A lower key day today. More playing with Rosie this morning. We then went to visit Robin and Jean Langhorne in Crediton. Robin was my host teacher when I taught at Queen Elizabeth’s School in 1981. He was an outstanding mentor and simply a great fellow. He and his wife Jean showed me great kindness and a visit to England is not complete without dropping in on them. They are both 82 years old and in excellent shape though Jean was bothered by a pinched nerve in her back. We had a great visit at their house for a couple of hours. During the visit Robin showed us the register from the church he belongs to and it dates back to 1594. It literally is 416 years old. Normally it is stored in Exeter but he needed it for some research he was doing for a church function. Given how old it is I was shocked he could have it out and he said since it has no significant historical value (except maybe to the church) there was no need to take any special steps to preserve it. Photos are below. We went to lunch at the New Inn which dates back to the 1200s. Mary Anne and I stayed there in 1996 (it has a couple of rooms) and the meal was excellent. They boys were a bit tired so we just called it a day. We came back to the B&B and they’re outside playing with the owner’s grandsons and with Rosie, of course. During our previous travels Mary Anne stressed not trying to cram too much into one day and that was wise counsel. The past couple of days were very busy and we’ll just hang out for the rest of the day. Tomorrow we’re off to Bath.
Morning play time with Rosie and the owner grandchildren
Robin showing the boys the church registry with its first entry being in 1594 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I
David and Alex were able to browse through the book. The pamphlet to the far left of the photo is a book on how to read old English
This photo is from a book written by one of Robin’s former students named Paul Cornish and it is titled, “Machine Guns in the Great War.” He signed a copy for Robin thanking him, “with belated gratitude.” Interesting to note that Mr. Cornish is the senior curator in the Department of Exhibits & Firearms at the Imperial War Museum which is David’s favorite museum. Robin produced the book for us when David starting talking about our visit to the museum.
Outside the New Inn after a delicious lunch with the Langhornes
Back to the B&B and more play time with Rosie and the owner’s grandchildren, this photo was taken from our window
The view from the other window of our room. Alex loves hearin the cows moo.
