Sherwood Forest And Lincoln Cathedral, 6 September 2014

We enjoyed lunch at Chatsworth house, still in awe of the beauty of the place and figuring out it had to be where Pride and Prejudice was filmed.  We headed to Lincoln Cathedral where Dad had visited when he was on his mission.  It just so happened we stumbled into Sherwood Forest on our way and stopped in to see Robin!

 It was a very merry place indeed with plenty of statues, and other figures representing Robin Hood and his Merry Men.  Little John is even in the action with a wrestle across the bridge.  I tried out the stocks and noted they are very confining!

Our next stop was the Lincoln Cathedral in Lincoln.  Construction was begun in 1185 and grew to be the tallest building in the world, 1300-1549.  It stands as gothic architecture and has seen many changes over the centuries.

This view is from the front, and then outside the gate facing the cathedral.  

Top photo is the ancient gate of the cathedral. From that gate looking west, you see the ancient city wall with cobblestone street.  It is fascinating to see ancient next to modern.  In fact, there is a nice row of modern flats built inside the cathedral gate.

The building is beautiful inside and we found ourselves wandering from one area to the next taken in with its beauty from architecture, to stained glass, to carved wood of intricate detail, etc.  The bonus was being there when their boys choir rehearsed for a concert later this evening.  They were all dressed in blue robes and ranged in age, we would guess, 8-18?  Their music was beautiful and resonated so lovely in the building.

The bishop of Lincoln, Hugh of Wells, was one of the signatories to the Magna Carta and for hundreds of years the cathedral held one of the four remaining copies of the original.  This copy was loaned to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library for a period of time but is now on display in Lincoln Castle.  There is a replica of it encased here in the cathedral.

Dad spotted the rameumptom.

Dad has a similar picture of him standing in front of the cathedral when he visited it with other missionaries 50 years ago.

The day was coming to a close and we began our search for a place to stay for the night as we headed south.  We stopped at a bed and breakfast but they were filled up do to the Burghley Horse Trials.   We continued on and found a hotel in Grantham.  We hit a bit of luck as they too were filled, but the brand new owners of just 6 hours - that should make one concerned - said there was one room left with two twins and no TV.  They gave it to us for a discounted price of £36.  We were sold and settled in quite well.  They were diligent in seeing we enjoyed our stay by bringing up cold water and even bought new pillows for us!  The room was quite adequate and we both slept well.

Today is Tanner's birthday so we put a call into him to wish him a very happy one.  We had a good visit and he is doing well with growing up, driving, church, family, and school.