https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/worcestershire-herefordshire/hanbury-hall?origin=search
We’re off to a place called Slad today in Glostier, which was the home of the famous author Lorie Lee and he is the reason I’ve decided to come here. When I was young, my mom introduced me to his book Cider with Rosie, which I read and enjoyed, but I had forgotten quite a lot of it. Um, some of it I remembered. But then lo and behold on Amazon Prime they dramatized the book and produced a lovely film which I watched just recently which reminded me of the story and uh of this place called Slad. It looks like I’ve taken a wrong turning. So we’ll explore the country a bit. Okay. I’ve got to come all back on myself but never mind. So this village of Slad which Lori Lee was born in and then the events of the book and the film on Amazon Prime take place there and uh the story starts towards the beginning of the story as a very sad event. But then a lot of the rest of the story is mostly upbeat with some moments of uh tension stroke. Um yeah, some um some exciting moments in the in the book, but it’s a lovely book. It’s beautifully written. And so I thought, well, how about we head down to Slad to check out the house that he was uh he moved to when he was very young. I was going to say born in, but I think it’s not true. He they move there when he’s small and then he grows up there and goes to school there and uh has his adventures with uh his classmates including Rosie, hence cider with Rosie which uh as he says in the book changes him forever. I remember a phrase where he said um I would be climbing up a tree to this day if it was not for that um glass of cider with Rosie. It’s very beautiful down in these parts. So after that Lori Lee left I think yeah the events of the book sort of take place during World War I. His dad’s away. His dad’s not present. And um his mom is like a single mom raising her kids in this cottage. So the cottage is still there. I actually put the postcode of the cottage in the satnav. So hopefully it will take me there. But either way, we’ll have a little snoop around this village of Slad. And um so Lori Lee left when he was a young man. uh ended up in London, but I think what he did is he went wandering around Spain first. He was somewhat of a bit of a lefty and sympathized with the anti- Franco, anti-ist forces. He was more of a socialist and uh wandered around Spain penniles and then somehow I think he was playing his violin um to survive like a busker. Believe so. And um so the violin sort of comes into the story. Then he comes back from Spain and eventually gains fame as a writer. And I think the side with Rosie is like his probably his most famous book. I guess it’s studied in schools in English literature and that that really made him famous. Um was a bestseller I guess. But after that, so I guess he had his life in London. I I believe he had a daughter, maybe several children, not sure. And he wrote a beautiful book about his experience, um him and his wife with their new child, their new baby. Forget the name of that book. Um why am I sort of coming back on myself here? I don’t know. It’s a bit confusing around here cuz obviously revamping all this highway. Maybe that’s I should have sort of shut up there earlier. But then yeah, after his time as a author, poet, whatever in London, he decides to return back to the village of his youth. I’ll have to double check if he winds up back in the same house. I think possibly possibly he winds up back in the same house. Perhaps he purchases it. And I think he finishes his days there. And somewhere facing the valley that he so loved is the tombstone, memorial tomb of Lori Lee. Lori Lee. Lori Lee. I would say Lori, but Lori Lee kind of just sounds a bit more poetic. And um I don’t know. I might be able to spot that. We’ll see. going to be turning right shortly. So, I think I’m back on track now. And yeah, just get a feel of the place. Sometimes it’s quite nice if a book has made a big impression on you to go and check out the locality and bring the book a bit more to life. I suppose you could then read the book again after that and then it would take on even more meaning. But um yeah, he’s not so much spoken about these days, is he or Lori Lee? See if we can sneak across here. One thing I am noticing is a hell of a lot of traffic down here. Maybe because it’s Saturday and people are on the move that um so this is the beautiful English countryside. I just come back from somewhat of an epic journey to India via the Middle East. You can see my videos in my channel via the Gulf really I should say because we stopped in Qatar for three nights and um it really wound up being 4 days because we arrived at like 6:00 in the morning in Qatar was an overnight flight from London Heathro Terminal 4. They allowed us to check in early. wife kind of wife and kids kind of crashed out a bit to recover except my daughter. No, wife and my wife and son were in the room. Me and my daughter, we went straight to the swimming pool in the hotel. And then a bit later when everyone else recovered, we um set about exploring Qatar. That late that afternoon into the evening, we went on a boat in a harbor for a half an hour harbor cruise. We walked around Doha and so they were there for another three nights. We did an organized tour of um we went to Luca actually which is just outside Doha where there’s a big mall. Then we did an organized tour stopping at the Purple Island, the mangroves, uh the harbor, the fort, UNESCO World Heritage fort that was built by the British in the 30s. And then we stopped off at a uh an old traditional Doha village which was a bit kind of or Katar village a bit kind of pathetic because it’s in ruins and in the process of being rebuilt. There’s nothing there but you got kind of a nice view. Oh, these are lovely woods. A lovely view of the uh Arabian Sea or Persian Gulf I think it is. And then we had the best part of the fourth day because it was a late flight to Amoritza. I think it was about 11 p.m. or something. And again, the hotel in Katar allowed us to check out late. So they allowed us to check in early, gave us complimentary breakfast on that first day cuz it was a breakfast included rate, but didn’t necessarily include that first morning arriving at 6:00 a.m. cuz like checking times of hotels are normally like 2:00 p.m. So very graciously let us check in early and let us check out late on the day we were departing for India. So, I’ve got to say the level of service in a hotel in Katar was amazing and the standard of luxury. I mean, just looking at some hotels in London, um, for about £230 gets you like a very average hotel in London and for that same rate in Katar, you’re talking almost super luxury. I mean, it was so really blew us away. So then it was on to India and um what a contrast to Katar. My second time returning there from extremely modern rich organized harmonious sort of place to a third world chaotic crap hole basically. But it within that chaos and filth in India you find some beauty as well like especially especially the people shall I say and the food. Here we are slad on that signpost is exactly where we’re heading. This is Laura Lee country folks. Um and I do love these drywalls. drywall, stone walls. This one is in a bit of a state of disrepair though, but I do love them is something about them. It’s really beautiful. Um, so yeah, Qatar was awesome. And then India was awesome in its own way. Although I’m tending to agree with the YouTubers that I follow, the travelers, that they’re saying that India’s a failed state. I maybe wouldn’t go quite that far, but I think I’ve I’m done with India now. It’s as I’m getting older, that excitement of when I was younger of just going into a chaotic place like that. But traffic is just a berserk, people sleeping on the streets, uh, stray dogs everywhere, rubbish everywhere. every single toilet bar, one or two stank like hell. Um, it just super overcrowded with people. As I’m getting older, I’m sort of I think I’m almost done with that kind of place, which the kind of place I’d rushed to when I was uh in my 20s, maybe. Indeed, it was 21 years ago. Um but it it was good. Some good things about it to mention though the kids loved it. That was surprising especially coming from Qatar to India. The culture shock they loved it because we uh met up with people there. I think that’s what really made it come alive for them. We were around um Vina’s house for dinner feeding the stray dogs outside his house. Is this all in my video? Um, so that was a a good one. Food was amazing. It’s just it’s hard to go almost like well, yeah, seven days more, seven nights or more of that kind of really intense food that’s just rammed with butter, salt, ghee, and is super overcooked as Indian food tends to be. has all the goodness cooked out of it. But the taste, I mean, the taste is amazing. Um, I think I struggled more the first time eating Indian food. The first time I went to India 2004, having Indian food, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This time I was expecting it and it was all right. And the uh certainly the bowel movements were good and the stalls were loose without getting too graphic. But no actual food poisoning few luckily. Uh cuz some of the places you’re eating, they’re like amongst the best places in Emirates, which I’m highlighting in my video. And you have to very much not judge a book by its cover because they are filthy restaurants. there’s no health and safety and there’s no hygiene but you just have to put that out of your mind and just concentrate on the taste of the food which is awesome and the other thing I’ll mention about India is and and you’ve definitely got to go there once in your life if you haven’t been it’s just uh I think for me twice is enough I could probably go to the Himalayas or back to Goa if I went back that would be about it it and not being horrible or anything it’s just simply too many other places to visit, untapped territories like the Pacific Islands or South America that I’ve not been to yet, or Russia when one day hopefully that opens up again. um uh you know the cost of travel, the shortness of life relatively speaking and also the fact that the globalists are constantly threatening to take away our air travel with their net zero bull you know means I’ve got some more places I want to go but anyway as I was saying um it was good to go back to Amritza because I had unfinished business there in my video the first time I did not visit the jelly and walab when I should have but in some ways it’s good I didn’t because this time I came back with a a camera and I was able to document the experience and it really is a moving experience that’s a pivotal place in terms of the Indian independence movement and me being a massive fan of Gandhi’s nonviolence non-compliance I think he’s not been spoken about enough I’m not sure why people didn’t talk about Gandhi more during the co tyranny to be honest complete government overreach and um here we are slad so on. Anyway, that’s what I was going to say. I got to do the jelly and wallet bug. So, which I hadn’t done the first time I went to Amiritsa and I went back to the Golden Temple. Wo and revisited the seek history museum. Tell you what, I’m going to switch back onto the slide topic now and Lori Lee’s place. This is where Lori Lee is from. with a bit of luck. I’ve put his postcode in here. I might just end up at his property. um was recently snooping around Alfredo Campley’s property and um now I regret it now that I didn’t actually knock on the door and ask if I could take a nicer photo cuz the the plaque was not super visible from the road and I felt awkward snooping around there trying to get it on my on my camera. The old Sunday school is this where Lori Lee perhaps went to school? Don’t know. I have to double check. But um yeah, I should have knocked on the door and asked, “Do you mind? I’m an Alfredo Campley fan. Could I please take a photo, but I felt embarrassed and I didn’t do it in the end.” So here, I don’t know, you know, if you can snoop around cuz somebody’s probably living in the the place. I would imagine it would be a listed building of historical importance, of cultural importance, given that it’s Laur’s place. Um, he’s buried somewhere around here. And there is like a photo of his tomb overlooking the valley. Uh, I don’t know. Sometimes you can Google these things and find them that way. Uh, I think I’m getting pretty close. One of these down here. One of these houses down here. And I wonder if they get quite a lot of sort of cultural tourists coming down to try and find his house, sleeping around. Okay. Telling me to go down here. So, I guess I could take my bike down that road, but I’m going to have to see just how tight that road is. Maybe I could walk down there, but there’s not much. See, am I going to be able to turn my bike around? That’s a problem. Maybe maybe I leave my bike up here, shall I? And just take a little walk down there. Let’s do that. See if I can put Lor Lee’s house into Google. See if I can put Loyal Le’s tomb into Google on my phone. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] So, we’re on to our next destination on this journey, which is Hanbury Hall, a National Trust property, which I’m swinging by as it’s on the way home. I wasn’t actually able to stand before the Lori Lee property, the cottage. I think it’s called Rosebank Cottage. Um I tried it on foot and then failed. And I tried to then get back on my bike and find it and failed uh because it Google Maps was taking me to a private drive. So, I don’t know quite what that means, whether there’s uh somebody owns another property that the private drive leads to and they also own the Rosebank. Uh maybe there’s a way to kind of access it from further down in the meadow in the valley. Neither was I able to locate Lori Lee’s uh memorial tombstone. When I put that into Google Maps, it was taking me to Lori Lee Wood and a 31minute walk. So whether that was misleading me, I don’t know. Whether it was in the village or just further out, maybe the other side of the um the valley. I know it’s overlooking the valley that he loved so much and played in as a child. So never mind. At least I got to experience the the village. the church where he likely went and the school where he likely went and I was very near to his house. So, the other cottages round about have a similar character. Here, though, we’re heading to Hanbury Hall, National Trust property. It’s been a little while since I’ve been to either National Trust or English Heritage, and yet I’m paying monthly for memberships. I have to make the effort to go and see these places really. Uh otherwise the membership is a waste. But yeah, it’s like something like £18 to get into this as a one-off and the membership is like 15 a month. So already you’ve made your money back. But if you visit two in the calendar month, you’ve more than made your it’s more than uh cost effective then at that point. But it’s um in the winter it’s a bit harder I think to especially on a bike to go to these places. But it’s a motivation to keep going. The trouble is the English heritage. A lot of them are just like ruins in the middle of nowhere with with nothing else that you wouldn’t require a membership uh to go and see. But some of them are the ones where, you know, you have um a cafe and bits and bobs. Look, there’s a Freemason’s arms. Some kind of masonic pub. There’s still lots of bikers out. This is saying Henry Hall this way. So, uh don’t know why the satnav This is wrong, isn’t it? I don’t think this is correct. I need to go back. sign is a little misleading there. It’s the next one. Yeah, there’s still plenty of bikers out. Maybe because the weather’s relatively mild. cold for me after coming back from like 32° in Amorisa, India. If I could nip past these cars. Not a bad looking M2 there. I had a couple of the M1’s M140i and 135i. The M135i was fourwheel drive, but I think my sports car days are over. just I’m more than happy to have a normal car and a sports bike kind of. It’s not a sports bike as such, but it’s got the power of one 7010. Use that for my thrills and uh save a bit of money. The the Beamer just ended up sitting on the drive. It was kind of during lockdown as well. So, Hanbury Hall’s down here somewhere. Seems like Okay, we’re some 7 minutes away from destination still. So, maybe it’s again kind of leaving civilization and back out into the sticks just outside this place. Or perhaps it’s within [Music] civilization here. And I checked and it I don’t think this is a property that I’ve seen before. If I have, it was years ago. The wife and kids in a car, not on my lonesome. So, we’re still seeing a lot of these England flags up. It’s a bit of a phenomenon at the moment with the um unite the kingdom stuff. Some people say it’s fascist. I don’t though. I just think it’s a workingclass reaction to being dumped on by the government. A government that hates its own people and is flooding the country with illegal immigrants whilst putting our prices up and wasting our money. The tax under Starmer is just people are just at choking point. And uh yeah, it’s a working man’s protest. I think the right has become the new left. The left has completely lost. It’s been uh taken over by corporate globalist interests. Or was it they say both cheeks of the same uh same ass be your own boss. Think for yourself is probably the best policy. Okay, so telling me to go straight a little bit further, but okay. Joy Rich Spa Marina must be near some kind of lake here. or maybe a canal, don’t know or river. So this is Hanbury Warf, worshshire, 5 minutes away from the Henry Hall and yeah um mild for mid-occtober. It’s actually okay just about okay on the bike moving but actually starting to warm up when yeah this is a canal here actually starting to warm up when I stopped in and walked around in uh what’s it called slad lori loyally country cuz I’ve got like three layers underneath the leathers so yeah I’ got to make the most of this month for biking cuz then it’s going to start to get miserable. I was biking throughout last year. I actually rode into London. On Boxing Day, I got the video in my channel to prove it to check out the Cleopatra’s Needle, which I’d come across when I was reading From Hell, the graphic novel. I don’t think I’m going to do something like crazy this Boxing Day because it was a nightmare. so foggy and freezing cold. It just wasn’t pleasant. It was more of a challenge than an enjoyable excursion, should we say. So, very shortly I’m going to have to be turning left. And here it is. Signed Hanbury Hall. So, it is I was right. It is back out in the sticks. And we’re now about 3 minutes away and uh well into the autumn now. The autuminal colors here. But yeah, there’s so much to see here in the UK. It’s astounding. Don’t have to go abroad to experience some uh pleasant scenery. Plenty of it here. Uh should be able to get uh some refreshments at this National Trust property, something to eat. Actually did a fast from Thursday night to Friday night. I just just stopped short of 24 hours. Feeling quite good. Um when I was in India, I noticed that Ivormectin was available over the counter, which isn’t here, which is a travesty. And they suppressed it cuz they know that it cures COVID and it’s cheap. and they suppressed it and vilified it even though it’s won a Nobel Prize and been classed as um an essential medication by the United Nations. It’s basically derived from soil bacteria. We’re just approaching the Hambury Hall here. So, they won’t let you get it over the counter in the UK. I was going to try and smuggle it in, but I thought better. I bought it was like 30 rupees for a pack and I thought there were like 12 pills in a pack, but unfortunately there was only one pill in a pack. So I ended up popping the four pills in India. Um as a result so far I haven’t come down with the cold that my wife and two kids have got. And I don’t know if the ivormectin has something to do with that. Who knows? But yeah, if you want some ivormectin and you’re going to India, grab some. Right. Where are we going to park then? It’s looking quite busy here today. Let’s grab us a little space here. Go and check out Menbury Hall now. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Yeah. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] Hey, hey. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. 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