Meeting Bettina

Meeting Bettina, Sunday 3/5. [photo: Hannah, Bettina and Alice in front of Spenser House.] Rain is on the horizon, but not for two more days. Today was uneventful, mostly. We met cousin Bettina, down from school north of London with her classmate Hannah, at Fortnum & Mason’s for lunch. Not bad. They do have a large supply of raw materials to cook with. F&M is the iconic upper-crust food store, leaving Gelson’s in the dust.

After lunch we went to Spenser House, built in 1770 by one of Diana’s ancestors who was fabulously wealthy. The guide told us his diamond shoe buckle was worth 30,000 pound at the time! The house has been restored to original glory, if not with the original contents. Much had been sold over time, and all the rest was sent to the country during WWII and is still there. So, although much is real, most was not in the house in 1770. The restoration job is incredible, down to carved copies of the marble mantels which took between 3000 and 6000 man hours each. The Rothchilds have the lease for the next 100 years or so and have spared no expense.

We walked around a bit afterwards, had tea and coffee, and the girls set off back to school. We went back to F&M and did a little shopping: as much uniquely UK ham, cheese, tea and biscuits as we could carry, much of which disappeared at dinner time.