July 29th 2017 - Workhouse, Southwell

Carol and Stephen were going to a wedding today in the Cathedral in Nottingham so we waited around to give them a lift. Meanwhile we did the shopping in Sainsbury’s for food for Sunday and Monday. After dropping them off we went to the Workhouse in Southwell. It was very interesting but Jim didn’t take a photo of the very imposing building. I had an audio guide which was very informative and very entertaining.

Every so often a rat ran across the floor - a less pleasant projection than the owl in Barrington Court.

Depiction of a 1970s flat.

Clearly she has been in the Workhouse for a long time and it doesn't suit her!

July 28th 2017 - Sudbury Hall.

We got up after Carol and Stephen left and headed for Kedleston Hall to discover that only the grounds were open. It was a lovely drive up to the Hall - one of the nicest I have seen. As it was raining we didn’t want to be confined to outdoors so continued on to Sudbury Hall. Sudbury Hall was acquired by the National Trust in 1967 so 1967 is the theme of this year’s exhibits 50 years on from its acquisition. The car park is across the road and the pathway along to the hall had lots of placards along the way with events that happened in 1967 - e.g the Beatles released the Sergeant Pepper album. Fionnuala was 15 at the time and the BBC started Radios 1,2,3 and 4 etc.

I found the visit very interesting. Sudbury Hall is a late 17th century home set in its own park . The interior is richly decorated with  wood carving by Gibbons, superb plasterwork and decorative painted murals and ceilings by Laguerre.

 The most notable feature is the Grand Staircase which is too fragile to be used as the heavy footfall of visitors is likely to disturb and damage the plasterwork. However, beside the staircase is a bedlike couch which allows the visitor to lie down and admire the architecture and plasterwork. The plasterwork features garlands of flowers, fruit and palm branches. There are several of these “beds” throughout the hall which allow you to scrutinise the ceilings. For those afraid of not being able to get up again mirrors are also provided so I availed of them.

The Long Gallery is quite magnificent with amazing plasterwork. There were little exhibits which showed the effect of light on materials and paintings and one of the volunteers explained the painstaking process of protecting furniture and paintings and at the same time allowing them to be seen by the public. Just off the long Gallery there was a room which had a lot of books and the National Trust is in the process of cleaning and protecting each one of the books - it will be a long and difficult process!

In one room there was a red canopy bed. It looked in very good condition. I mentioned that to the volunteer who said it did not belong to the hall but had been brought in. She explained that the expression “to make up the bed came from the fact that if there was a guest that is in fact what had to be done. The bed had to be made from scratch. It reminded me of one such bed in fabulous condition that had been given to the couple as a wedding present and had never been used. The volunteer was able to remind me that it was in Calke Abbey which we had visited one of the times we were over here with Carol.

The house is presented as it was in 1967 with lots of clippings from the National Trust team that was decided how to restore the house appropriately and how to showcase its features. The jottings really brought across to me how much thought and work goes into National Trust properties.










The National Trust Museum of Childhood is housed in the services wing of the hall. However, there was a long queue and an awful lot of children already in there so we gave that a miss. Nor were we able to take advantage of the grounds as the weather was too wet. We did see the lime trees patterned in groups of 5 at the front of the house to the side.

July 26th and 27th 2017 - Gloucester Services; Sherwood

It was leaving day so we had to get up early to clean the house and finish packing. We went into Bridport to the cheese shop to get some Dorset cheeses. Then we got an the road around 11am. We stopped at Gloucester services - farm shop and kitchen. There we had a nice lunch - tender stem broccoli and roast  potato and cheese frittata. We enjoyed a look around the really good shop and bought some things to bring for Stephen and Carol - 2 foggies, 2 scotch eggs, salamis, cheese, cookies.

We got held up for about an hour and a half on the motorway around Birmingham. and got to Carol at about 6.45. Stephen went out with Ellen, his Chinese friend, and Carol made a tomato and goat’s cheese tart which was very nice.

On the 27th - my 65th birthday - I got quite a nasty card from Jim suggesting that I was a sat nag! Me?"!! But I got a nice one from Brian and a nice piece of jewellery from Carol. We had decided to have a quiet day so walked into Sherwood and had a lovely lunch at Le Mistral - creamy red pepper, tomato and spinach crepe topped with blue cheese. Later we went to Kayal in Nottingham for a Keralan meal - very nice but too much food.

July 25th 2017 - Barrington Court; Montacute House; Tintinhull Garden; Lytes Cary Manor.

We were on the road before 9.30. There was lovely Dorset countryside as far as Beaminster. We were at our first National Trust property in Somerset before it opened at 10.30 - Barrington Court.  There were lots of other early birds too. Barrington Court is an empty Tudor manor house, home of Lyles of Tate and Lyle. He was knighted for “services to sugar”! We had coffee first and sat in the sun - really hot and it not even 11am. we had a stroll through the gardens.

In keeping with the sugary theme the turrets are shaped like the candy canes of old.

We were fascinated by this owl projection. It's a pity Jim didn't get it in flight.

We went on then to Montacute House, an Elizabethan mansion, where there was an exhibition  of portraits from The National Portrait Gallery up in the Long Gallery. It was called “After Holbein”.The portraits were almost 3D. Children could dress up in Elizabethan costumes. They were so cute as their grandparents doted over them.

Look what Jim found!

There's a fantastic display of samplers - samples of needlework displaying techniques, style and skills in embroidery and needlework.

The wibbly wobbly hedges. Until 1947 these were uniformly straight yew hedges. In that year heavy snowfall resulted in the hedges losing their tops. Now the gardeners trim them like this to create an interesting effect.

Our next stop was Tintinhull Garden. We spent a very short while there as it’s a small garden.

Then we went on to Lytes Cary Manor - a medieval house, once home of a Tudor herbalist.

The twelve Apostles topiary.

More wibbly wobbly hedges!

Did the gardens or at least the parts that were not roped off.  After a marathon day of National Trust properties we went home to Bridport to pack.