We have just played the last cricket match of this year on a lovely warm day and Highclere won which was exciting and fun. To be honest it was slightly unusual as we had lost most of the matches this season, sometimes when we thought we had nearly won too. I am trying to concisely explain cricket in a few paragraphs for my next book.
As children, my sisters and I always found the fielding names rather funny, you can be short or silly, deep or long, in the slips or even in the gully…our parents were very keen. My husband is and his father was, a tremendous supporter and both enthusiastic players. It is wonderful to keep the tradition of country house cricklet going.
I also have good cricket archives to draw upon. I have found an early sketch from the 1840’s of a famous team and miscellaneous items such as a subscription to Hampstead Cricket Club as well. At the close of play, I was left with a couple of girlfriends sitting on a bench with a glass of Pimms, watched by a couple of dogs gazing across the green field towards the chestnuts and oak trees just touched by autumn , reflecting on our good fortune to be simply able to sit in peace.
I am sure our ancestors sat here over the last 150 years thinking of this little world here, the community here but the terrible destructive acts in other parts of the globe. We had prayed again at the little cemetery chapel for help to comfort those who sorrow and a year after I began my blog, the prayers are from and for us all are ever more needed.
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This entry is fascinating! I’m so glad to read that you’re writing another book because I am so thoroughly enjoying Lady Almina!
Excellent – and please try “Catherine ” next – a different book but I found it challenging and exciting to write.
Last cricket match spells the end of the summer & what a summer has been with lots of joy but lots of sadness too, Your photos Lady Carnarvon are a real delight especially one at the end 🙂 every day the view changes around us in more ways than one..
Its odd on reflection that reading your posts and observing the preservation of traditions like this gives me such comfort and a sense of continuity with the past. I’m an American after all and born and raised in California so my personal connection with the history of my own country is very brief. I suppose the fact that some of my ancestors are English and that I visit your beautiful country quite frequently for work contributes to such a sense of satisfaction knowing that you and others are working hard to preserve the homes, the land, and the traditions of the past. Thank you for sharing your experiences and for all your efforts both to preserve Highclere and to share it with the world as well.
Thank you – Highclere gives me a feeling of being grounded, of looking back and learning and so feeling less rushed and impetuous today! It is a known continuum of people living here for some 1300 years and this is just a small part for I hope it will help it go on..
Love this blog entry! I can just see the cricket teams playing there over the years, enjoying the beautiful scenery and peace- in between the two wars. What a lovely, peaceful place it is!
Yes and pimms is very easy to drink…
I thoroughly enjoy your blog — it transports me to Highclere as if I were there myself and I get to giggle at Bill in the gift shop or look across the green in tranquility after a cricket match. Thank you for sharing these little treasures and allowing those of us who can’t be there in person to experience the beauty and fun of Highclere online.
Just visited your lovely home today. What a glorious place of history, but what I loved the most was that you could feel that it is a family home, full of love, warmth and fun. The grounds are amazing, and I wanted to transport my horse from Laguna Beach, California and gallop over your fields! Thank you for sharing this place with us.
Your post here is one after my own heart … you might enjoy The Country House Cricketer …