Audley End

My big bank holiday weekend began brilliantly—my first cricket game! Now, for those of you who have been keeping up with my blog, you may have become aware of my lack of sportiness as you read about my concerns about riding bikes, my willingness to donate my shoes to the great UL dash, my reservations about foosball. So, you may be wondering why I would be so excited to see some cricket (knowing that it was the sport not the insect). Well, the answer is simple. Only a fool would pass up a day with the Clarksons. There are many things Liz and I are, but fools we are not.

I also figured I was in good hands for the big sporty cricket day. Liz and I were lucky to have the mighty Colin Clarkson there to explain the game. Also, I confess that it helped that this was a game that Liz wasn’t familiar with either, so I would look a little less like the village idiot and a little more like one of the eager pupils. I also confess that I was a bit concerned when Rosy told me that a short cricket game is more than five hours long. However, she did assure me that cricket games include a picnic tea, that this particular cricket game would feature Finley Clarkson (our cricket superstar), and that would it be held at a stately home. This all sounded good to me, and I figured that what ever I lacked in cricket enthusiasm, I would make up for in my picnic contributions.

I puttered around Cambridge in the hours before the game, and eventually made my way to our rendezvous location—the steps of the UL. Liz, as you can see from the photo, arrived early, glamorous, and all Martha Stewart with a big jug of homemade lemonade. Yes, Liz woke up early and made simple syrup, juiced lemons, and packaged up lemonade. I woke up less early and was less glamorous, and came armed with artichoke dip, olives, and veggies. The Clarksons arrived at 1:15, and we were off.

Audley End is just gorgeous and it was a perfect day to be picnicking, cricketing, and generally being happy in the sun. And the perfect day to bump into your odd Victorian. Yes, there were Victorians milling about, and some were even dancing in the garden. But we were people on a mission, and we were not going to be distracted by dancing Victorians. We had a cricket game to see.

The Clarksons are serious picnickers and had all the right gear, so before long we had established ourselves under the perfect picnic tree. I am sorry to report that the women of the group didn’t see much of the first part of the cricket game. We wanted to tour the house before it closed, so we left Colin to mind our picnic and cheer on Fin.

The house was incredible in all its stately home glory, and we four girls (Liz, Rosy, Christian and I) had a blast admiring the furniture, books, and art (although we were admiring much too slowly according to the Audley End employees). I have to say (though this comes as no surprise to most) that my favourite things were the cabinets of curiosity. There was cabinet after cabinet of animals, shells, fossils, and rocks, demonstrating the power and wealth of the previous inhabitants of Audley End. Coming a close second in the favourite department was the authentic Victorian service wing. We began our tour of the service wing with the wonderful smells of the working kitchen, and then made our way to the scullery where icky jobs like de-scaling fish, plucking feathers, and washing greasy pans were done. We were quite fascinated by the wet & dry laundry area, and decided that this wasn’t a job any of us would embrace. I figured I might not be a great laundry maid, but I stand a chance at being a decent dairy maid. The dairy looked like the most fun, all the backbreaking butter churning! We ended our service wing tour with the dry larder and rather gruesome game larder.

We worked up quite an appetite touring the stately home, so we were ready for our picnic tea. Rosy had prepared a feast of tasty sandwiches, heavenly lemon cupcakes, and some seriously yummy other cake (but I forgot its name). We ate and ate, while Colin filled us in on the game. With full tummies, we turned our attention to cricket, and at times to the baby ducks who wanted to join our picnic. I understand it wasn’t Fin’s finest game, but I thought it was pretty darn good. Our happy day of cricket and picnic ended at the Clarkson’s happy comfy home for a cup of tea and some good conversation. Over all, a wonderful day with the Clarksons!!!