A Day Away

Hello Lovelies,
I  went on a rather lovely day away yesterday, to a bloggers meet up at a National Trust property, no less.

At 11am I left home with a very hastily constructed yarny  floral posy attached to my boring but oh-so-practical ruck sack.........

 THIS wonderful Pattern was a speedy joy to work up ....thank you HEATHER.

I was feeling a little nervous about a get together with peeps I din't know, but I really didn't need to worry.
Within minutes we were chatting like old friends thanks largely to Jane's wonderfully friendly welcome and excellent suggestion that we brought a picnic and wore something  floral to make it easy for us to recognise each other.

In the end a few lovely people who had hoped to attend couldn't make it, which was a shame, but our small group fitted nicely around a picnic table in the walled garden........

 There was JANE, GILLY, MEL, me and ROSIE.

The walled gardens were looking rather lovely and I couldn't resist a wander before we moved on to explore further. You can see the south facing wall in this photo was once covered in a huge green house......what a shame it didn't survive...........

As well as vegetable and flowers this spot was also growing pigs ....they looked very happy.........

These scarecrows for children to dress up made us smile............

We wandered out of the gardens and past some small shops ....this one, selling Lavender and hand sewn goodies, smelt wonderful.......

Soon we passed the farm , with it's unusual Long horn cattle ( and a cute sleeping calf).........

and very smart farmhouse............

Then it was a pleasant stroll to SHUGBOROUGH HOUSE..... here you can just see it in the distance ..........

The Rhododendrons were stunning...........

and the stable block looked pretty...........

Here's the house it's self.........very imposing, if a little grey on a grey day...........

Then it was time for another group photo...........

Inside the hall we marvelled at the grand interiors........

Especially this huge Drawing room..........

on the first floor were more grand rooms.............but then it was onto an interesting part that I didn't know we were going to find.

Shugborough  Hall was home to the late Lord Lichfield ...........

There was an exhibition of his work and it was interesting to see his Photographic equipment.......

Along with some stunning examples of his Photographs.

I loved this one of the Walton sextuplets taken when they were toddlers.....the trickiest of subjects I expect!...........

Patrick Lichfield was most famous for photographing his royal relatives and beautiful women, these are just a couple of examples.....Jane Seymour in  1973...........

And Brit Ekland in the grounds of Shugborough Hall.............

 Sorry about the horrible reflections on these photos.....I thought they were still worth sharing.

As a teenager of the  Eighties it was his role as the official photographer at this royal wedding that I most remember him for..........

source

There are some more examples of his Royal photographs HERE

Then it was onto his living quarters. This area amused us.....a sort of Bar alcove..........

Love the  gramophone with it's old "78" Record.............

This is a guest bathroom.....isn't it lovely............

And this is the Earls kitchen..........very ordinary but still fascinating...........

and there were some parts that made it stand out from your average kitchen ........like the Dumbwaiter and the servants bells over the door...........

These formerly private rooms were fascinating to me and such a contrast to the public rooms downstairs.........

Outside again we wandered around the gardens, chatting all the time.............

It's a shame the sun didn't show it's lovely face to cheer up these photos, but at least there was no rain.

I loved this bridge and summer house in the Japanese garden.............

And Rosie led us to this gorgeous old pack horse bridge. The Essex Bridge which is the widest remaining bridge of it's type in the country.............

We were never short of things to talk about and the grounds were a wonderful place to chat happily as we wandered along.

Thank you to JANE for organising this wonderful meet up.

And thank you too to Hubby, who took five boys to the Cinema and a suitable eatery ( The latest X-Men movie, followed by  Frankie and Benny's)  as a birthday treat for our eldest two while I disappeared ( it wasn't their actual birthday yesterday ).
Finally, thank you also to Mum , who was happy to provide the transport, then explore at her own pace while I made some lovely new friends.
My day away was much appreciated.
Jacquie x