Harlaxton Day 10: Class and Free Time in Grantham

Today marks the first class at Harlaxton Manor! After breakfast we gathered in one of the many beautiful classrooms in Harlaxton Manor for class. The room overlooks some of the stunning gardens here with loads of natural light. The ceiling is painted to look like a sky, and has three intricate chandeliers hanging across the length of it. There are so many ornate details in this room, including the wall in the upper left corner which houses one of the many secret passageways located throughout the manor.

We learned on our tour of the manor yesterday that this particular passageway was purposed for servants to move quickly and quietly while trying to serve those living here. It’s almost too hard to focus on what Professor Rutledge is talking about because of how beautiful our new classroom is, but I tried regardless because today we had our sixth quiz on D.H. Lawrence, and everyone found his short stories quite fascinating.

After class ended we went to lunch at the Manor. The food (and most importantly coffee) here is surprisingly good. Then 16 of us rode the 1:10 shuttle into Grantham. There are 4 shuttles per day for us to take, and cabs as well that cost about eight pounds. Grantham is a small town but has plenty of cute coffee shops, charity stores, and little markets for us to get everything we need. I stocked up on snacks at Poundland, England’s version of Dollar General. We caught the 3:30 shuttle back to the manor, and then took naps until dinner time, which is 5:30-7:00. After dinner, we played basketball at the recreation center and just layed around the manor grounds until 10:30 curfew, all in all, a wonderfully relaxing first day at Harlaxton.

So far this trip has been amazing. London was incredible, and also happened to be my first trip out of the United States. My favorite part was the Camden Market and the Tower Bridge. Harlaxton is very different, much quieter and relaxed. It’s a nice change from the busyness of London, as much as I’ll miss it.