Wimpole Estate

Wimpole Hall and Grace
Originally uploaded by msclan.

Yesterday, in celebration of Pride and Prejudice season Grace and I visited Wimpole Estate, reputedly the grandest stately home in Cambridgeshire. We really wanted to see one of these homes after watching the series - you see that these homes and grounds were the primary settings for most of the events of their lives. They spent a huge part of their time (especially if they were women I suspect) in either their estate or someone else's estate. Anyway, Wimpole is only eight miles south of Cambridge so we would be fools to miss it!

God, what an ordeal to get there though. There was one bus that went there - it dropped you off a mile away from the estate at 9:30 and 1:30 and picked up two miles from the estate at 4:45. And that was after a 1 hour ride. Initially we were going to go on Saturday but the weather was terrible and projected to be beautiful on Sunday, so we delayed. The bus doesn't even run on Sundays, so we thought we would bike there. Unfortunately, my bike has a broken spoke so I needed to get it repaired in town first. But no one could do it till Monday so we were out of luck there. We could take a train to Royston, the closest station, and then take a taxi. But it would cost 16 pounds each way, plus train tickets. Probably over 40 pounds to get there and back, plus the 12 pound entrance fee. Not good enough.

In the end I took a bus into town and rented a bike from a cycle hire store and we were able to bike. The road was unpleasant with cars frequently whizzing by and no shoulder for half the way but (after an hour of biking) we arrived. We were a bit worn out - it had taken two hours of buses and bikes to get here. But after lunch we perked up and went on a tour of the estate.

There were no photos allowed in the estate, but you can see what it looked like by watching any number of Victorian era movies, especially either Pride and Prejudice movie. It really was just like they are presented in those movies - a statement of wealth, a holding place for the accumulated treasures of the generations, a place to hold enormous parties, a place with enough variety to keep the inhabitants from getting cabin fever. There was a long room that could be used for walking when the weather made going to the garden impractical. There was a gigantic pool/bath. A breakfast room and dining room. A book room with more books than many local libraries. In addition to the book room there was a library proper which was undergoing restoration, so we couldn't enter. There was a chapel. Saloons, sitting rooms, rooms for every purpose.

In the basement there were servant quarters. A pantry with enormous trunks labelled things like cumin and hyacinth(?). Drawers labelled cinnamon. Walls of china, walls of linen. We wondered how many people it would take to run a house. Grace thought 40, but I thought a lot less. I figured you would need some gardners, some cooks, some maids, some butlers, but what else? Of course there was also an enormous farm on the grounds, and that could easily employ many more people. And there was a giant walled in garden where, presumably, the family grew all the fruits and vegetables it ate.

In a house like that the bored rich could easiliy divert themselves their whole life I think (and that's what they had to do, right? They didn't really work). You could go to the library one day, the pool/bath the next, visit the farm, the gardens, the grounds, play the piano-forte, have a party, go to a party, etc. Apparently there used to be a beautiful glass conservatory and another wing. I'm not sure what hapened to them.

After the estate we went over to the farm to see the famous baby lambs. There were a million families here today for the event. For a few weeks out of the year all the sheep give birth and you can see it happen. Apparently this absolutely disgusting process is a hit with the kids.

Anyway, this is a working farm and there are tons of cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, roosters, goats etc. I don't know if these cows and pigs are special or if I just haven't been on a farm in a long time but I was amazed at the size of these animals. The pigs seemed like cows and the cows seemed like hippos or something. They had torsos like tree trunks!

Onto the sheep though. First we saw baby lambs. They were cute, as you might imagine. Then we saw younger lambs, with umbilical cords still hanging from their stomachs as they walked around. Not so cute. Then we went to a new building which was really crowded. This was where sheep gave birth. We battled for a spot to watch and the horrifying event commenced. I'll describe the process in graphic detail so you can imagine it nicely.

There were two sheep that were about to go. One had this enormous disgusting bag of yellow fluid hanging out of her, like a giant water balloon made of wet cellophane half filled with urine. The sheep didn't seem that concerned. She kept wandering in circles but she wasn't bleating as if in pain. She turned around. She turned back and the back had burst, so now it just looked like a foot of wet cellophane hanging out beneath her tail. She started licking up something wet on the ground.

The same thing happened with the other sheep. Enormous cellophane urine balloon hanging out of the sheeps nether regions. Probably about a liter or two of fluid. Hanging about a foot. Dozens of kids pressed against the fence watching this happen. Not horrified, but excited.

Anyway the second sheep sat down, sat up, walked around. Now the bag was burst. Suddenly this black thing poked out. It was the lamb's head. I knew for sure when it started looking around. At this point Grace was blown away and dazed. The rest of the lamb wasn't coming out though. The two headed sheep just walked in circles. Then she sat down, presumably on her baby's head. The audience was worried.

But then she stood up and before long something happened. In a split second the rest of the lamb squirted out and Grace burst into hysterics. She couldn't stop laughing, loudly. No one else was laughing, but there were some gasps. One kid tried to get some applause going but the people weren't having it. Anyway, the baby lamb was on the ground and the mom started licking all the wet off it and one of the farm workers came in and pulled the lamb away from the fence. We decided we had seen enough and didn't wait for the other sheep to give birth.

That was the highlight of the day for us I think. A little dazed we went on and took a walk around the extensive grounds. We went out to the ruins of a gothic church, but there was a fence around it, so we couldn't climb all over it or anything. After an hour of exploring we pulled up our bikes and journeyed home. Though the wind was in our face this time the trip went by quickly.

Photos from the day are on the Flickr Website. I think clicking on the picture will take you there. If not, go here.