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Tuesday 20 August 2013

Stourhead

Ever since we moved to Wiltshire five years ago, I've had a hankering to visit Stourhead, and now we live that bit closer, it's only a twenty minute drive from home. However, it's not somewhere that really appealed to the Green Man, so when my friend Kate came down to stay I had the ideal excuse to go there.

As the weather was dry and sunny, we opted to do the garden walk - the options were to see the house, or the garden, or both. There were two walks, a two mile one and a shorter one mile one, and as we weren't pushed for time we chose to do the two mile walk. I think "Garden Walk" is a bit of a misnomer, as the garden was really much more of a park, but never-the-less, it didn't disappoint. In fact, quite the opposite, it was lovely, really lovely. The main feature was a lake in a valley, surrounded by woodland and various follies. You can read the history of the house and gardens here.

As is usual on any outing, I took loads and loads of photos, I've made a selection of some of my favourites (you have been warned!).











At the end of our walk we had a lovely cream tea in The Spread Eagle, a proper pub actually inside the estate, and then had a browse in the National trust shop, where Kate bought me a lovely plant for my garden (which will appear in a blog of its own soon).

All in all, a lovely day out, well worth a visit if you are in the area. (Although with the caution that, lovely as it is, I wouldn't recommend that you go there with children, it's not particularly child unfriendly, but while I cant speak for the house, there is nothing particularly aimed at or for the entertainment or amusement of children in the gardens.)



9 comments:

Chrissy C said...

Beautiful place and lovely photos.

Kimberley said...

Oh I have even been there - a long long time ago! Gorgeous . We have so few historical houses etc in New Zealand - it is something is miss.

Ellie Foster said...

Dear Joy
Stourhead is a place I have wanted to go for a long time, but as yet, haven't made it there. For anyone interested in garden design, it is a perfect vision of the landscape garden of the time.
(In some ways, I think it is sad when children have to have something tailored for them, to keep them interested/out of mischief. When I was little, I was happy exploring and running about, especially if there was a big lawn!)
Thank you so much for sharing these lovely photos!
Best wishes
Ellie

joy said...

Ellie, I agree with you, but so many families these days want "something for the children to do" and apart from walk and admire, there isn't anything else!
Kimberley, next time you visit UK, you should put it on your list.
Thanks Chrissy
xx

Mum said...

Thank you for the tour. Lovely.
Love from Mum
xx

Patricia said...

What a gorgeous place to visit. Your photos are lovely.
Patricia x

Eileen said...

I love Stourhead, it's one of my favourite places. You've taken some beautiful photographs.

Lizzy said...

Looks a lovely place to visit, I love these types of gardens. Visit quite a few with our horticultural society.

Maria Ontiveros said...

Gorgeous photos! I especially like the second one.
Rinda