loopyloulaura

Two weeks have passed since we went on holiday: how is that even possible?!

1pm and the schools closed, the academic year is over! I picked the kids up and headed home. They got changed and we climbed into the car. Unfortunately, there was an incident and my keys were left in the door on the inside and we were locked out. Not the best of starts…

Reluctant to postpone our holiday (as I had planned everything to the finest detail!), I called my parents to beg them to sort it for us and we got on the road heading north.

Our first stop after about 2 hours was Peterborough. It was so lovely being in an air conditioned car due to the heatwave!

I had wanted to visit Peterborough for a long time due to the fantastic history of the place. We headed straight to the cathedral.

Originally an abbey, Henry VIII prevented it being destroyed after the Reformation, possibly out of respect to his first wife Katharine of Aragon who is buried inside. This is a place of pilgrimage for many Spanish, Catholics, or just history lovers like myself.

On the opposite side of the altar is the first burial place of Mary, Queen of Scots before her remains were removed and installed at Westminster Abbey by her son when he became King (James I).

There is also a memorial plaque dedicated to Edith Cavell, an English nurse who was court martialled and then shot by a German firing squad during the First World War. Despite using her medical knowledge to heal soldiers from both sides, she admitted to sheltering Allied soldiers and getting them to safety which was treason according to German war law.

We had a slight wander around Peterborough but it was starting to close up as it was late afternoon. I wanted to climb up in the Guildhall building as there were stairs but they didn’t look well maintained and there was nothing to say if it was allowed. We had McDonald’s for tea to celebrate the start of the holiday.

Continuing with the history theme, we got back on the road and drove for 20 minutes to reach the site of Fotheringhay Castle. I admit to being a little disappointed that there was nothing left of the place where Mary, Queen of Scots was executed apart from the shape of the moat and mound for the keep.

We returned to the car and drove north to York where we stayed at a Travelodge (our first time). We had asked for an extra bed but there wasn’t one and we were too exhausted to alert reception to the problem. I ended up sharing the double bed with Matthew and Zach while Chris and Matthew had the two singles. We made shadow puppets of the wall to entertain ourselves before going to bed.