All Things Flavel Flav

Yo. So this post has a lot of stuff about John Flavel, the guy Nathan is doing the PhD on. Let's hear it for churches, graveyards, and ambiguous signage whilst on holiday! Hip hip... *crickets*

Thanks for this, Andrew.

But seriously, it was fun to see Nathan so excited about seeing things that John Flavel saw and going places where he went. The one time I got bored, I went shopping and scored a Joules sweater for 17 pounds, which is featured in this post and is in line with the nautical theme. 

Preaching from the pulpit at St. Saviour's

Wait. This was the actual pulpit.

I bet it's older than your church.

John Flavel's name is on this board with the list of pastors from 1372 until now. He's fourth from the top in the middle column. You can click on the photo to enlarge it, but no one's holding a gun to your head. 

The outside of St. Saviour's

Flavel Street - the street sign us above Nathan's head.

Flavel Place intersects Flavel Street, and the Flavel theatre is on the corner. The street signs would be by Nathan's calves if he were right next to them. 

The Flavel theatre

Self-explanatory

Pointing to the self-explanatory sign in my new sweater

Flavel Church was actually founded after he died, but there were a few Flavel treasures inside.

Including a portrait of the man himself next to the man himself!

He looks like he'd be the life of any party.

Some of his writings were under glass in the sanctuary. Nathan was giddy about these very old versions.

A memorial to John Flavel in Latin

Next we went to a museum that had some stuff from Flavel's time in it. It was small and the floors sloped noticeably. Charming.

Charles I held a few meetings in here. I think he may have sat in that chair. Then he got his head cut off, hence Nathan's hand motion. But before that, he had a nice holiday being held in a tower on the Isle of Wight.

This is St. Clement's, where Flavel also was a pastor.

It's been remodeled. No more pews. Boohoo!

This is the outside. There was a nice view of the River Dart from there.

But the hydrangeas were prettier.

After that we went to Slapton Ley, because in one of his books John Flavel said, "written from my study in Slapton Ley." So, there ya go.

Here is one photo of the ley. There were dozens to choose from. I may have stayed in the car for this one.

Okay, just one more cool history thing, especially if you're an American...

Did you know that the Mayflower stopped here on its way to America?

In essence, this is saying that the Mayflower stopped in Dartmouth for some repairs on her companion ship Speedwell, but the repairs didn't work and the Mayflower sailed alone to America. It might be worth clicking on the picture to enlarge it so you can get the whole story.

I had no idea. Did you?

Olympic Park and Ride and Dartmouth

On our drive from the Isle of Wight to Dartmouth in Devon (on the Southwest coast of England), we saw signs for Weymouth, where the Olympic sailing and rowing was. I got so excited that I had to take pictures of flags at roundabouts.

Does it still freak you out that the steering wheel is on the right side of the car?

It turns out that we were near an Olympic park-and-ride. It's not the most exciting thing ever, but I was really pumped.

Olympic flags

A few hours later we were on a ferry across the River Dart to Dartmouth, where John Flavel (the man Nathan's PhD is based on) lived and ministered.

It was gorgeous! It reminded me of Switzerland and San Francisco and England rolled into one.

This was our bed and breakfast, Hill View House. It was so sweet!

I took these pictures after we checked out, so the bed is not so smooth. The breakfast was the highlight of our stay. GORGEOUS fruit and granola presentation. I'm kicking myself for not hiking up three flights of stairs to get the camera before tearing into mine.

We explored Dartmouth on Sunday night and Monday morning. Lots to see, including a ship made of edible materials, like a pretzel mast.

Cool building

Lots of flowers were in bloom. It was so picturesque!

We did not go up these stairs. Thank you, Jesus.

Hardly anything was open for dinner on Sunday night, but we stopped into this restaurant, Kendricks. We actually got a free appetizer (a first in England!), but there were only ten chips and two tablespoons of mediocre salsa. See above. It had not been modified at all. Oh, and Nathan got caught posing like this by our waitress.

So, the meals were actually awesome. We take back our naughty picture above. The next two photos are dedicated to two Whitefield students who are not related to each other and both have the last name Kendrick.

When he was in 6th grade, John Kendrick told me I had a five o'clock shadow without actually knowing what that meant. See my insecure pose above. From what I recall, he backpedaled, saying that it meant I looked like I had chapped lips. Too late, buddy. Too late. 

Mary Kendrick always bounced into my classroom in the mornings with wide, excited eyes. She was bursting at the seams to tell me a story, usually about how her suicidal guinea pig tried to hurl itself off the second floor balcony.

More pictures of the river and sail boats and my handsome husband

After his sailing experience with Sam, Nathan really wanted to buy "a sailing shirt." The one above I loved, but he thought it was too nondescript.

We spend hours wandering in and out of shops, but we just couldn't justify buying one at 40 pounds, even if it was half off. Gulp.

This one was a "no" too.

Thankfully, we struck gold in Newcastle charity shop, and he got a rowing shirt, a rugby shirt, and a football shirt for about ten pounds. More on that later... after I wash them. :)

Tomorrow's post will really excited you history nerds out there. Prepare yourself for all things Flavel!