England Wrap-Up

"The sky is full of noughts and crosses/I draw them with my reaching." --"noughts & crosses", Lady Maisery

“The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.” --G. K. Chesterton

Well hello and welcome to the first of Sam-is-not-in-England-any-more-and-is-instead-doing-cool-things-in-Europe-so-you-get-prewritten-Sam! (You got that? XD) 

I thought it would be fun to do a quick (very quick!) wrap-up of my time in England with almost the same headers I use for my usual wrap-ups, but a slightly different style of doing it. Off we go! 

Travel (in which answers can be from anywhere in the British Isles)

Favourite seaside town: Berwick-Upon-Tweed

Favourite town: Totnes

Favourite tiny village: High Bradfield (Nether Padley gets an honorary mention)

Favourite port city: Portsmouth

Favourite city: Sheffield! (Oxford gets an honorary mention)

Favourite castle: Blarney Castle in Cork, Ireland

Longest continuous train journey: Sheffield to Berwick-Upon-Tweed (3.5 hours)

Favourite church: St. Dominic's in London

Favourite chapel: Margaret Clitherow shrine in York

Favourite museum: James Herriot museum in Thirsk

Places I'd be most likely to move back to if I moved to England (in order): Sheffield, Oxford, Totnes 

Favourite hike: Padley Gorge (Bamford Edge gets an honorary mention) 

Number of countries I've been to other than the UK in my time here: 5

Books

Number of books read while in England: 100 (give or take a couple)

Percent that were rereads: 42%

Best reading-a-book-in-the-right-place experience: Finishing Surprised By Joy on Magdalen Bridge in Oxford

Favourite bookshop: the one in Berwick-Upon-Tweed

Favourite library: Broomhill Library, Sheffield

Current number of library cards owned: 7 

Music

Number of concerts attended: 2

Coolest musical experience: tossup between the Lady Maisery singing weekend, and Sea Shanty night at the Llandoger

3 Favourite songs discovered while in England: "Follow Me Up To Carlow", "Mingulay Boat Song", "Llongau Caernarfon" 

Favourite song about England: "The Llandoger"

Food

Favourite English food: jam & (clotted) cream scone 

Favourite British food: haggis

Favourite British junk food (savoury): Bacon-flavoured Walkers crisps 

Favourite British junk food (sweet): Ginger biscuits

Way I take my tea: with milk and one sugar

Objectively best brand of British tea: Yorkshire 

Food I miss most from the US: goldfish crackers

Favourite niche dessert: flapjacks (a very Yorkshire thing)

So, so, so! Hopefully this was a fun little wrap-up, even if it was short! Longer post next week for sure. :)