Longleat – Part 2

One day we visited Stourhead. We were hoping for a good day, weather-wise, for walking and taking photos. The weather turned out to be very mixed.
Stourhead is a 2,650 acre estate at the source of the River Stour, Wiltshire. The estate includes a Palladian mansion, the village of Stourton, gardens, farmland and woodland. Stourhead has been in the ownership of the National Trust since 1946.

Stourhead House

Iconic view

At the other end of the lake

View ruined by rain – her ladyship was not happy

Library in the house - Colt Hoare (he inherited the house in 1785) turned to recording and publishing the antiquities of Wiltshire. He filled the Library at Stourhead with topographical books and records.

Like all the grand families of the time, they were great collectors and one of the greatest treasures of Stourhead is the Pope's Cabinet - a jewelled cabinet that was built for a 16th-century pope which has been restored at a cost of £50,000 and is now on view to visitors. The cabinet, which is 13 feet tall and is made of marble, alabaster and semiprecious stones, resembles a baroque Roman church and was owned originally by Pope Sixtus V.

Maya and Norman came to the caravan for a meal. They have very recently moved to Street (of Clark’s Shopping Village fame). We visited them later in the week. Sue managed a trip to the shopping village while Norman and I shifted a small shed.
We had a lovely day with them - thanks.

We could walk into parts of Longleat and the meerkat enclosure was one of them. They run around your feet, so you have to be careful not to step on one.

On another day we went to Bath. We parked at Bath  P&R and took the bus in. Unfortunately we ended up at the hospital (my fault). We eventually arrived at Bath centre. Sue tackled the shops and I did some geocaches.

Pulteney Bridge

Colourful pig by the Abbey

 

The Royal Crescent Bath is a residential road of 30 houses

Houses on the hill, by the Royal Crescent

We came back from Longleat two days early. The forecast for our last day at the site was ‘rain all of the day’. We decided to come back two days early, but we will go back because it is a lovely site.

One of the rainy days.

Oldie Photos

1981 - Stuart’s Mum at the Florian Turm, Westfalen Park, Dortmund

Sue and Mum in the Park.

    

Longleat - Part 1

We have recently returned from a caravanning trip to Longleat. After a very dry winter, we were subjected to some very inclement weather, along with the rest of the country. The caravan site is within the park, but segregated from the Safari Park (thank goodness). We did hear the lions occasionally and the sea lions regularly. We didn’t manage a trip into the Safari Park due to the bad weather, maybe another time.

Longleat is an English stately home and the seat of the Marquesses of Bath.  It is noted for its Elizabethan country house maze,  landscaped parkland and safari park. The house is set in over 900 acres of parkland, landscaped by Capability Brown. It was the first stately home to open to the public, and also claims the first safari park outside Africa.

The house was built by Sir John Thynne, and designed mainly by Robert Smythson, after the original priory was destroyed by fire in 1567. It took 12 years to complete and is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of Elizabethan architecture in Britain.

The only lion we saw

Garden topiary

       

Getting close to the less dangerous exhibits

 

The Courts Garden, near Bradford-on-Avon – the house is still lived in, but the gardens are in the ‘hands’ of the National Trust.

There are water gardens and herbaceous borders interspersed with topiaries.

After The Courts Garden we visited Great Chalfield Manor, fortunately the weather improved. If you recognise the house it appeared in ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’.

View from the front

Rear entrance

 

Oldie Photo – August 1977 - Prague, Czechoslovakia – another holiday we abandoned early due to wet weather. The water in the foreground is the River Vltava - tents had been pitched here the night before. Out tent and car can be seen on the right of the picture – we were on the verge of moving because the river was due to rise another metre during the day!

March(ing) into April

Another year another birthday for Sue. Sybil, Joy and Geoff joined us for lunch, unfortunately Glyn and Sue couldn’t make it all the way from Spain. As you can see the weather was super. I took advantage of Sybil’s expertise in the garden and was looking for lots of tips. She wasn’t impressed when I said I chucked buckets of water on the plants to water them. The good news is (6.4.12) that there is no hosepipe ban in our area.
 The BIG surprise of Sue’s birthday was the arrival of her brother Neil. It was lovely to see him and he stayed for lunch and most of the afternoon.

Shortly afterwards Sue’s sister Pam came to stay for an evening. They went off walking at Mudeford and locally. As you can see the weather was most unseasonal – as I write this there is frost outside.
   

I think Pam has a soft spot for VW’s

We started a new hobby recently which I can’t mention in social media, it’s part of the terms and conditions, (email me if you are desperate to know). It’s a bit like geocaching and involves being out and about in the forest. Here we are , testing our skills, on another lovely day in the forest. I suppose you have guessed by now that we don’t go out in bad weather.

The forest at its best.

Geocaching close to Pennington Marshes, Lymington.

We started doing a circuit with Andy and Maggie last year and have just got around to completing the last 6 geocaches.
Shortly after this photo was taken I took the wrong route to get back and ended up in somebody's garden (it was very large). There was someone to ask for directions and instead of sending us back they lead us through the garden to the road we should have been on. That was a better experience than being seen off by someone with a shotgun in hand (that has happened to me). We always say that geocaching takes you to places you wouldn’t normally go – even if by accident and dodgy map reading.

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At last we have come to the end of the latest planned improvements. The plasterer/electrician has completed the ceilings and down lighters . I painted both ceilings, which took 3 coats and 3 days to do.

Oldie Photo – 1999 Christmas in Gran Canaria

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Our next door neighbour, Ian, sadly died after a long illness.
His funeral was at Bournemouth Crematorium and was well attended by relatives, friends and neighbours.

Cheltenham Spa – March Part 2

On the second weekend Maggie and Andy visited us at the caravan site.
We had very good weather during our two weeks, but this particular day was an exception as it was cold and wet. We went geocaching in the afternoon, but the enthusiasm waned and so we headed back to the warmth of the caravan.

This is the Montpellier area of Cheltenham and if you look  closely you will see the caryatids in between the shops. The other caryatids that I know of are on the Parthenon, Athens!

 

Cheltenham Ladies College – one of their buildings

Column detail

Facades of Cheltenham

Balloons in Cheltenham High Street

There are many Notable Cheltonians and one is made very aware of them as you wander around Cheltenham. In Wikipedia they list 50 notables. Some of the more famous are Gustav Holst, composer,  Arthur ‘Bomber Harris’ commander of Bomber Command and Brian Jones founder of the Rolling Stones.

Statue of Edward Adrian Wilson in the town centre.   Born Cheltenham 1872,        died Antarctica 1912.

Jenner Gardens named after Edward Jenner (1849-1823), the inventor of vaccination.

        

We went into Gloucester twice on the 94 bus. It only took 25 minutes to the centre. We have been a few times before, but it is always nice to have a look around the magnificent cathedral and the regenerated dock areas.

      

Two new works of art.

Sue at the docks

The docks

Carved details in and around the cathedral

Oldie Photo

California 2001 – Monterey area