Tyntesfield

I discovered that we were staying very close to the National Trust property at Tyntesfield - and so we scheduled a visit on Saturday morning.  All I can say is WOW!!

The house had been owned by a wealthy Victorian merchant who loved showing off. Everything in the property said "quality" .  He employed the same workmen as royalty did and it showed.
The estate was lived in until the last occupant passed away in 2001.  He left the property to 19 of his relatives - none of whom could afford to buy the others out, and so they put it up for sale.  It had been on a list of properties that the National Trust had wanted to own - mainly because the family had never thrown anything away.  The trust raised a lot of money in a short space of time, and now the property is preserved just as it was.

The estate is tucked away in the middle of nowhere - it is so peaceful.

The size of the chapel that the family build was excessive!

One of the things I loved was that unlike other properties these days, you can take photographs in the house.  Its wonderful to see rooms just as they had been left.

I always love the downstairs bits best - perhaps its because that would have been my place!

We wandered around the grounds - down to the walled garden.  Almost every tree was hung with mistletoe - I have never seen mistletoe growing before.

The Orangerie was one of my favourite places - it smelled beautiful - heavy with the fragrance of these hyacinths, but they also had a guitarist and mandolin player in here too.  The music was wonderful, it moved me to tears.

I could have happily lived in the stable block!

If you ever get chance to visit - do.  It is literally just off the M5 at the Gordano services.

Bath

I've wanted to visit Bath for as long as I can remember.  It didn't disappoint. The contrast between Sheffield and Bath is immense - 2 cities with totally different purposes and architecture.  Jane Austen loved Bath and there is a Jane Austen museum here - but sadly no Mr Darcy.

 The town was (and still is )very affluent.  Many of the Georgian buildings remain, and they are stunning.  We were glad that we had used the City's Park & Ride (very easy to use) as the streets were very narrow.  We did feel that the amount of traffic spoiled the atmosphere of the place a little.

 The Royal Crescent is lovely, but I preferred the "Circus" .  I couldn't photograph either very well as they were vast.

 I also loved the many plaques on the buildings dotted round  and about.

 We noticed lots of these shell like canopy's over windows and doors.  Gorgeous.

 The whole city looks like this - so old and as if it should be a film set.  Not much new building is taking place, but lots and lots of maintenance work.  When I thought about it, it must be a real headache trying to make a Georgian City fit for modern lives.  The housing situation is very different to where we live.  In Bath, people seem to live in either huge £million plus houses or apartments made from huge houses. Being a bit of an "over thinker" I also wondered about how they adapted Georgian drains etc for modern  times!

 It was very stunning down by the riverside.

 I loved the Pulteney Bridge, designed by Robert Adam in 1770.

 It has a street down the middle with shops either side, and it leads to a much quieter area of Bath, which was favoured by Jane Austen.

 The museum here had a fabulous cafe - highly recommended.

 We wandered around exploring as much of the city as we could fit in. The city is very hilly and the Georgian architects built the houses into the hillsides, meaning that some of the houses are very very tall and the passage ways between the levels are very very steep.

 I walked my little legs off!

 Hubby did comment on how many Farrow & Ball shops we saw - at least 3!!  The whole place is
painted in it!  Heaven!!

                                 

Weekend in the West Country

To celebrate hubby's birthday, we decided to have a short trip to the West Country - reasoning that its normally sunnier and warmer down this way.  Wrong! But whilst the weather was very cold, and dull, our weekend was not! 

We stayed in Portishead as we have stopped here before en route to Cornwall, and found it to be a sweet little place.  We discovered that they are turning the old docks into a swish "Marina" which means some lovely restaurants etc have sprung up - so we had plenty of choice for places to eat at the end of each day.

 The town appears to be coastal, but it actually on the very muddy banks of the river Severn and the estuary to the Avon is nearby.

 We arrived on Thursday afternoon and after a quick look around and having dropped off our bags, we went straight into Bristol for a look around the Quayside.  I love what they have done with all the old warehouses etc alongside the old docks.  I had never realised that Bristol and its old docks was so far away from the coast!  I read that after the war when the docks had been bombed, they decided to re build them nearer the mouth of the Avon.  

 Bristol is an amazing place with lots of history involving trading throughout the last couple of centuries - including some that it is not very proud of, but the legacy of the immense wealth that trading across the world generated can be seen in the many fine buildings still standing in the town and surrounding area's.  I'll share photos of some of these later.

 We had a twighlight stroll around which was lovely.

 And we began to feel like we were on holiday straight away.

I'll show you where we went on Friday - I got to tick another place off my list! (Yes I know it was supposed to be hubby's birthday!!)

Matlock

For some reason, we always hurry through Matlock on our way to other places, so on Saturday evening, on our way home, we thought we would park up and have a walk around.  The castle on the hill is Riber Castle and was built by John Smedley as a home in 1862.  I believe that it is currently empty and in bad repair.

It is a gorgeous little town - but very hilly! Fortunately all the shops and the park are at the bottom of the town.

I didn't have the stamina to walk to the top of the hill (perhaps next time), but you can see some of the very fine architecture that is dotted around this lovely little Peak town.

Lots of hot air balloons take off from near here - you'd never ever get me in one of those things!

It does have a great selection of independent shops.  My favourite was "The Vintage Rooms".  This is a fabulous little emporium of vintage goods for the home, garden and also clothing.  It had some fabulous  items for sale, and you can also get a cuppa in here too!

I only dare sneak a couple of photos in the Vintage Kitchen area, but I would highly recommend a visit.

Hubby had to drag me out!