We are in the midst of the renovation of Rhiannon’s house, which is coming along very nicely. We took on a simultaneous ‘whole house’ renovation, and most rooms are part or nearly completely finished. We should soon be in a position to show some after photographs – but only for some of the rooms, as the kitchen hasn’t yet begun!
On Saturday we decided that we’d earned a day off so Tim and I looked for a National Trust property with a walk. We usually head east, into Derbyshire, but the weather forecast to the west of us looked better so we set off to Attingham Park , near Shrewsbury
The ha-ha...
I can’t believe that we’ve never visited before. We arrived early and were given a couple of tickets for the guided tour at 10.30 – the only one to take place that day. Our guide was Martin who entered into the spirit of the times by dressing up as Lord Berwick. At first it looked like we were the only takers for the tour until we were joined at the last minute by another visitor. Phew!
The tour lasted for about 90 minutes and was absolutely fantastic – history came alive! We learned that many of the treasures of the house were sold off to pay the debts of Thomas Berwick but the house was bought by his younger brother, William. William was a diplomat in Italy
The beautiful picture gallery with a roof designed by John Nash was undergoing renovations. For details of the renovations, and more, check out this blog.
We managed a walk of about 3.5 miles, through the deer park
The Repton oak...
If you are nearby it is well worth a detour and a few hours of your time. We'll go again to see the renovated picture gallery.
Then it was back to Rhiannon’s little renovation project - without a Nash roof…
I seem to remember that Attingham is now the most popular NT house to visit.
ReplyDeleteI can certainly see why. Did you ever visit when you worked for the NT? They were saying that there are about 800 volunteers who work in the house, gardens and grounds.
DeleteWe were very impressed by the cleaning of the panels in the Boudoir. What was very sad is that there very few of the Lords Berwick had any offspring - legitimate or otherwise!
Also it is close to Shrewsbury and Wroxeter the 'Roman town'.
I confess I've never heard of it but it looks lovely - and whilst Lord Berwick might have enjoyed a slightly larger audience, he obviously had an appreciative one. Sounds like a good day out - if you're in the vicinity! Onward, onward with the renovation -looking forward to seeing some photos!
ReplyDeleteAxxx
I'm sure there are similar places to Attingham all over the country. I'm looking forward to having more time to visit them at some stage in the near future. We've had NT membership for many years but because we are away for almost every holiday have visited only a small number of properties.
DeleteLooks lovely :-). Clever things: ha-ha's.
ReplyDeleteYou might enjoy a stopover near there on a Scotland visit. We can, of course, offer you a bed for the night.
DeleteIt always surprises me how little people seem to see of their local places. We have seen more of Charente then our neighbours who have lived here all their lives! Take care Diane
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