by mac Mon 14 Jan 2019 - 13:50
Misty wrote:I remember a fabulous day out at Newstead Abbey with my family when I was a youngster. I can remember having a really special afternoon tea in the beautiful kitchen. And the peacocks, beautiful but noisy beggars roaming around the grounds, and I remember feeding the swans on the lake. Its a long time since I was a toddler and it was many years ago but that day is still very vivid in my memory. Such a shame to think of that beautiful place left neglected and falling to ruin.
Yeah it's a great shame and we were shocked at how tired and neglected the place had become. It's interesting you mention remembering a time when you were young. I, too, recall one there but for totally different reasons.
We were a typical working-class family and Newstead Abbey was a big day out travelling by service bus to the main gate and then walking the probably mile and a half through the grounds to the Abbey picnic and sightseeing area.
It was a hot summer day spoiled at the end by the most amazing thunderstorm and torrential rain as we walked back to catch the bus. Soaked to the skin with the storm playing around us we eventually made it home and the storm continued into the late evening. There were nearby homes hit and damaged by lightning and reports of ball-ligtning smashing their way through some of them.
As a family for decades later we would reflect about that storm, that visit and we'd talk about summers generally that used to be hot, summers when we THOUGHT we had other such storms at Newstead but I wonder if we actually did? Memory can be very fickle and it's easy to be mistaken but maybe there was a run of hot summers in our neck of the woods?
It all seems such a long time ago, around 65 years I'd guess.
by 
