could make drawings of what they had learned and seen, on sheets of coloured paper and these were bound into a booklet which they could take home. They were accompanied by parents, and one guide told me that it was amazing that many parents learned a lot of things they didn't know yet, so also for adults it was instructive. On some parts of the walls texts from the Wycliffe Bible have appeared after the plaster has been removed. Hopefully I took some better pictures of details today.

Shrine of St.Alban

After a drink in the 'Abbot's Kitchen' we had a practice with the viols – five in all – in the crypt, singing the Orlando Gibbons pieces, the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis and the anthem Great Lord of Lords. It was a rather hopeless experience for me, as the ceiling was low and somehow or other the sound just became one muddle and I could not really hear what was going on. Hopefully it will be better in the choir stalls. The other first alto on the decani side is singing the solo part in the anthem, and we sing the first alto part of the verses in the Canticles together. I think I am better at the anthem than the Canticles.

Anyway, by the time we stopped, it was almost 13.30. We split up in groups and six of us joined the conductor and some others on a trip along country lanes to Knebworth House and Gardens. 

Victorian additions: Chimney pots with gargoyles

The trouble on non classified roads is that there are hardly any signposts. So it took us – or rather the navigator and map reader -  a long time to find the house which was only well signposted from the A1, which we had avoided. We saw a lot of countryside, and maddingly we saw the house nearby but could not reach it from the narrow lane we were on! There was only a private entrance. Eventually we got there at 15.00 hrs, starving, and just in time to go on a very nice tour of this interesting house. No time for a quick lunch or drink. The house was built 500 years ago and has gone through a lot of changes, but it is still lived in. Many famous people and royalty stayed here as well. At one time it belonged to Bulwer Lytton, who was a better known author at the time than Charles Dickens, his friend.

After the tour we admired the wonderful and extensive gardens. There are also playgrounds, there is woodland, and it seems the perfect place to spend a full day with children. There are picnic areas, and there is a teashop/restaurant and plant and gift shop. However, all that was closed at five when we were still admiring the gardens. 

We drove back via de A1 to Hatfield and St. Albans, and had drinks and a pub meal in the Fighting Cocks, the same pub in the park at the foot of the hill where we had a meal with another group yesterday. I went back at nine and practised my Gibbons again.

Some new voices have arrived, as well as David our organist for the second part of the week, who shared drinks and a meal with us.

Cathedral in flood light

 

Isn't it amazing to find a very nice room so near the centre at the house of a woman who is Dutch by birth, grew up as a miller's daughter in Zoetermeer, a village very near where I grew up, who shares my Christian name and nickname, and who will go on holiday to Maarn with their motor home next week when I am leaving, another place I am very familiar with through holidays and because my parents lived near that village for many years. Cornelia is very kind and looks after me well. I have a very bright, clean and spacious room. Something to be grateful for.