September 18 2016 Northampton & Harlestone
We checked out of the Hilton Northampton and drove to our new hotel closer to the train station, the Park Inn by Radisson. Our room wasn't ready, so we walked to O'Neill's for a meal. Blaine had a great breakfast (our first AM meal out) of eggs, sausage & potatoes. I finally had a "jacket" w/slaw & cheddar. A jacket is a baked potato. I've been wanting to try one, but all the other choices have tempted me more. Per our waitress, this is a "proper British meal." It really was delicious & served with a great green salad. Then we walked around downtown Northampton and did some shopping. I bought a cozy gray sweater because it is going to be much colder in Ireland. Basically, we were killing time until our "tea" at St. Andrews, which started at 2pm in Harlestone (about 15 minutes away).
The tea was wonderful! Two very sweet ladies prepared & served the tea and assortment of cakes. Blaine had a scone & I had a yummy slice of fruitcake. The church women were very helpful in assisting us to find Blaine's ancestors. His family is buried inside the church. Many of the memorial slabs are VERY hard to read, which makes sense because they were inscribed 500 years ago and have been walked on throughout those years. The 5 generations of Canfields are right in the center aisle between the 2 sets of pews and slightly in front of the altar. It was quite exciting for Blaine because he has spent so much time researching. The ladies mentioned a Dr. Brian Canfield who comes from the USA every few years. We also saw the names of a few Canfields in the church's Visitors Book (which goes back to 1960). Most of them were from the southern USA. Everyone we met was very nice in England, and especially here at the church. We bought a few books that describe the history of the church and the village of Harlestone. Canfields are mentioned in the books.
After tea, we hiked through Upper and Lower Harlestone. The village is a very short distance from Althorp (the Spencer estate). The Spencers pretty much own most of the village property. We then went to the Fox & Hounds to use the restroom and have a beer and a glass of my new favorite, Pinot Grigio Rose'. We then headed back to our hotel to plan our trip to Ireland. It will be a long travel day tomorrow--about 8 hours via train and ferry.
