The castle I did not see; but, I happened upon a
large and stately old church, almost cathedralic in its dimensions. On
returning to the hotel, we deliberated on the mode of getting to Newstead
Abbey, and we finally decided upon taking a fly, in which conveyance,
accordingly, we set out before twelve. It was a slightly overcast day,
about half intermixed of shade and sunshine, and rather cool, but not so
cool that we could exactly wish it warmer. Our drive to Newstead lay
through what was once a portion of Sherwood Forest, though all of it, I
believe, has now become private property, and is converted into fertile
fields, except where the owners of estates have set out plantations. We
have now passed out of the fen-country, and the land rises and falls in
gentle swells, presenting a pleasant, but not striking, character of
scenery. I remember no remarkable object on the road,--here and there an
old inn, a gentleman's seat of moderate pretension, a great deal of tall
and continued hedge, a quiet English greenness and rurality, till,
drawing near
NEWSTEAD ABBEY,
we began to see copious plantations, principally of firs, larches, and
trees of that order, looking very sombre, though with some intermingling
of lighter foliage. It was after one when we reached "The Hut,"--a
small, modern wayside inn, almost directly across the road from the
entrance-gate of Newstead. The post-boy calls the distance ten miles
from Nottingham.
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