Here I am writing about another trip. I had planned to write some while I was away and finish when I got back, but I was so tired every day that it didn’t happen! So I am writing on weekends after being back for a couple of weeks.

It was a full trip based on work and on vacation. I’m going to split it up into sections because I’m doing the work part to share with our students and families. I don’t mind if they look at my other trips, but I want to make sure that they are able to find the information about Harlaxton College and Queen Margaret University quickly rather than having to go through everything just to find the information and pictures they want.

Thus, this trip blog is going to be broken into to three link locations: Harlaxton Manor/College, Scotland, and Queen Margaret University.

Jane, our Executive Director of International Programs/Study Abroad, and I went on this trip to to do site visits at Harlaxton (pronounced “Harlixton”–we learned) College and at Queen Margaret University. We are extended the trip for vacation. More on that in the Scotland section.

This section is the one on our trip to Harlaxton College, and if you don’t care about how we got to the village of Harlaxton and the town of Grantham, it is easy to find when specifics about the college start: look for picture of “manor in the distance.”

Tuesday, June 25 and Wednesday, June 26

Tuesday was a full work day, so I spent the whole day in the office mainly trying to address everything I needed to sign and get completed because the end of the fiscal year was upon us. I also had some meetings as well. Laura drove Jane and I to the Logan Express after work for us to take the bus to the airport.

I have never seen it as crowded as it was when we got there, but I realized it is because I almost never travel in the summer. The last time I did, my flight was really early in the morning, so it was very different. It’s interesting because when I have traveled to Europe, all the flights I have taken have been at night with an arrival in the morning, but when I have traveled to Asia, they are generally early in the morning with an arrival in the afternoon. The time change makes a difference in planning I guess.

In any case, we got to the airport fine despite Red Sox home game traffic. We got through TSA fine (with the new screening system–really cool machines that have an 3-d x-ray that they can manipulate to turn around your bag on screen 360 degrees!). Neither of us had eaten hardly anything, so we split a small pizza. Our flight was on time. I, of course, fell asleep before the safety video finished. Sorry, Virgin Air. I really tried.

I woke up feeling sick, but fortunately I made it to the bathroom before anything happened. Jane told me later that the flight was really bumpy. It must have been because I have only been sick on a flight once before and that was mainly because I insisted on finishing a movie with subtitles, and I cannot read on planes because of motion sickness. It wasn’t that terrible though. As soon as I went back to my seat, I promptly fell back to sleep.

So I was well rested for the journey to Harlaxton College. I had been concerned about a possible delayed flight and the effect that would have on catching the train north to Grantham, the town next to Harlaxton village and the manor. However, since there were no delays, we had plenty of time to find everything.

This concern was the reason why we decided to spend the extra money on the Heathrow Express. To get to the main train station in London, Kings Cross station, you can take the tube from the airport to London on both the Piccadilly line and even faster on the new Elizabeth line from Heathrow.

The Elizabeth line opened in May of 2022, with pretty fast and cheaper service from the airport (among other places and locations) than Heathrow Express. However, because it makes more stops and can be slower than Heathrow Express, and since I always assume my flights are going to be delayed, we decided to book tickets on the Heathrow Express instead.

At Paddington Station, we needed to find the Hammersmith & City and Circle Line to get to Kings Cross station. We actually later realized that we went the longest way round possible, partly because we were looking for a place to reload money on our oyster cards.

I still have my Oyster card from the first time I went to London, and I just use it each time. I still had a bunch of money left on it. Lots of people now don’t use Oyster cards but instead just use their phones, so you don’t need to buy one if you don’t have one.

We came out of the Kings Cross station stop right across the street from the station, but I’m sure there are ways to get off the tube right inside the station. It was nice being outside for a little bit, though, and we got there with plenty of time to spare for our train since nothing was delayed!! What great luck.

It was also beautiful out, especially considering how hot it was when we left Massachusetts.

Everything running on time meant that not only did we have time to get something to eat, but I had time to get a look at Platform 9 3/4, which I’ve never been able to see. I’m not going to lie, my Harry Potter geek self was a bit excited, but definitely not as excited as other people.

Kings Cross Station itself was another pretty station, and we found seating where we could watch the boards for train announcements. We were there so early that our train didn’t appear until we were finished with our lunch.

We took different train lines on this trip. From Kings Cross to Grantham, we took a LNER train.

What is really handy about this train is that signs confirm for what part of the route a seat is reserved. As you can see above for our seats. We had them reserved until Grantham, but someone without a reserved seat could get on at Grantham going north from there without a reservation. It didn’t affect us, but we really saw how it worked when we rode the LNER south all the way from Inverness, Scotland to London at the end of our trip.

A word about trains in the UK. They have lots of different trains and train companies unlike the United States. You can go to all the different companies separately to look for tickets, but it is really easier just to go the The National Rail site and put in the trip you want. It actually functions like a travel site because all of the trains going where you want are listed, and you can compare prices and routes all in one spot. Then when you are ready to book, the site just sends you to the company site. In this way it functions like Expedia or Priceline for the trains.

Note: I learned everything I now know about trains in the UK from this page on this site: The Man in Seat 61. I will warn you. He has so much information that you will find yourself reading a lot more than you initially planned. He has information about train trips all over the world. Retirement on a train, here I come!!!

It only takes a little over an hour to get to Grantham, and there is usually only one or two stops. I’m actually surprised more people don’t commute into the city for work from Grantham, but that still might be a long commute for people there. It is not considered a long commute for the people who work in Boston but can’t afford to live in Boston!!

We did not spend much time at the station at Grantham because we were a little concerned about getting from the station to the manor. We had a list of taxis in our packet, but I wasn’t able to call anything. I didn’t figure out what I was doing wrong with my phone until I got to the manor. Fortunately, a taxi was just dropping someone off, so we were able to just take that one.

We had to take a picture of this sign on the way since we had just come from Boston, MA!

I knew that half the towns and cities in the United States that aren’t named after Indigenous groups are named after towns in the United Kingdom, but I didn’t know that there was a Boston in England. And Jane lives in Stamford, Connecticut, so there was another link.

Manor in the Distance

I’m going to be honest here. I got Elizabeth Bennet first sightings of Pemberley feelings coming up the drive to Harlaxton Manor. I’m pretty sure that it’s not as big as Pemberley is supposed to be in the book, but the long drive on the grounds towards it with it peeping at us through the trees made me giggle inside like Elizabeth.

Grantham is really only three miles from Harlaxton village where the manor is, so it’s a very short taxi drive. We found out later that the manor has regular shuttle bus service to town, and many of the students will ride bikes (Harlaxton owns bikes for students to borrow) into town, too. The taxi driver was very familiar with the manor and students since he’s taken plenty of them from the manor to town and vice versa.

When we arrived, we checked in and were issued our keys and our ID lanyards, the cards allowed us into the Carriage house where we were staying and into the main building. Students are issued such ID lanyards when they come to school here.

All of the people invited for the mini-conference stayed in the Carriage House in dorm rooms that students stay in when the Manor House is full. Below is my room.

As you can see, it’s s typical dormitory double room with a bunk bed and equal amounts of shelving and desk space for two people.

The main difference is that the outside looks like this:

Jane and I had requested a meeting to be able to get more details about their First Scholars Program, which includes first-generation students, but what they are really thinking about are more kinds of firsts in university. We were able to get many of our questions and concerns addressed during this meeting, which made us both feel better and better prepared for the rest of the schedule for the visit.

We finished in time to go on tour of Harlaxton Manor and College.

The tour started at Schroeder Lounge where we had checked in and headed towards some classrooms learning the history of them and what they were before the manor house became a college. We headed toward the entrance hall, and everything as just so grand starting from there.

We learned about the family shields around the arch at the foot of the staircase and the model of the Medici vase on the wooden pedestal at bottom of the stairs.

There are many impressive staircases and staircases in the manor. I was really impressed climbing the stairs after the entrance hall. Little did I know then that there would be more impressive staircases to come and even more impressive ceilings. Why do we no longer pay attention to ceilings anymore in interior design?

The next place we entered was the Great Hall.

Don’t forget that you can click on individual pictures to see them better. There is so much detail that you won’t be able to see it all by keeping pictures this size.

For example, in the middle picture in the second room, that the original minstrel gallery above the arch. There used to be an organ up there, and now they will sometimes have musicians play up there for events being held in the hall.

At the other end of the hall tucked to the side of the dias is the Willement Window.which you can see a bit in the right bottom corner picture above.

Then we saw the State Dining Room

What is amazing about manor is how much light is let inside. So many manor houses are dark, lovely but dark, but here, there are so many windows, and from each of the main rooms there are delightful views of outside.

We went to the Long Gallery next. You can see chairs stacked and tables because they were beginning to set up for the wedding that was being held in the manor that Saturday.

Next stop: the Conservatory. Located on the southwest corner of the manor, you can get to it from the Long Gallery and the Gold Room. It was built to have different spaces in order to maintain different temperatures for different types of plants.

We went back into the manor directly into the Gold Room, which is spectacular. I’m going to be honest and say that I was starting to feel really tired and overwhelmed at this point. So many different textures and colors and styles to cover in such a little time. I was also pretty sure that none of the outfits I had brought was nice enough to eat in this room! This was where the formal dinner the next night was going to be held.

Right when I thought, “this has to be it, right?” we came to what I think is the most impressive of the sections of the manor, which is probably why our tour guide, Doug, saved it for the last.

The Cedar Staircase:

It was absolutely spectacular, and I agree with the authors of the guidebook on Harlaxton Manor that it is “possibly the most remarkable and magnificent staircase in England” (45).

The last stop on the tour was the Van Der Elst room, which functions as a faculty lounge during the regular school year. It is where Violet Van Der Elst, the last individual owner of the manor had her library. Our tour guide said that it’s rumored that the room is haunted because Van Der Elst held séances in the room, but none of the faculty I talked to have ever heard or seen anything. They actually scoffed at the story because they said that every manor house in the country seems to have a ghost story attached.

After the tour, a very subdued group was led to dinner in the Refectory. I know that I had a lot to process, and I was exhausted from so many things going on in one day. I was very happy to get back to my room after dinner, take a shower, and get into bed.

We did have a Welcome Reception after dinner, back in the Van Der Elst room. I knew we were going to which is why I didn’t take many pictures during the tour, but I was so tired that I forgot my phone, so no more pictures. Everyone was really friendly, but I was just too tired to remember much of it except that desserts were really good.

I hope people understand from this first post why I wasn’t blogging during this trip. There was just so much to do which left very little evening energy.