Newport Rhode Island – Ian Louis Harris

US Trip 23 September to 8 October, Day Six: From Newport To Cape Cod, 28 September 2025

The Inn At Cape Cod

We left our Newport AirBnB in a bit of a flurry, having somehow managed to take hours over a light breakfast, packing and leaving for Cape Cod. We stopped briefly along the way at Flos, to try their famous clear clam chowder. Really atmospheric place, playing 70s soft rock relentlessly. The clear clam chowder was tasty and light, although we think the creamy style is more to our taste.

A place where it’s best to go with the Flo

The journey was fine and quick, despite some drama in the matter of the boot (or, as the Americans say, “trunk”) not functioning properly.

We arrived at The Inn At Cape Cod well ahead of schedule and ahead of opening time, which was a problem only because, on parking up at the Inn, the trunk became jammed open, which made me understandably reluctant to walk away from the Inn towards the tempting looking cafe up the road.

Mercifully, one of the staff who was preparing he rooms arranged for us to get in a little early so we could at least dump our baggage. While doing so, I grabbed the corkscrew from our room and executed the necessary unjamming and jiggling to get the trunk working properly again. Superhero status guaranteed, for the next few hours anyway.

After the trauma of that relocation, I made a (successful) bid to remain in our Portland AirBnB for the remaining unhooked three nights at the end of our trip, meaning that we’ll only relocate once more ahead of our return home. As most of the places we want to see are day-trippable from Portland, this seemed to be a hassle-reducing manoeuvre.

We sat on the lovely terrace of our suite for a while, reading and (presumably) looking like New England grandees of Joshua Sears descent. Joking apart, story of the Inn and the wealthy New Englander who built it is a fascinating one for lovers of that type of thing.

Yarmouth is a quiet Cape Cod town with three superb restaurants near to our Inn. Some diligent research revealed that not all the restaurants open every day midweek, so I made bookings where possible to arrange the only combination, when booking Sunday, Monday, Tuesdays, that enabled us to try all three places within walking distance on the three nights of our stay.

That meant dining at Leonessa on the first night. That one was the longest of the three walks; c15 minutes. Our walk to the place was nearly ended after 15 seconds, when a speeding car whizzed around the corner as Daisy crossed the road outside our Inn. He stopped in time…just…but it was a near thing that shocked all three of us, I expect.

Glad just to still be here…and now look at this amazing photogenic food

The meal at Leonessa was superb. Daisy went for the pork chop while I went for the duck dish. Both were massive portions which we couldn’t possibly finish, despite them being utterly delicious.

Defo need to get pictures of these food mountains…

Someone even found space for a small sweet

A young couple arrived at the next table around the time our meal was served and ordered the exact same pairing of dishes, which we suspected was not as coincidence. We were having a great time, whereas they sat rather solemnly given the luxury of that restaurant experience.

We Ubered home.

The above and other pictures for this day can be found through this Flickr link and/or below:

US Trip 23 September to 8 October, Day Five: Strolling, Lunch/Exhibition Doubles At The Club & Tournament Dinner At Newport Beach House, Newport RI, 27 September 2025

Daisy (Janie) making an exhibition of herself at the Newport club

Mercifully a less action-packed day. We took it easy in the morning and ambled back to the Newport Club via some shops that Janie wanted to see and the wharf area where we took some pictures.

A Streetcar Named Fisher doesn’t have the same ring to it as A Streetcar Named Desire

They didn’t lie to us – not a spare court in the whole club

With the World Championship over, the afternoon was a far less formal affair, with the main combatants pairing up with Newport pros Tony Hollins and Josh Smith to play an exhibition doubles for us.

The lunch once again was very good and it gave us a chance to chat with some of the members, not least Paul, Chris, Noel, Ellen, Kelsey and Sarah who made us feel very welcome. We even met Sarah’s mum that afternoon.

The informal atmosphere enabled us to view some of the tennis from each of the Newport vantage points, which was a nice bonus.

By the time we got home for a rest ahead of the tournament dinner there was not much time, but still we (I) had a short rest and then we Ubered it to the Newport Beach House for the dinner.

We chatted with the young Lumley’s for a while over cocktails and then sat at a table for the meal with some very interesting people, including Jonathan Pardee to Janie’s right and an architect-regular-combatant of Jonathan’s to my left.

After dinner, we chatted with Freddy, Judith (Freddy’s mum) and Rob Lake for a while, until it dawned on us that we were almost the last people left around!

ROB: “let me tell you a thing or two about Ealing Lawn Tennis Club…“

Gosh it had been a tiring few days, but very enjoyable and interesting.

If you want to see yet more pictures from that day, yes really, here’s a Flickr link – and/or below:

US Trip 23 September to 8 October, Day Four: Cliff Walk, Tennis Talk, Museum Visit, Lawn On The Lawn & Dinner At Stoneacre Brasserie, Newport RI, 26 September 2025

If the cap Fitz…some beards simply defy description

This turned out to be a crazily busy day but very enjoyable.

With the weather now restored to dry…even borderline sunny, and thinking that we’d get no other chance for exercise, we took a long, photogenic cliff walk.

Here’s our route…except we cannot take the start of this route…

…traversing the island to the forty steps, then being re-routed as a small chunk of the rout just south of the forty steps is being repaired…

…but then walking the cliff route past The Breakers, as far as The Marbles, then returning via Bellevue Avenue.

Less than two hours but more than 90 minutes of walking. Lots of photos.

Then, quick shower and change and off to the Newport Casino Theatre where I was to deliver my “1875 And All That” talk.

Nigel (above) prepares to hand the baton to me…

My talk seemed to go down well. I heard no snoring, no walking out in disgust and people were polite enough to say that they had enjoyed it. Judith, Freddy’s mum, was especially effusive in her praise.

Here’s the very paper I presented – I talked through a little more than half of this paper:

1875 And All That

We enjoyed the whole afternoon of talks, although only I had remembered my jumper and Janie was feeling the cold more than me, so I let her use the jumper while I suffered in near silence about the cold. Near silence, I said.

As the weather had improved, Janie and I enquired about playing tennis on the grass, only to discover that the place was so very fully booked out on the Saturday that our only sensible slot was 17:00 that afternoon. We worked out that we could still see the museum, dash home to change, dash back, play an hour of lawn, dash back to change again and still get to the conference dinner on time. So we agreed to do that and I handed over an infeasible guest fee for an hour of lawn and a clutch of tennis balls.

Me & Jimmy Conners (above), Janie & Steffi Graf (below)

We gave the museum and the hall of fame a solid but quick once over

The museum tour was very interesting – well laid out in the modern style and with more space available than we have at Lord’s for the cricket equivalent. The International Tennis Hall Of Fame gallery was a bit of a highlight. The opportunity to chat with some of the other speakers and attendees of the conference while milling around the gallery was also a highlight. Janie and I took it at fairly high speed though, to ensure that our timings would allow us to fit in the prized extra item of an hour of lawn.

Freddy grabbed us for this photo op. as we arrived courtside in our whites

We were back in our whites about 15 minutes ahead of our slot. Kim in the pro’s shop took pity on us and showed us to a court that we could use straight away. “Centre Court” (ie the middle one of three) at the side of the court tennis building. We very much enjoyed our hour, playing alongside a friendly bunch of regulars who made us feel very welcome. It was a great honour, privilege (and expense) to have been able to play on the grass at Newport. A big tick on the bucket list.

Exhausted, but unbowed, we returned to the apartment, showered and changed there, then on by Uber to the Stoneacre Brasserie, where we dined with the conference crowd.

Sitting nearest to me and Janie: Michael Wooldridge, Adam Inselbuch, Nigel a Brassard, Marc Lewinstein, and Marc’s dog. All made for excellent conversation apart from the dog, who was very well behaved such that I didn’t even notice their presence until the end of the meal.

It had been a superb but utterly exhausting day.

Want to see even more photos from this day? Click the Flickr link here or below:

US Trip 23 September to 8 October, Day Three: The Elms, The Tennis & The Moorings, Newport RI, 25 September 2025

Bend it like Camden

Another wet day.

With the pre-tennis match reception starting no earlier than 13:00 (we planned to arrive a little later than that) we had time to visit one of the nearer mansions, The Elms, during an ingeniously-picked break in the almost-relentless rain that morning.

Some of the regular houses on the way to the mansion were quite grand.

We found the inside of the mansion rather hideous in its ostentation and faux-baroque grandeur…

…although the kitchens and gardens made the visit seem very much worthwhile.

We resolved to take in the other mansions, all of which must be similar in most ways, by dint of a well planned cliff and street walk the next day, weather permitting.

Despite not being drowned like rats that morning, we still freshened up and choose to Uber it to the Newport Club rather than risk getting soaked in our glad rags.

We enjoyed a fine lunch and then witnessed, from the Club Room, Camden Riviere winning the World Championship again by taking three of the day’s four sets to complete the task 7-1 in just two days.

Want to see more than just a couple of photos? You can see all of the play on our day by clicking the link below. You can occasionally see me and Janie sitting up in the top right hand corner of the club room:

John Lumley put up a fine fight on that second day. It was a great honour and privilege to attend that day and to be on the court itself to see the trophy presented.

John Lumley (above) came an honourable second on Day Two.

Tony Hollins rounded off the formalities

We returned to our apartment to change into more casual clothes, then went out to try a local restaurant with a good reputation for seafood – The Moorings. Obviously super-popular, even though it’s was out of season they had no tables, but could offer us full menu at the bar, which was very well appointed.

We ended up being served by a very interesting barman/maitre d, who seemed a bit suspicious of us at first, but once Janie asked him a question about the NFL football he became our best friend.

“Let me explain the offensive backfield in motion and offside penalty rules to you…”

Superb clam chowder and lobster rolls, with a fine Napa Valley Chardonnay. A very enjoyable evening.

We took a gazillion pictures that day. If you want to wade through all of that eye candy, then click the Flickr link here or below.

US Trip 23 September to 8 October, Day Two: Tennis History Conference & Art Exhibition, Newport RI, 24 September 2025

Young Lookalike With Racquet 1985/c1640

Raining.

Apparently they had almost no rain at all in Newport for months, but the forecast had promised and indeed delivered two rainy days to greet our arrival.

I had told Freddy Adams in advance that we would not attend the morning session of the history conference, as we would need the time to catch up on sleep and orient ourselves. That was indeed a wise decision. We zombied around the apartment for a while and looked a lot of things up.

Then, late morning, we decided to walk the long way round to the conference despite the rain. Mr Google told me that the Newport Mansion Preservation Society offices would be open and that mansion was not too far from our place and then not too far from the Newport Casino.

Unfortunately the information was incorrect and the offices are no longer open. Of course it was possible to arrange mansion views on-line, but my hoped-for old-fashioned leaflet and building with friendly face-to-face advice was not to be.

Looking like drowned rats, we arrived at the International Tennis Hall of Fame‘s Newport Casino Theatre well ahead of the afternoon sessions, which were very interesting, despite the cold inside the heavily air-conditioned theatre itself. Note to self – bring jumper on Friday whatever the weather.

The rain had stopped by late afternoon, so rather than hang around we chose to return to our apartment and freshen up/change ahead of the evening’s art exhibition at the Newport Art Museum, about which we had learnt a fair bit in that afternoon conference session.

That evening turned out to be quite a highlight, especially for Janie who was hugely impressed by the show, as was I.

In particular Bill Sullivan’s cartoonish and Bauhaus-inspired works…

More lookalikes – a pair of Micky Mouse tennis players

…plus some of Freddy’s own pictures, Beth Curren’s pieces, Charles Johnstone’s photographs and works by Robert Manice…and others.

Two inspired pictures (photo art) by Freddy

Robert Manice explaining his methods to Janie

The artists for these two classic works did not show up at the preview/launch event, for some reason.

Feeling very tired, we skipped the informal dinner gathering and went for a very casual quick bite at the Mountain Moose Noodle bar across the street from our apartment, then an early night.

Want to see all the photos from that day? – click the Flickr link here or below:

US Trip 23 September to 8 October, Day One: London To Newport, 23 September 2025

Nightmare On Thames Street

Virgin notified us that our flight would be delayed before we even set off from home, but they also notified us that cyber attack issues meant that we might need to get to the airport a bit earlier to check in the old-fashioned way, even though we had already checked in!

In the end the flight almost caught up with the 50 minute delay, then we circled Boston Logan for ages and formalities in the US seemed to take an age blah blah…

…of course most of the drive from Boston to Newport RI ended up being driving in the dusk/dark, which I had hoped to avoid. At least I had the chance to get used to driving “Max The Mazda” before it got dark. And at least my e-SIM was a doddle to activate, giving me the Wi-Fi connectivity I would need for sat naving and the like.

Very tired on arrival, we sought out the convenience store three blocks away on Thames, as mentioned in advance correspondence by our Airbnb host Jay. Jay had seemed most amused that his English guests would assume that street to be pronounced “Tems” as opposed to the American way, “Thaymes”.

Daisy went into tizzy mode at the sight of convenience products that looked nothing like the ones she is used to in Waitrose, although the quality seemed reasonable enough to me…unlike the prices.

I’m normally the more intense of the two of us, but on this aspect I was totally relaxed about grabbing whatever basic milk, butter, juice, bread, jam, biscuits and cereal the place had to hand…just to get us started.

The only problem with that place was the lack of liquor licence, but Mr Google helped me to find a liquor store just two or three blocks further down Thaymes…I mean Tems…yes, Thames Street. “Werewolves of London” was playing in the store as we walked in and that song became my ear-worm for the rest of our stay in Newport.

A Joyful Day Of International Real (Court) Tennis At Lord’s, Followed By Dinner, With The Burghers Of Newport Rhode Island, 13 November 2024

l to r standing: Peter, Graeme, Giles, Graham, Me, Jonathan, Piers, Chris, Nick, Paul T, Paul B-B, Kelsey, Susan, Noel, Ellen, Steve, Tony. l-r kneeling: Keith, Chris, Sarah. With thanks to Kelsey Dolan for this & other photos from the day

Long in the planning, a delegation of tennis enthusiasts from Newport, Rhode Island ventured across the pond to play real tennis (or, as they call it over there, court tennis) at the several courts in and near London. This day was their Lord’s day.

I was delighted and honoured to be selected for the MCC team, this being only my second opportunity to represent the club at international club level. My first international was actually my first ever match for the MCC, report linked here and below:

MCC v The Wanderers, Real Tennis Match, Lord’s, 10 September 2016

Newport Casino is a fascinating-sounding place, steeped in tennis history; home to the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the original location of the tournament now known as the US Open (lawn) as well as a court tennis facility and much else. Sounds like my sort of casino – I like those that aren’t gambling houses.

Perhaps it was the club’s deep links with history, perhaps it was my remembering seeing Rodin’s The Burghers of Calais in several places on my first visit to the USA in the 1980s…

In the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden, Late November 1989

…but I’m not entirely sure why I imagined the visiting delegation in the style of the Burghers of Calais. Anyway, in an attempt to envisage our visitors a bit better before the day, I asked the DeepAI Image Generator for help:

Rodin’s The Burghers Of Calais depicted with tennis rackets in their hands, DeepAI

The picture made me laugh, although it seems that two of Rodin’s six burghers don’t play tennis and that all of them have grown “Eustache beards” since Rodin’s day. Anyway, I can safely state that our friendly and charming guests from Newport did not look like those Calais burghers. Some wags might suggest that the AI depiction suits the burghers of the Marylebone Cricket Club more than those of Newport Casino.

Giles Pemberton, looking suitably burgher-like, receiving a tribute from Tony at the end of match ceremony.

Graeme Marks presenting a ceremonial MCC ball to the visitors

Have Nick Davidson’s psychoactives just kicked in or what?

It was simply a pleasurable day. Most of the visitors were keen to see around Lord’s when they weren’t playing and several of us were similarly keen to show the visitors around.

The tennis matches, seven rubbers, were all extremely closely contested.

Steven Bishop & Graeme Marks v Keith Mayer & Paul Tromby
Jonathan Ellis-Miller & Ollie Wise v Steve Devoe & Chris Werner
Piers Vacher & Peter Brunner v Noel Shiland & Ellen Defoe
Ian Harris & Paul Buchanan-Barrow v Sarah Stanley & Kelsey Dolan
Barry Nathan & Nick Davidson v Noel Shiland & Kelsey Dolan
Iain Harvey & Piers Vacher v Chris Werner & Steve Devoe
Giles Pemberton & Graham Findlay v Keith Mayer & Paul Tromby

I don’t think I can remember an event where quite so many sets of tennis went to to deciders at 5-5.

“So what were the precise scores in each of the sets of each of the rubbers and all that”, I hear you readers cry. Well, you know what Colson Whitehead (almost) said:

What happens in Newport Casino stays in Newport Casino…

It really was one of those days when everybody won. I sensed that the visitors very much enjoyed our hospitality and the MCC team similarly thoroughly enjoyed the company of the interesting, friendly delegation from Newport.

Beyond the many interesting conversations about tennis and our respective clubs, I took great pleasure in showing several of the visitors around the ground. Kelsey, who is a softball enthusiast as well as a tennis enthusiast, took a shine to the indoor school and would really like a go at batting. Let’s arrange that for next time!

My most recent go at the indoor school, November 2022, picture by Janie

Almost all of us retreated to The Ivy on St John’s Wood High Street for some dinner. Several of the visitors were, understandably, struggling to reconcile the pronunciation and spelling of the word Marylebone. I consoled them by explaining that we’re probably all getting it wrong when we pronounce St John’s Wood, as it was most likely pronounced “sinjin’s wood” back in the day.

To cap it all, amongst the assortment of fascinating conversations we were all having over dinner, Ellen and I discovered that we have a shared interest in early music, including madrigals. She was not aware that our young professional Alex is not the earliest generation of the Hume family to sing professionally and was intrigued to learn that several of us have played with his dad, Alistair, who was a founding member of The King’s Singers. I recommended the album Madrigal History Tour to her, and/but have found a YouTube of the TV show from whence that album sprung:

There’s Alistair, second from the left

It was that sort of day and that sort of evening. Warm-hearted, interesting people finding things in common and enjoying each other’s company. We left The Ivy in a glow of high spirits…that was possibly the gemütlichkeit, but possibly it was the wine and cocktails.

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