Herefordshire: Host UK and Meeting my British relatives for the first time!

I've been to Herefordshire twice now, and I've almost come to consider it my "second" second home here in England. Not only do my relatives live there, but it reminds me so much of my real home, particularly the Finger Lakes region of New York State. It's England's most rural county, with picturesque black-and-white villages of Tudor-era timber-framed houses dotting the countryside. A signature feature of the Herefordshire countryside are fields of yellow oil seed plants. They're also famous for their cider production.


(Photo courtesy of Google Images)

My first visit was with a great charity program called Host UK, which allows international students to stay with hosts for a weekend and get a taste of British home life. I visited the small town of Leominster and stayed with a very nice older lady, a widow, who had already hosted seventeen other students! She was also well-traveled in her own right, and made me want to make cruising my mode of travel! Friday night we went to a dinner held by the town's Twinning society; Leominster is twinned with Saverne in France and this was a charity event to raise money for their trip to Saverne later this summer. I met many of her friends here and at the Methodist church on Sunday, which was very nice. She also showed me some quaint English villages like Eardisland and Weobley.



Saturday we went out to the Elan Valley in Wales, which was spectacular. It was my first proper trip into Wales, and I enjoyed seeing Welsh on all of the road signs. The valley itself is in the county of Powys, and is significant because of its man-made dams and reservoirs that provide water for southern Wales and the city of Birmingham (England's second largest city and the butt of many accent jokes--ask me to do a Brummie accent sometime). The water travels 73 miles by aqueduct underground, an amazing feat of engineering.



Apart from the Isle of Mull in Scotland, the scenery of Wales was the most otherworldly I've seen so far. We were driving, so I couldn't get a great picture of it, but just imagine hills and hills of pure green stretching for miles, with no signs of civilization and sheep as the only living creatures in sight. I now understand why the famous Welsh novel is called How Green Was My Valley. I was blinded by the green! Here's a picture from Google:



Finally, on Sunday after church we had a nice Sunday roast and watched a bit of British comedy ('Allo 'Allo!), which was nice because I don't have a TV. It was a relaxing way to end a fun weekend with a nice host.

My next trip to Hereford was to meet my British relatives (NOT my "ancestors," as some of my Focus friends joked). It was so wonderful to meet them. At first I didn't realize just how closely related we were. Basically, they are the children, grand-children, and great-grandchildren of my great-uncle, making us third cousins. My great-grandfather, Tom Hopkins, grew up in Liverpool. His father was an overseer at the docks, and was killed in an accident when Tom was a young boy. His mother died of grief just months later. Tom and his three brothers were put in an orphanage, which apparently was a terrible place (I imagine like something out of Oliver Twist). When Tom got the chance, at age fifteen or so, he ran away and joined the Merchant Marines. He had lots of adventures, even sailing down the Amazon River. He also fought in the First World War. When he was in his early twenties, his ship docked in New York City and he fell in love with a German immigrant girl. So even though his contract wasn't up, he "jumped ship" in the dead of night and snuck into New York City. Yes, I am descended from an illegal immigrant. Or at least, that's the family legend. I have my doubts. Tom's name is listed on Ellis Island records. Either way, the rest is history: he opened up a gas station, had some kids (my grandpa), who had kids (my dad), who had me.

But what about his brothers, who were left behind in England? I always wondered about them, and I knew that the English side of the family had come to visit before I was born. But I didn't know much about them. I do now! I learned that Tom's younger brother William joined the Navy after he got out of the orphanage. He had a daughter , Pauline, and she and her husband Bill had children and grandchildren, and I got to meet most of them. I stayed with Pauline and Bill and it was so nice to talk to them (and watch Eurovision together).

I learned that Tom always kept in touch with his brothers through letters. This was before Skype chat! He left England in 1920; he didn't get the chance to go back until 1970. That's fifty years before he saw his brothers again, and think of the changes that had taken place since then! It's incredible to think about, but at least they were all reunited before they died. William and his wife visited the family in Long Island as well.

Anyways, as soon as I met them I could tell they were family. I don't know if I just imagined it, but they were so funny and friendly and loving I felt like I'd known them all my life. They reminded me so much of how it is when the whole Hopkins family gets together. They're "kindred spirits" to our family on the other side of the Atlantic. Visiting them also made me feel like I have more concrete ties to England. It's one thing to know intellectually that you have English ancestry (well, Irish really) but it's another to actually see where you came from. Of course, they live in Hereford now, so I didn't get to see Liverpool, the Hopkins family hometown. But I want to now, just to have that genealogical connection.

Saturday afternoon we went to visit Hereford Cathedral, which was a cool Gothic Anglican church that houses the famous Mappa Mundi, a fourteenth-century map of the world. The known world at least---I didn't see Rochester, NY anywhere! ;) It was a strange map, half mythological and half real. The British Isles were tucked in the bottom left-hand corner of the map, with Hereford prominently displayed but faint since so many people had rubbed it through the years. I also found Rome, but it was difficult to make out too much more, since the map was inaccurately labeled. And I didn't know that a giant sea serpent lived in the middle of the Mediterranean! It was a cool map, though, made out of calfskin. It's the largest medieval map in the world!



Sunday we went to Symonds Yat in the Forest of Dean, and saw the Wye Valley from a scenic overlook called Symonds Yat Rock. It was breathtaking scenery:



For once, the weather cooperated and it didn't start raining until we had taken all of our pictures! ;) The kids (who were adorable, by the way) had a blast jumping in all of the puddles. Good thing they were wearing wellies! Ha ha...

We ended the day by eating a delicious Sunday roast in a local historic pub, in literally the middle of nowhere. We were surrounded by farmland, and that's the way I like it. All too soon I had to leave and catch the train back to Warwick, and I teared up as I left. It was so wonderful getting to meet my "British family," and I hope I can go back and visit again someday. Or maybe they'll visit the US again! I'm going to miss them!

Group photo:


Fun facts about pronunciation: Hereford is pronounced "Hair-eh-ford," as in "In Hartford, Hereford, and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen" (from My Fair Lady). Leominster, even more strangely, is pronounced "Lem-ster" and Weobley is pronounced "Web-ley." Just when I thought I had Gloucester, Worcester, and Leicester down!