A jam packed week off

I said last week was a quiet week on my blog as we were away, well this week has been quiet too and we’ve been back at work. I’ll admit to enjoying time away from my laptop in my week off and so while this week I’ve been back on the laptop during the day, I’ve stayed away during the evenings too, picking up my crochet instead.

And also knowing where to start, and what to post from the many, many photos I’ve taken. So many photos, so many gardens and historic houses - and such a good time - and so, this post has a bit of everything. A kind of whistle stop tour of what I’ve been up to.

We started in Norfolk visiting some of my favourite places, including the shops at Creake Abbey and the historic Georgian town of Holt - it made a lovely change to wander around shops, though still wearing masks.

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A great day in Holt ended with a bit of a downer when a stone thrown up by a passing van hit the windscreen with an almighty crack. And it was quite a crack, no chip in sight and quite a shock. On reflection a crack is way better than a chip, as that meant a new windscreen rather than a repaired one. Thankfully the crack kept outside of my vision for driving, and the insurance and replacement were easy to navigate with all the necessary recalibrating done in a single visit once we were back home. Even there they realised that after having the car for less than a month, I probably didn’t need to replace the wipers!

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It was definitely a night to opt for fish and chips and we headed off to Eric’s for the first time. We ended up with double fish and chips each, and more than we could eat - and we couldn’t resist trying the black pudding fritter, which is exactly what you’re thinking - black pudding in batter. I’d eat it again - obviously - but probably not as a side order to cod and chips.

Up next was our holiday cottage in Lincolnshire, part of the Walled Gardens on the Easton Estate - and it’s the first holiday cottage we had with its own library - a small space with a chandelier, but a library no less.

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It also had one of the best equipped kitchens we’ve experienced, and best of all it provided direct access to the walled gardens which were available for us to visit outside of their usual opening hours, and it was really special to have such a lovely space to ourselves.

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This was a sign that I wasn’t expecting to see - thankfully the giraffes were statues.

We got out and about a lot in the few days we were in Lincolnshire and first on my list was Barnsdale Gardens, which was the Gardener’s World home of legendary presenter Geoff Hamilton. There were 38 gardens there, so plenty of inspiration - and while I wasn’t a Gardener’s World viewer when he was a presenter it was a great place to visit. I’ll be sharing some of the gardens here, but somehow I’ve lost some of the photos I took, but even so there’s still plenty to share.

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What is always special is the chance to look around the nursery and growing spaces, and this is the heucheras at Barnsdale - not lettuces as MOH first thought (though they do look a little lettuce-like from a distance).

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That evening we headed back out into the Walled Gardens this time exploring the Cottage Garden and the Pickery - great name isn’t it? - and discovered this most amazing bark, I promise you it’s a real, living tree and not a sculpture.

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Another of the places I was keen to visit was Belvoir Castle - a few years ago when we cycled between Grantham, Melton Mowbray and Newark we spied it on the hill top in the distance, and had it marked as a future place to visit. It didn’t disappoint, the interiors were stunning - from the displays of rifles and swords as you entered, the vibrancy of the wall coverings and the grandiose rooms - I was ready to move in.

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We also spent some time walking around the gardens, including the formal rose garden, which considering the gardens are on many levels was a lot of up and down, but definitely worth it.

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But we weren’t done with visiting historic houses just yet - our next stop was the National Trust’s Belton House, where it was easy to pick up on a greyhound theme, including on the door plate and on the weather vane on the roof.

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The orangery in the grounds was just as spectacular, and I think I’ll need to add an orangery as a requirement to my next house! (Some chance, I know).

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With our week almost at an end we managed to squeeze in a visit to nearby Stamford, another Georgian town - no prizes for guessing the type of architecture that MOH and I are drawn to.

I told you we packed a lot in, and now you know why it was so hard to choose just one part of an action-packed week away from home.

PoCoLo

The Greats at Knole House

By greats, I mean the Great Hall, the Great Screen and the Great Staircase and to be honest they’re very well named.

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Knole, which is close to Sevenoaks and was our stop off on the way to our cabin for our escape weekend close to home, is a former Archbishops’ Palace. The Great Hall would have been right at the heart of it and where the whole household would eat together. For me the floor was a fantastic part of the space, but there was much more to it than that.

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The carved oak screen dates to the early 1600s and is decorated with leopards and other symbols of the Sackville family.

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But the ceiling can’t go unmentioned - isn’t it fabulous?

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The staircase, unlike the hall, was only for members of the family, distinguished guests and high ranking sevants.

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The paintings though - they really should be named as greats too. They depict the Four Ages of Man, the Five Senses and the Seven Virtues, though one virtue - temperance - is missing.

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The sculpture is Giovanna Zanerini, a celebrated Italian ballerina and mistress of the 3rd Duke of Sackville. She was known by her stage name - La Baccelli and lived at Knole, and she remains there today.

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There’s much more to see at Knole, and considering it’s only about thirty minutes from home I can’t believe this was our first - but certainly not our last - visit. It’s definitely worth a look if you’re close by.

PoCoLo

Views of Sizergh Castle

This was close to our cottage in the Lake District, and was one of the gardens on my Visit Seven in 2020 but what with our plans changing because of Covid, it wasn’t until this year that we made it to our rearranged 2020 holiday. Sizergh is an ancient Scandinavian name meaning ‘summer pasture or dairy farm’ and from our first view that’s a fancy dairy farm.

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The whole place is impressive, and I was quickly distracted by the plants growing in the wall and then just as quickly distracted by the typical ‘castle’ style wall. I’m easily pleased. After this we headed up into the stumpery which led to the limestone rock garden.

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The honeysuckle here was basking in the sun, unlike the tree fern in the next picture which seemed to be relishing the spray of the hose. I’ve many pictures from this part of the garden, but I’ll save those for another day.

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As we walked through the garden the castle kept showing itself and it looked great with the garden in the foreground.

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Once we’d walked almost every path at least once in that section of the garden we made our way towards the building we’d spotted from various vistas around the garden. The steps up with their lichen and fleabane were another draw along the way.

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But turning round to see the water lily filled water gardens was another spectacular view, this time complete with the scent of the honeysuckle.

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As we walked down to see more the walled gate on the left caught my eye, and looked a little odd.

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We headed down and along and enjoyed the views of the countryside heading towards the tall gates we could see at the end.

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They looked grand, but when we got closer we could see they were made of wood rather than iron, and behind them were rows of yew pyramids - I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t this. Having come from Levens Hall, I was pleased to notch up my second topiary spot of the day.

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And looking back towards the castle, the views were just as impressive. You really can’t beat a castle, can you?

PoCoLo