A Royal Weekend

Our 50th wedding anniversary was looming and we wanted to do something that we would never forget.

We had already made several reservations in England in late September to mid-October, one in Cornwall and one week at a resort near Stratford-on-Avon.

Astonishingly, I ran across an article in "Town and Country" magazine advertising a weekend at a castleCastle Ashbyowned by the Earl of Northampton.

Please don't ask the price. Expensive, yes, but it fit perfectly into our calendar. I called the international number and we were booked into this fabulous estate.

We arrived at Gatwick Airport and then took the train to Truro, where we rented a car. Driving on the wrong side of the road produced just one minor mishap.

Our destination was Praze-an Beeble, Camborne, Cornwall and an ancient manor house. Throughout the week we explored the rugged Cornish Coast. Land's End, Penzance and St. Ives were all fascinating. Then on to Bath and the marvelous Crescent Hotel, a first-class hotel where the Roman-built baths, here before the time of Christ, are still in operation. Then it was on the castle.