Monday 11 April 2022

Flatford and the Essex coast

6 months? 6 months? what have I been doing? If anyone is still out there ... Hello and I'm sorry

I was visiting my friends Jan and Tony Saturday so I stopped off en route to Flatford. I didn't get to Flatford through out  the whole of 2021! 

So it is nice to be back ( I did visit a few weeks before).















I didn't get all the way to Dedham but I will next time.

I popped in to the Essex Wildlife Trust centre at Walton on the Naze.

Then J&T took to Holland Haven Country Park.







I will be back over Easter as I am going somewhere I haven't been since this blog started!

Thursday 30 September 2021

Devon/Somerset

I spent a few day on the Devon and Somerset border only 2 weeks ago. Temperature wise it feels longer ago than that!!

Montacute was built in 1598, at the end of the Tudor period, by Edward Phelips who became speaker of the house in 1603. Later he was a prosecutor of the gunpowder plot.





Forde Abbey is a former Cistercian Monastery which is in Dorset with a Somerset address. It was surrendered to the crown in 1539 and has been converted to a private home. It has a particularly fine garden.


Killerton is an 18th Century Georgian house in the middle of Devon. It is actually a quite liveable house I think. When Sir Richard Acland gave the house to the trust he gave them almost 7000 acres as well as about 9,000 in Exmoor. That is some land!









 

Muchelney abbey

Here you can see the parish church next to the abbey ruins. The abbey dates from the 7th to 16th century and you can see the outline of the Saxon church and see how small it would have been.

The Abbots house survives and contains an interesting small museum.


Lytes Cary is a medieval manor house in Somerset. Parts of it date to the 14th century with additions being made in the century after particularly the 15th, 16th, 18th and 20th century. The chapel predates the house being built about 1343 and was also a chantry chapel.

The 17th century gardens have disappeared and today we have the Jenners Arts and Crafts garden from the beginning of the 20th century. I like them.







The garden at Tintinhull was on my way back to my B&B from Lytes Cary.

It is a 20th century Arts and Crafts garden around a 17th century house. It is relatively small but it is one I rather like.