The flight from Lyre/Animalia to the UK was a long one and filled with its various connection flights. They left Lyre, flew to Denver, then to Minneapolis, and then finally to New York. From there it was another series of connection flights from New York through Canada and finally across the Atlantic, with the last being a stop in London before a flight up to York. Most everyone who had come along had brought some snacks with them, but with all the connecting flights and the time it took to cover the distance in the modest sized plane that was for Animalia Ambassadoria, much of the activity on the flight proved to be sleeping... or at least trying to. Particularly as they weren't scheduled to have much time at Lord Chumlee's before they were scheduled to leave with a stop over in Ireland for St. Patrick's Day before returning home for the rest of Spring Break.
For some, this was a rather tight schedule and rather business-like, but it also further reflected the direction Animalia Ambassadoria was moving to try and cover and show the cooperation that Humans and Animalians could have. Particularly as that was something that people who had made it quite clear they wanted to wipe Animalia off the map had made in the comments section of the videos before the cast was expanded. That the show was nothing more than Animalians manipulating the liberal elites against hard working people. That sort of thing had gone down since the cast was expanded and the show's emphasis became more business-like, which was taken as acceptable. And while some of the new cast members may not have been fond of it, they did accept it.
The last leg of the journey was the drive from York to Lord Chumlee's estate, and much to the surprise of many, the converted Dodo Animalian was waiting for them. He was only about as tall as Sophie or Jessica, but even through his well pressed suit, it was pretty clear that he was well muscled and that while the Dodo as a species might have been an "oddity" for the fact that it was flightless, it wasn't the cartoonish idiot that it was often portrayed as. Abby was the first to approach as they found him waiting at the terminal on their way to the baggage claim.
"You didn't have to come all this way..." Abby began.
"Nonsense," Lord Chumlee answered, "it's the least I could do, given that you've come all this way. And besides, wouldn't want you lot to get lost in the dark. Some cab drivers seem to get lost on my estate."
"People get lost?" Ronald Wilson wondered.
"At night, yes," Lord Chumlee answered with a chuckle, "it's an old estate that's been in my family for quite a long period of time. There are extensive gardens, which are much better to see in the summer and when things are more in bloom... But that shouldn't be too far away now. And there are parts where I've still been trying to put in a whole "wonderland" type feel... something to entertain and amuse children, make them feel loved and imagine new things. It was a lot of that work that actually lead to the finding of the old ruins... but now I'm getting ahead of myself. But yes... people do get lost at night. But I know where my home is. Don't worry, we'll be there in no time."
That earned a few chuckles as the group soon collected their bags and eventually followed him out to find that he'd brought a refurbished truck, which Lord Chumlee called a "lorry" and had reworked the inside so that it had plenty of comfortable seating and direct access to the cab. It was like a massively enlarged SUV. He explained it as an idea to help give tours of the grounds and provide people with a means to get to the areas that were to be set aside for the entertainment that Lord Chumlee wished to provide. The ride also proved to be surprisingly comfortable for them, which made up for its appearance. From there they rode along until they came up to the gate to Lord Chumlee's estate, which was well to the north of where they had landed. In the darkness Sophie, Roland, JC, and Pauline could just make out some of the shapes of the trees on the grounds and some of the other landscaping, but in the low light conditions, it wasn't much.
The thing that proved to be the most impressive was the large manor that Lord Chumlee drove up to. It had a few small exterior lights that were run by electricity and were running. It was an impressive Elizabethan mansion that could be seen even by Animalia Ambassadoria's human members, and got some statements that were very impressed by it as they climbed out.
"Wow... that's huge..." Penelope said in awe as she looked up at it.
"It's probably big for some one of the minor levels of the various noble houses and other landed gentry over the years," Lord Chumlee commented, "but compared to those owned by the crown or have become official historical buildings... this manor isn't that big."
"It's bigger than your home and the barn put together," Samson commented.
"It must have cost a fortune to upgrade it over the years," Courtney commented, looking at the building.
"It did," Lord Chumlee laughed, "but it was upgraded over time and as technology progressed, so it wasn't something that became sudden. I suppose that makes it more Elizabethan-like now... but it's still home. Glad Gerry never got it during the war."
"Jerry?" Fred wondered.
"Nickname we had for the Germans in the World Wars," Lord Chumlee chuckled, "I suppose that might be politically incorrect now."
"We won't tell," Malice promised as their host lead them in.
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The night proved to go fairly well, as the mansion had a fair share of bedrooms, though not enough everyone to have individual rooms. It had ultimately split everyone up either with regards to their bond mates or by gender. That had proved to save some space, though there were still some that had to "camp out" in some of the larger lounge and sitting rooms that were also there. For Abby and Samson, their own size had also meant that they'd have to camp out as well, with Samson going with one group of new male members camping out in one room and Abby going with a group of the new female members camping out in another. For while there were beds in the mansion, they weren't sufficiently strong enough to support the muscle mass that the two Horse Animalians had, particularly with the age of some of the furniture. But in the end it all worked out well.
The main event came the next day as Lord Chumlee showed them around the grounds. It further gave the members of Animalia Ambassadoria a sense of awe at the gardens and paths that surrounded Lord Chumlee's mansion. There was some sounds of traffic in the distance that Sarah and Malice could hear that wasn't that far way as they looked around the gardens, which had the grass beginning to turn green and some of the trees looking like the first buds for leaves were already forming. Things had been starting to really warm up back home, but it hadn't gotten this far back in Lyre/Animalia. It gave the impression that the grounds and gardens were beautiful, which was well accepted as Lord Chumlee answered questions and explained some of the decorations for the grounds as they went along. Though Sarah and Malice also though they could hear the sound of digging and other work that was coming from the direction in which they were headed. Ronald followed closely with the camera, and doing his best to keep those asked a question and Lord Chumlee in focus.
"Your idea of providing first hand entertainment for local children sounds quite generous... can you say on how this lead to the finding these Roman ruins?" Katherine asked.
"I would say that it is," Lord Chumlee answered, "a good troop of actors and a fine garden could be a fine place for families to provide for fine entertainment for them and will help keep them out of trouble. A whole wonderland of fun that would be perfect for them, and the cost of maintaining it wouldn't be too much, particularly if the planned troop gains support to perform in other places as well. Something that would let me give back to the people who've supported my holdings and this country for years. But some of the training has been a bit more difficult than I'd expected, but I'd like to think I'm making progress..."
"Yes..." Katherine commented, trying to bring their host to the reason they'd come to the UK, "but the ruins?"
"I'm coming to them," Lord Chumlee answered, "for in addition with some of the acting training, there is also some of the design aesthetics and sculptures and buildings that will go into the theater and fun as well. I've long had the funds to support it, so that isn't too much of a problem, and I'd first figured to have the main part built on the northern end of the grounds here, which is where I'm leading you, where guests and visitors would be free to explore the whole grounds before coming to the theater area. But as they started digging... they actually hit something. At first I thought it was just a rock, but it proved bigger. Which meant more digging to find out just what it was."
"And this proved to be the Roman ruins?" Travis commented.
By now, they were starting to come up on the sight as well, where it was noted that there were a fair number of people digging and cataloguing things. It had also left an impressive pile of dirt to the west of where all the stone ruins were, though they didn't prove to be that deep. In fact much of the ruins that they found looked more like the base foundations of the buildings that had once been there than the full sized ruins that might have been expected. Lord Chumlee lead them up a man who was there in a business shirt while holding a clipboard. He also had a small brush held to his waist by the belt on his pants.
"Yes," Lord Chumlee answered, "and it was quite a surprise, which has brought in some archeological interest from scholars and so on. I've had people from Oxford and Cambridge all come to see the ruins and what's been found. A couple of historians even visited briefly, but the lasting work has been run by this fine man, Dorian Leggington."
With that Lord Chumlee gestured to the man with the clipboard, though he didn't respond to his name being announced.
"Far older than a Ferrari, I suppose," Malice quipped to Sarah, remembering Belle and Bash's discovery of the buried car in Animalia. How it was never discovered when the water lines were dug and installed was a mystery, though her best guess was that maybe they'd all come in from a different route.
"Far older than the Ferrari company, indeed," Dorian spoke up before Sarah could answer her sister, "we believe these baths here are dated to the time of the Emperor Hadrian, which would make some sense as we aren't too far south from where Hadrian's wall was constructed."
"So... Mr. Leggington," Roland wondered, "what do you suppose it was built for... wouldn't the soldiers have had their facilities closer to the forts and posts along the wall itself?"
"Direct facilities, yes," Dorian answered as he turned to the group and shook hands with Lord Chumlee, "but as was with the case with many Roman military adventures, that families and servants soon followed. But since they couldn't live in the forts along the wall, they settled as close as they could. Which meant new settlements and areas in the region. When the Romans left Britain in 410 CE, many of those settlements were either lost to raiders or built over... Or much of the old structures were stripped to build elsewhere, which is probably what happened here. Thus why all we have here is the foundation."
"Why would it have been buried though?" Sarah wondered.
"Given that we're on a bit of a hilly area and average rainfall in Britain," Dorian answered, "my best guess is that by the time the structures that we've uncovered here were brought down to their foundations there wasn't much that could prevent rain from washing soil in. Or that when Lord Chumlee's family first began construction on their home here... or when the town here was built later, that the soil that was excavated was then dumped here, which further buried it."
"And how would that relate to some of the things that Lord Chumlee's wanted to do?" Ryan wondered.
"His theater program?" Dorian commented, "I wouldn't think it would change much with the program. It might mean he'd need to find a new site for it, as we would want to preserve THIS site here for history and further research... especially as while we aren't too far from a spot in Hadrian's Wall where there were gates and towers were located, but we haven't found too much in the way of Roman roads that lead to here. The fact that it is here would provide us with some answers to those questions... but it wouldn't necessarily affect Lord Chumlee's ideas for "wonderland" as it were."