Bats

Harlaxton Manor holds many surprises. One of the best surprises is the endangered species of Barbastelle bat that lurks in the Harlaxton coal tunnels. There are only four colonies of the Barbastelle bat in all of Britain and Harlaxton is one of them. Harlaxton Manor is also home to the noctural bat, the biggest bat in Britain, the long eared bat, and the pipistrelle, the smallest bat in Britain. There are 18 species of bat in Britain and 11 can be seen in our county, Lincolnshire. A few people come to Harlaxton several times a year to check and make sure the bats are okay. My family and another family were really interested in the bats, so the people were nice enough to bring some in to the Van der Elst Room. They came in with three wooden boxes. They explained that the boxes were bat boxes and that they had live bats inside. We got really excited. The first bat they showed was the long eared bats. I did not understand why they called it the long eared bat because it had anything but long ears. But all of a sudden two huge ears unfolded from the bat’s head. The ears were almost the size of the body! The next bat they brought out was the pipistrelle. It could have fit through a door crack it was so small. It was the size of a half dollar. It was so cute. Finally they brought out the nocturnal. It was over two times the size of the pipistrelle. A noctural can weigh 40 grams and an average pipistrelle only weighs about 5 grams. The pipistrelle might be small, but it has a huge diet. Like all bats in Britain it eats insects and if you have an insect problem call the Pipistrelle Busters. A pipistrelle can eat over 3,000 bugs in one night. The people told us many fascinating facts. I hope I have not batted you away from my blog by posting this.

Stratford-upon-Avon

Stratford-upon-Avon is a small town that sits proudly upon the river Avon. Stratford has a huge history compared to the town’s quaint size. Stratford is where William Shakespeare, one of the best play writers of all time, was born. William Shakespeare wrote many famous plays including Romeo and Juliet, the Tempest, and the Twelfth Night. Shakespeare is known for how he puts all types of acting into his plays. There are drama, comedy, love, and lots of other types of acting in Shakespeare’s plays. The words in the plays are hard, so we have been reading lines from a certain play to make sure we understand things. Our reward was to go to a Twelfth Night play production! The play was amazing. The people made it so it was like the 21^st Century version. I loved the play. The next morning was Easter. I had a surprise in store for me. The Easter Bunny had visited! We had our own small Easter egg hunt at our Bed in Breakfast. I got candy, gold coins, and British coins. It was so fun. Since it was Easter and we were in Stratford we went to the Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare was baptized and buried. The Church has huge organs that are played. In one song they had people playing trumpets while the organs were playing. At one part you got to light candles. When everyone blew them out the Church was filled with swirling smoke. Holy Trinity was beautiful. After the Church we went and had lunch at a Thai restaurant. The food was delicious. We then walked through the Stratford-upon-Avon Market. The Market had lots of wood and stone crafting. The market passed us by where Shakespeare was born and grew up. It was funny because on the road it went modern house, modern house, 15 Century house, and modern house. They have kept Shakespeare’s house in good condition. We stopped in a map store with maps as old as 1600s maps. We also stopped in a bookstore with lots of Shakespeare books. We also passed by an archeology dig on Shakespeare’s grown-up house. It was a big pit with people looking at stone walls and digging at the ground. We then walked and looked at the river Avon. There were lots of pretty swans. By the river there is a big statue of Shakespeare with four people from his many plays. They were Hamlet (who represented Philosophy), Lady Macbeth (who represents Tragedy), Falstaff (who represents Comedy), and Prince Hal (who represents History). The statues were stunning. At that time is was time to go, but I would go back to Stratford-upon-Avon in a heartbeat.

Burghley House

A Harlaxton group took a field trip to Burghley House, and my mom signed us up to go. Burghley House really should be Burghley Mansion. William Cecil, who was the first Lord Burghley, started building the Burghley House in 1555 and it was finished in 1587. William was made Lord Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth I after the old Treasurer, Lord Winchester, died. That made William Cecil one of the most powerful men in the country of Britain. William made a whole area for the queen that included a bathroom, changing room, dining room, bedroom, and lounging area. The funny thing is that she was only there for a few nights! William Cecil died, but that was not the end of the Cecil line. John Cecil was the next person in line for the Burghley House. He was called the traveling Earl because he traveled to so many places. John brought many things back from his travels to help make the Burghley House even more amazing (there are hundreds of paintings and even whole fireplaces he brought back). Brownlow was next on the throne. He is remembered for starting the amazing gardens all around Burghley. David Cecil, another Lord Burghley that came later, is known for his athletic achievements. Lord Burghley won a Gold Medal for the 400 meter hurdle in the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam. He won silver in the 400 meter team relay in 1932 in Los Angles. They had a room where you could see his shirt, gold medal, silver medal, and lots of other things he used in the Olympics. In one part of the Burghley house they had a room about the kings and queens of England. One question asked did Henry the VIII owned 50 palaces. I was sure nobody could own that many houses, but I was wrong. He owned 55! He even ordered a whole town called Cuddington in Surry to be flattened so that he could build a huge palace called Nonsuch over it. He was a greedy guy! Another part showed you Elizabethan words from the Elizabethan times. Two words I learned were Prithee which means please and Grammarcy which means thank you. Would you prithee pass the tea Ma ’dam? Grammarcy. One of my favorite parts of the day was going to see the farrow deer in the yard outside Burghley House. Farrow deer are a type of deer that were brought by William Cecil to Burghley as his personal animal. There are 160 acres for all 400 wild farrow deer. They are amazing creatures with crazy long horns. Grammarcy for reading my blog!

Grantham Mid-Lent Fair

We went to the Grantham Fair. Grantham holds a big fair two times a year. The one we went to is the Mid-Lent Fair because it is in the middle of lent. The fair dates back to the 1400s! Of course now they sell cotton candy instead of cattle. Now they also have rides. We walked through the fair looking at all the things that are the same as fairs back home and at things that are different. Many of the prize things are the same. You can win goldfish and stuffed animals at a lot of the stalls. There was a big area for bumper cars. I really wanted to do it. Some college students, my mom, and I rode on the bumper cars. It was so “bumpy” that my sunglass lens broke off. Every time I got bumped or I bumped someone else I thought my teeth would fall off. The bumper cars here jolt you around more than the ones back home. I also ate some fair food. I tried fried donuts that had a lot of powdered sugar on top. It was so good. The fair was terrific.

Costume Ball

Last night Harlaxton College had a costume ball for all the students and we were excited to go. I saw a king, Sherlock Holmes, and even members of the Blue Man Group. Even all the professors and staff got dressed up, and those are the people in the photo. My sister wore a Rapunzel outfit and my mom wore a hippie costume. I was a gladiator. I had no weapon so I made myself a bow and arrow. I went to the Harlaxton woods to look for the perfect big stick. I found it. I also found some string to make the stick into a bow. I then got an arrow (a chopstick!). I was ready to go. We walked up to the castle for the ball. We ate a fancy meal in the Long Room. Then we went to the Great Hall to boogey to the DJ’s music. It was so fun. We even started a huge Congo line. I heard almost every song in the book. The costume ball was fantastic.

BBC and Wicked Fun

On Friday we went to London. We have been to London many times, but you can never get tired of it. We first were at Trafalgar Square. It is a big square right in the heart of London, and there are four big bronze lions in the square that I like to climb on. Right now there is also a big Olympic countdown clock that is ticking down the time until the Olympics start. The Olympics will be held in London so everybody is excited. After spending a little time in Trafalgar we went to the Thames, a river in London. We went on a river cruise! The Elsea family had been in London and we met back up for the cruise. Our ship was called the Symphony. When we got on we were assigned our seats and off we went down the river. We passed Big Ben and the London Eye, but the highlight was going under the Tower Bridge. I have walked around and over the Tower Bridge, but I had never seen under it. It was cool because everything went darker as we went under the bridge. Next it was time for us to say goodbye to the Elseas and for my mom to put on her professor hat. She had arranged for her classes to go on a BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) field trip and the students met us there for a tour. I got to see so many amazing things. I got to stand in TV studios. I also got to stand in a green room the Beatles were in. A green room is where actors sit before their show. Many of the actors were picky and had to have everything their way. We learned about one singer who had to be carried everywhere he went! He refused to walk on the stairs or take the lift (an elevator). Can you guess who it was? I will tell you in a minute. At the BBC I also got to be on a trivia game. I lost, but it was fun. I have heard lots of great things about BBC and I agree that they are all true. We next went to Wicked the musical. Wicked is like the Witches side to the Wizard of Oz. It was amazing. The singing was Wicked! The day was perfect. And for my friends who are having Spring Break this week, I hope your days are perfect too. The person who I was talking about being picky and having to be carried was Prince.

Cambridge

Cambridge is a town about an hour and a half train ride from Grantham. It sounded like a fun place to go to so that is where we went. When we got there we headed toward the Eagle Inn. The Eagle Inn is an awesome 600 year old Pub. It is where DNA was first discussed. DNA (DeoxyriboNucleicAcid) is a self-replicating material. It is the key factor to life. James Watson and Francis Crick were the first people to discuss DNA. At the Eagle I ate Fish and Chips (fish and fries). It was delicious. After the Eagle we went to the Market. Next we did a small treasure hunt that was meant to take you around Cambridge. It passed us by buildings that looked like mini castles, King's College that looked like a HUGE castle, and lots of other cool things. King's College was beautiful and is one of 31 colleges part of the University of Cambridge, one of the best universities in the world. I loved Cambridge!