During my summer in Britain, I was fortunate to be able to take a five-day trip to the North of England, stopping first at Windermere in the Lake District to trace the footsteps of William Wordsworth, and to visit his cottage at Grasmere and his birthplace at Cockermouth. The whole trip was like magic, especially when I was able to walk part of Hadrian’s Wall–a treasure about which I teach my English classes in our history of the language unit, but which I never dreamed I’d actually see or touch.

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While in the North country, my uncle drove me through the village of Hawes in Yorkshire, the home of Wensleydale Cheese. Hawes stands out in my mind for its lovely village with a stream running through it beside houses of dark stone. We spent an entire afternoon visiting places of business, exploring their museum, and eating the cheese.

At the post office store in Hawes, I found figurines of three fell sheep being looked over by a sheepdog, and I had to have them to take back to the States. I made the purchase and posted the sheep from Watford. Unfortunately, all were damaged on the journey to the States, and I began a correspondence with a woman of Hawes, Mrs. C. Duckworth, who sent me a new set of figurines.

Three weeks ago, at about the time I was able to first sit down and read your magazine, my new set of sheep arrived. Together with the article on Wensleydale Cheese, they stirred a nice memory of the wonderful summer I spent in England, and those sunny days in Hawes.

Virginia P. Westacott
Pavilion, New York

CELIA’S JOURNEYS

It’s with great pleasure that I read ‘The Journeys of Celia Fiennes’ (February 1998, page 48) and I would like to read her book. I wonder if it would be possible for you to indicate where I could buy or order it.

Ginette Charbonneau Perreault
St. Eustache, Quebec

Editor’s note: The Illustrated Journeys of Celia Fiennes is published by Allan Sutton Publishing, Ltd. Their U.S. offices are at Books International, P.O. Box 605, Herndon, Virginia 20175-0605. Tel: 800-758-3756. The cost is $26.95 plus $5 postage and handling. Supplies were aleady short when we last enquired, so don’t delay! Should this latest edition be unavailable from the publisher, previous editions of the book can also be found in many well-stocked public libraries.

A LAST WORD ON MG CARS

I was delighted to read the article in the February issue on the history of the MG Car (page 54), since my first car was a 1956 MGA. I bought it because I couldn’t get the top up in an Austin Healey–and I practised on the show room model of the MG until I could get it buttoned on in five minutes in case of a sudden rainstorm!

Most of the time I merely drove around with my head sticking out of the zipped-up tonneau cover. I promptly joined the MG Club and sported their badge on my bumper, attended meetings, and raced on old airport runways. Once we managed, with two people in the car, to beat a Triumph on the road from Montreal to Vermont, clocking 107 miles per hour before we broke off the competition as we ran out of road. My turquoise ‘A’ had the distinction of chauffering the great Sterling Moss around Toronto one evening when he came to speak at our club.

Those glory days of the MG, the Austin Healey, and the early Triumphs are all gone now. They were all jolly cars and we, in the flush of youth, thought they could do anything we put them to.

Pat Sugden
Lucan, Ontario

The Editors of BRITISH HERITAGE enjoy hearing from readers and would like to answer all correspondence. Unfortunately, time does not permit this but whenever possible and appropriate, we will include readers’ letters with occasional editorial comment in these columns. We do request that writers include their names and addresses, and we reserve the privilege of editing letters to be published for reasons of space and clarity. Letters should be addressed to: The Editors, BRITISH HERITAGE, P.O. Box 8200, Harrisburg, PA 17105.

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