When Mum and Faye had booked in to the bed-and-breakfast in St Albans that morning, Mum had noticed a display of leaflets about local places and events. One of them caught her eye as it was for an exhibition of patchwork quilts the following day at nearby Hatfield House and she knew that patchwork was one of Faye’s hobbies.
In fact, Faye liked it so much that she and her friends in the retirement apartments where she lived had got together and, sewing everything by hand, had made Mum a beautiful patchwork quilt in the Double Wedding Ring design.
This design had its origins in the USA in the late 19th century, but became very popular after 1920 when the first pattern for it was published and the intertwining circles were said to represent marriage and romance because they looked like wedding rings.
Although Faye had never seen Mum’s bedroom, she’d chosen material in shades of peach and lemon for the background fabric, with the rings done in different prints and brighter colours, so it went well with Mum’s colour scheme.
Having checked the times when the exhibition was open and the distance between St Albans and Hatfield House, Mum knew they would have time to get there and have a good look round – and, from her earlier trips to London, she knew that Hatfield station was on the main line to London Kings Cross.
They got everything packed that evening, so that in the morning all they had to do was eat breakfast, load the car and then set off, making time for a quick drive around St Albans before they went any further.
Fortunately it was only 6 miles/10 km from there to Hatfield House and so they got there quite early. Even so, there were already hundreds of cars parked up and all the places near the entrance to the exhibition were already taken. If Mum parked where she’d been directed, Faye would never have been able to walk to the entrance and then walk round and look at all the quilts, so Mum drove to the entrance, dropped Faye there and then went back to her parking place.
They spent the next couple of hours admiring patchwork quilts in all shapes, sizes and colours. Most were in traditional designs, like the one Faye and her friends had made for Mum, but some were more imaginative, with scenery, flowers and animals worked into their designs.
But, although Mum enjoyed looking at all the amazing handiwork, she wished they’d also had time to look around Hatfield House itself, as she’d often seen it in the distance as she travelled through Hatfield on the train to and from London.
This beautiful Jacobean house was built in 1611 by Robert Cecil, chief minister to Elizabeth I and James I, very close to Hatfield Palace. The palace had been Elizabeth I’s home when she was a child and was her favourite palace once she became queen.
Her successor James I didn’t like it, however, and so in 1607 he gave it to Robert Cecil in exchange for Theobalds Palace, which had been the Cecil family home in Broxbourne, about 10 miles/16 km away and nearer to London.
But I don’t think Robert Cecil liked Hatfield Palace very much either, as he had three of its four wings demolished and then used the bricks from them to build the lovely house you can see today.
Standing in 42 acres/17 hectares of gardens and parkland, Hatfield House is still the home of the Cecil family, but it’s also a museum with many exhibits relating to Elizabeth I and her time at Hatfield Palace. There are even some personal items which belonged to her, including a pair of gloves and a pair of silk stockings which are said to have been the first ones worn in England.
Mum and Faye didn’t have time to see any of this, however, though they did manage to get a coffee and a slice of cake before going back to the car and driving the short distance to the railway station.
There Mum was lucky enough to find a parking place and, after a short wait for a train, she and Faye were on their way to Kings Cross to meet up with Faye’s grand-daughter and her husband, as arranged at the start of the holiday.
To be honest, Mum was a bit worried in case something went wrong, as, with no mobile phones in those days, there’d been no way of getting in touch if plans had had to change for some reason. So she was very relieved when Faye’s grand-daughter and her husband appeared at Kings Cross a few minutes after she and Faye did.
After that everything happened very quickly. Almost before Mum could say goodbye, Faye was whisked off out of sight and taken for a meal, while Mum was left on the station feeling suddenly hungry and a bit tired. She solved both problems by getting a chicken burger and a cup of tea on the station and having a sit-down, before catching a train back to Hatfield.
There she got in the car and set off to drive back home. Though Hatfield was on the A1, it was more convenient for Mum to cut across to the M1, though unfortunately she got caught up in the rush-hour traffic and so it took quite a while to get there.
Once Mum joined the motorway, however, the journey went smoothly. She made a comfort stop at Leicester Forest and had a cup of tea and a toasted tea-cake, then it was non-stop to Junction 41 and another 10 minutes to be home.
She’d driven 2200 miles/3540 km in 13 days. It was time to have a little rest and then get back to studying for her degree and writing more books.
That’s all for today, so take care and stay safe – and look out for another tale from me soon!
Follow my next blog: 160. MY MUM THE STORY-TELLER – PART FIFTY-THREE
26/08/2020
Wilf the bear-faced blogger 