Our Trip to Yorkshire (Part 2)

Here's Starman (and cartoon passenger) in an antique car. Sorry, "motor." It's a motor because it's a display (one of the few you were allowed to touch) at the Heritage Motor Museum in the Midlands, where British Leyland (among other car companies) were located. We had driven there to meet up with Starman's sister and her young son, Sam, who's car mad.

Poor Sam was disappointed that the museum didn't have Lamborghinis and Ferraris (his favorites, of course). As it happened, the discount outlet near Michael's house in North Yorkshire had shiny new Italian sports cars (one of each) on display, promoting some scheme where you pay £99 (about $200) and drive the car of your choice on a closed course. So we promised him we'd take photos of those cars for him to drool over. I am relieved to report that I have actually sent those photos off to him!

I promised you some photos of a really nice house. From the outside, this just looks like a pleasantly traditional Yorkshire farm house. I gather our hostess, Georgina, and her husband were able to buy it from her mother. The husband (who went to the same college at Oxford as Starman, albeit a few years later) is an electrical engineer, so Georgina says she has electrical outlets -- called power points over there -- everywhere she could possibly want them.

The first photo is of the view off their music room. Yes, they have multiple "reception" rooms, as they're called over there. I rather assume there's a proper sitting room on the other side of the main floor. We were shepherded through a TV room into this lovely room, complete with grand piano and Georgina's harp.

Georgina is our harpist for our wedding. Starman, who's a bit more knowledgeable about music than I am, was assigned the job of locating and booking some sort of music that would please him. Georgina is the result, and I think we (and our guests of course) will be very happy.

I didn't feel comfortable photographing Georgina while she was playing, but isn't the harp pretty in this room? (The piano is opposite the harp, so it's behind me and not in the picture.) There were horses out in the barn; Georgina explained that they don't own that much land, but the farmer who has the adjoining field lets them put their horses out there.

The room was lovely and gracious. Mike & Bryony's sitting room is just as nice, of course, but it's homelier. (That's a compliment in the UK, btw.)

Bryony had a wonderful idea to use a digital recorder in the room where we're getting married. She said she and Mike did that, and the result is lovely. You get the music, of course, but also the sound of the guests arriving and settling in. I gather Mike & Bryony listen to their wedding every year on their anniversary.