Sisters resident explores England

Craig and Peggy Benton in London. Photo provided

Peggy Benton is home from the moors and it shows. Her English countryside, peaches and cream complexion is still glowing.

Her son Craig and his wife Sally accompanied her to visit their daughter Megan, who is in her junior year at Goldsmith College at the University of London. Megan is studying photography and journalism.

Their hotel was across from the Natural History Museum in Kensington.

Sally's childhood friend Susan met them for lunch and arranged for an acquaintance, David, to take them on a private tour of Parliament. He belongs to The Black Rod, which serves the members of Parliament. It is his duty to take attendance and duly note those present in order for them to get paid.

(It is reported that there are those who make an appearance and then disappear. Tsk, tsk.)

David escorted the Bentons through the House of Lords. The House of Commons was in session so they dared not disturb. And, Peggy recounts, they just missed Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was darting off to meet President Bush in the United States.

The only anti-war unpleasantness was across the street where a group of 20 or so protesters was camped on the corner. They were there night and day, chanting their slogans, but, recalls Peggy, for the most part everyone ignored them.

The London Eye Ferris Wheel ride was a highpoint, a very high point.

It is almost eight times the size of a normal Ferris, and overlooks the Parliament and the Thames.

Also on the itinerary was the Yann Arthus-Bertrand photography exhibit, Earth From The Air. It held 68 pieces of various geographical sites, some extremely remote.

There were the requisite pub tours and samplings of England's best ales, stouts, and lagers. Hugo's Restaurant at the Goethe Institute in Kensington offered organic selections, while Portobello Road's market had not only exquisite crepes and Portobello mushrooms, but antiques, Persian rugs, and retro clothing.

The Plowman's Lunch served at smaller cafés was platters of loaves of bread, assorted cheeses, and salad, which only a plowman could consume in one sitting.

Peggy noted that there was a Starbuck's on every corner. Another interesting franchise is the Wagamami fast food place featuring Japanese noodles.

After London, it was off to the country, for a lovely, back-in-time, veddy British adventure set against the beauty of the Dales and the Yorkshire moors. There were castles to explore, ancient Cistercian monasteries, and pastoral scenes of lambs, daffodils, and stone walls framing villages on verdant rolling hills.

In Yorkshire, they visited the Bronte Haworth Museum where the Brideshead Revisited series was televised.

"We stayed in wonderful bed and breakfast inns, mostly farm families with great hospitality," Peggy recalled.

The Bentons toured Riveault, an abbey dating to 1132.

At the very old Castle Howard just north of York, the Bentons caught a glimpse of The Honorable and Mrs. Simon Howard, proud parents of twin babies, giving them a peek at that stratum of society.

Like most Sisters residents, the Bentons enjoyed the trip -- and were glad to return home.

"It's always good to be back, especially in Sisters," Peggy said. "Lovely as it was, the beauty here belongs to us."