How natural is natural

The 6th Earl of Coventry made two men superstars. When the Earl inherited Croome Court in 1750, he wanted an estate makeover. It took over 50 years so it wasn't a made for TV kind of makeover. He hired two little known men, Lancelot Brown, to do the outside remodelling and landscaping and Robert Adam to do the interiors. Because of their work at Croome Court both men became as famous in their day as our current superstars. And their fame has endured over 250 years. Lancelot "Capability" Brown is revered as the first English garden and people from all over the world come to see Adams' beautiful rooms in many great houses. Before Croome Court came into the hands of the National Trust, the family sold the tapestry room completely, from floor to ceiling and everything in between, to the Metropolitan Museum of New York . The Museum really, really wanted a Robert Adam room. The inside of Croome Court is empty. The Trust only got the house last year. But the garden has been in their hands for about 10 and they have been restoring it back to how Brown laid it out. Capability reacted against the formal garden structures that had come over from France and Italy. He wanted the natural English countryside to be the focus of his landscape designs. At Croome, in order to create this natural look, he demolished a medieval church, designed another one on a rise to be "more pleasing to the eye", relocated the village cottages to various places at least 5 miles away as they "were not pleasing to the eye". In that day and age when people never left their villages, it would have been like being relocated to the moon. He diverted the river and dug an ornamental lake and serpentine canal. These were fed by hundred of miles of brick line tunnels. Trees and plants were brought in from around the world. So how natural is natural? And when you stroll around today, you do think "How beautifully English".

One man's treasure is another woman's junk

Charles Wade was an odd duck. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. He started collecting things when he was 7. In 1919, he bought Snowshill Manor to house his collection. In his own words he didn't buy valuable things but ordinary, everyday items made with the highest skill and quality. When the estate was given to the National Trust in 1955, the house was crammed with tens of thousands of items. Wade stipulated that nothing was to be labeled and the light level was always to be kept at candle light level. He spent a fortune (from sugarcane plantations) on what looked to me like a pile of junk. What I did really enjoy was the house itself. The core part was built in the 1400's. The rooms are low with small windows and heavy oak beams and floor boards. The next addition was in the early 1600's. The windows are larger as are the ceilings. And the last addition was 1720 - high Georgian panelled rooms. Nobody had tried to blend the house together. As you can see from the picture of the front of the house, it looks half and half. Poor Mrs Wade didn't even get to live in her house. With her husband, she lived next door in a 4 room priest's house again crowded with "treasures". She must have longed for the 6 month winter break on their Caribbean estate. We talked to a lady in the village who remembered Mr Wade well. She said she's never got over her surprise that he gave it to the National Trust because he hated people. "When we were kids, we couldn't even lean against his wall without being told to move on." Ah, but the views and the village of Snowshill are beautiful.

What you can do when Mama marrys well

Hidcote Gardens are the creation of one Lawrence Johnston. He was an American who came to the UK to fight in the Boer War.The powers that be were so astounded that any foreigner would do this, they gave him British citizenship two weeks after he arrived. After the war, Lawrence and his mother searched Europe for a place to settle and chose the village of Hidcote buried in the Cotswold countryside - a barren, windswept place where Lawrence determined to build a garden. After buying the Manor house, the village and lots of the surrounding farmland (THAT'S what you can do when Mama marrys well - twice) Lawrence set to work and over the next 40 years he travelled the world gathering plants for his outside rooms. My favorite was in the wilderness room- a maple tree with leaves the colour of boiled shrimp. Here are some pictures. It was a magical place. Let's hear it for Mama and her divorce lawyer!

Upton House

On Friday we tallied forth through the lanes in search of Upton House. This a biggish pile quite close to us. It has been there as a building from the 1600's. It was fiddled with over the years with pieces added and taken away by a variety of owners, but on the whole it was not a particularly interesting house until 1927 when Walter Samuel, 2nd Viscount Bearsted, bought the place.

Again this was a man with a collection of art that needed a display case and the house was it. His wife was an avid gardener and she did a superb job on the gardens. It has been the gardens that have been the main attraction for visitors over the years since the National Trust took it over.

Having been to the de Rothschild house first, this one suffered from the comparison. The house is really quite shabby when held beside the first. The collection of art and ceramics is also the humbler of the two. Mr. Samuel's father built the Shell Transport and Trading Co., now Royal Dutch Shell. There was lots of money there, but somehow the Rothschilds are in a different league.

During the 30's lavish house parties were held there and we tried to imagine the stylish cars with wealthy ladies and gentlemen arriving through the gates and pulling up to the house. Lady Bearsted had an eye for the latest trends in home decorating and did her best to copy the rooms she saw as she visited houses on the continent. Her bathroom for instance was a combination of aluminum leaf and dark red, quite hideous I thought.

The gardens comprise a large lawn that extends from the back of the house. As you stand at the house it appears to be just a lawn until you walk the length of the lawn and it drops dramatically with a retaining wall called a HA HA . The flower and kitchen garden descend a steep pitch to the mirror pool surrounded by trees and then sheep paddocks beyond. There is a beautiful red brick Bog Cottage along the side that Sheelagh and I coveted muchly. Enjoy the pictures.

A Little Place In The Country

We are now members of the National Trust, so there. Yes today, since we have a car for the week, we took the plunge and joined the National Trust. This organization preserves and makes available to the public, a large number of historically and architecturally significant buildings in England. They have reciprocal agreements with similar bodies in other countries including Canada. With our membership we can visit all of these properties free of charge, if you don't count the hunk of cash we left with them today.

We drove about 30 miles today to the village of Waddesdon in Buckinghamshire. Here in 1874-89 Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild built a fine country home to be used on weekends and for summer holidays. It seems Ferdy was a fan of the French Chateaux, much the same as Sheelagh. He had gathered a startlingly large collection of various art pieces and he needed a place to display it. Here was the place.

We were allowed in at 12:30 and we were there until 4:30 seeing room after room of beautiful pieces of Meissen and Sevres porcelain. There are dishes as well as decorative objects. Paintings by Gainsborough et al. furniture by French designers are everywhere. de Rothschild entertained Kings and Queens as well as artists and business types in large and small numbers.

Here are a few pics.

Following my Dad's advice

My Father is a great advocate of R&R days (rest and relaxation). Following his example, we had a R&R day today. A bus to Bourton on the Water and then a gentle amble along the rivers Windrush and Eye to the Slaughters, Lower and Upper. The name is a corruption of d'Schlotre, a knight who came over with William from France and was given this land after the successful conquest of 1066. And inspite of it's name, Upper Slaughter is one of the very few "thankful" villages in the UK. All of the village men who went off to fight in both world wars returned safely. So there is no war memorial in this village.
Another thing my Dad advocates is elevensies, the stopping for a refreshment break at 11am. And guess what time the church clock struck as we strolled into Lower Slaughter? The tea room at the old mill obliged.
Daffodils are giving way to tulips. A mother duck was trying to keep her brood in line as she led them to water. Lambs and foals aplenty. A great day. Thanks, Dad!

Signs Of Antiquity

The last blog was about a church that we found which was one of the oldest we've seen. This one will just be a few photos that show some of the lovely old structures around Moreton in Marsh.

Chastleton House, built between 1607 and 1612 by a wealthy wool merchant, is a Jacobean house now owned by The National Trust. The family slid steadily into poverty over the 400 years and finally gave over the house in the late 1900's. You can tour the site and see it as it was when they left.

The Four Shire Stone marks the point at which the shires of Gloucestershire, Warwichshire, Oxfordshire and Worcestershire met. The latter boundary having been moved in 1931. It is thought to have been the inspiration for Tolkein's Three Farthing Stone if any of you know about that.

This country house with the blue dome on the roof, Sezincote Estate was built in the 1809. It was inspired by the owner Charles Cockerell's family's experiences while working in India, part of the Empire. It is now a garden open to visits. The house has changed hands twice, but is still a privately owned home. I guess they need a little extra cash.

Sheelagh stood beside this fallen tree that we passed in a farmer's field. It made us wonder what the world would have been like when it was a small sapling.









She told him, "Harold, you're planting those trees too close to the house." And 850 years later she was shown to have been correct. Actually this is a church in Stow in the Wold and I don't really know how old it is but I would say that it's been a few years.









And finally, this poor old thing has been walking all day and has come to ANOTHER stile. Quote, "I can't climb over that *#^##& thing, I'm going through it." Ah age, it does take it's toll. I just happen to think that she , as with all of the other examples has gotten more beautiful with the passing years. Don't you?