Day 12 Aboard the S.S. Keanemutiny

Nothing too exciting aboard the Keanemutiny the past few days. On Saturday, we took a group trip to Cotehele, the original Tudor estate of the Edgcumbe family. Our car left the Mount Batten Centre parking lot on the way to Cotehele and after travelling a few blocks noticed a repugnant smell. Those of us in the back seat looked to our right and saw a smoke cloud wafting into the back window. I asked if it came from the motorcycle that had just passed, but Tiffani exclaimed, "it's coming from our car!" We quickly noticed that we had been driving with the parking brake on. The problem was remedied and we continued on our way.

Cotehele was a beautiful estate (my favorite to date) and was magnificently preserved. There must have been some stipulation in the family wills stating that the house had to remain in the Tudor period, because it somehow avoided modernization for nearly 600 years. Most fascinating was our tour guide in the kitchen who pointed out the pocket in the wall that at one time would have held a log for a primitive form of scaffolding when plastering and decorating the room. The guide also showed us a sealed-off service staircase that once lead to the servants' chamber. In Victorian times, it was deemed inappropriate for men and women servants to sleep in the same room, so a service dormitory was added to the house and the original winding staircase was plastered. He then lead us into the dormitory addition, a portion of the house reserved for those who bought a raffle ticket, but he let us in for free. In addition, the garden outside of the house was very colorful and great for picture-taking.

Today (Monday) we began work at Mount Edgcumbe. The English Garden House team (Helen, Nate, and I) took measurements of the rooms and will draw them in AutoCAD tonight.