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| Hamptonne Country Life 16th Century farmhouse |
The last few days we have been a little busy but also trying to take a break from the heat. Believe it or not, we do not have aircon (air conditioning) in the apartment. However, its nice and cool because we are on the bottom floor. There is a nice garden outside that we have been out enjoying as well.
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| Blacksmith at work |
We visited the Hamptonne Country Life Museum. To get to this one we had to take a bus. Way too far to walk. I was under the impression more animals would be there than there actually were but we did get to see and pet a Jersey calf.
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| Bellows from the 16th Century – top portion in different color is renewed |
A very lazy Jersey calf. There were some different species of chickens and a variety of chickens and babies but that was pretty much it.
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| Spinning yarn from wool |
The rest of the place was a 15th Century house and farm that was brought to life with characters dressed up and playing a part from the past. There was an apple orchard with 16 different types of apples.
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| Brick oven for cooking |
Unfortunately they were too small to pick. They use the orchard to make cider. The house, called Syvret house and area were set up with 1940’s furnishings and lifestyle such as the stables and tack room, a wash room and a brick oven.
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| Wash room – some of these look familiar (not that I’ve used them) |
Some ladies dressed in character gave us a demonstration and education on knitting. One lady was spinning the yarn from wool sheered from a sheep, another was using a machine that would allow you to peddle to spin the wool in to thread and place it on a spool.
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| Horse stalls |
It was pretty interesting and fun talking to the ladies about Jersey. They said during that time frame they were over run with sheep. My thought was how about lamb chops?
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| Thrashing machine |
They said they would sell 6000 pairs of socks per week because everyone loved them and wanted them so the wool socks were a huge export.
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| Living area – I love the pot belly type stove |
Men were a big part in spinning the wool because they made more money and they had to stop them because no one was taking care of the agriculture.
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| Cider making |
They have to eat so some of them had to start working in the fields.
We also stopped and visited with the blacksmith. He had been in Jersey for 30 years and liked to talk. |
| Baby Jersey |
He was trying to make something with an old, original set of bellows from that time period. It was pretty old but worked well.
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| Chickens of all varieties. Some colors were pretty |
He kept messing up his creation because we were asking a lot of questions about the island. We found out that you have to be in Jersey for at least 9 years to apply for citizenship and 10 years to be able to buy a house. He was an interesting fellow.
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| Momma training her babies |
There is a cute opera house that is very popular here. Its small and quaint and for me that’s t
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| Elvis impersonator |
The entertainer, who did a good job in impersonating Elvis, started with songs from his first time trying to get his start with SUN records all the way to the last years in the 70’s. His mannerisms were similar to Elvis when he joked around with the band and the audience.
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| The Opera House |
There were video clips of Elvis throughout his years including his military time frame. It was very well done. We were impressed and enjoyed it. It brought back a lot of memories for us. The very last song he did was Dixieland.
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| Small 3 story venue |
We are in Europe and the US flag is on the screen, the impersonator also wore the suit with the bald eagle sequined in red, white and blue on the back. It was moving. Everyone was on their feet by this point.
I talked to a few people at the bus stop and they say they come to see him every year. Apparently this is his 3rd year in Jersey. He’s mostly in the U.K.
Before the show we went to dinner at Doran’s Courtyard Bistro. It was the most amazing 1/2 lobster from Jersey I have ever had. It was prepared as Lobster Thermidor. I was reluctant because I typically like any shellfish grilled and with hot butter but this was really good. I’ll try that again sometime. Chuck had a steak and according to him, the best onion rings he’s ever had. He likes his onion rings crispy. These were huge and very crispy throughout. But wait, the best is last. We really didn’t have any room but I have a sweet tooth, especially when someone else is creating it.
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| Love the Ice Rock! |
I had the Tiramisu, very delicious but the most impressive was Chuck’s Mango Passion fruit sorbet. It was served on a frozen block of rock. It was awesome! We loved the restaurant and the service was perfect. 3 young servers were waiting on us and we all had a lot of fun!
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| Love this Lobster! |
Where will we go next? Don’t know. I want to go to the zoo and there’s another castle we haven’t visited. There’s also an art gallery I would like to see. We leave the island in 2 1/2 weeks so we need to make some decisions. We really don’t want to leave here. The island is friendly and safe.
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| Sooo dark… They say due to the lack of pollution in the air, the star gazing is amazing! |
We took a bus at midnight that was packed. Of course it was Friday night but 1/2 those were young teenagers. The crime rate here is so low.
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| The bus was packed at midnight! |
May God bless you always!
Chuck & Lea Ann
WorldTravelReynolds 