Ham House and Garden
Although moving to Finland still doesn't feel quite real (and I suspect it won't until the plane touches down at the airport), I've become increasingly aware of how few weeks we have left in the UK. We finish work in a month's time, and the moving company is coming to collect everything on May 23rd.
So when this weekend rolled around, I was determined to do something that wasn't just being lazy at home. Saturday weather was mostly miserable, though we managed a short walk, but on Sunday morning I woke up to a beautiful day. I let N kip until 10am, and then presented him with an idea to make a trip somewhere nearby. He was a bit grumpy, having just woken up, but agreed to join me.
We bought a National Trust membership a year ago, meaning we can visit any buildings or landmarks owned by them for free. There aren't very many locations in the city centre, but a couple in Surrey, about an hour's bus ride from where we live. We picked Ham House and Garden simply because it was the easiest to get to.
Built in the 1600s, the house has seen many renovations and changed shape, but this is what it looks like today.
The Grand Hall with its many paintings.
Note the Indian rug in this room. Apparently rugs used to be so expensive back in the day that they were mostly kept on tables, not floors. Allowing your visitors to actually walk on your carpet was a great display of wealth.
I wish tapestries were still in fashion.
The Still House, for making medicine.
Below stairs, in the kitchen. Some staff (well, probably volunteers) were baking bread like they would've hundreds of years ago. I was very tempted to try some but, like Lorelai Gilmore, I don't eat things out of communal bowls.
The beer cellar. It was twice as big as the kitchen.
View from the "backyard". Lawns were difficult and expensive to maintain, so like rugs on the floor, having them was a sign of wealth.
The well-manicured Wilderness past the lawns. Apparently 'wilderness' here refers not to wildland but the biblical 'return to nature'.
Originally posted at Dreamwidth. You can also comment there using OpenID.
So when this weekend rolled around, I was determined to do something that wasn't just being lazy at home. Saturday weather was mostly miserable, though we managed a short walk, but on Sunday morning I woke up to a beautiful day. I let N kip until 10am, and then presented him with an idea to make a trip somewhere nearby. He was a bit grumpy, having just woken up, but agreed to join me.
We bought a National Trust membership a year ago, meaning we can visit any buildings or landmarks owned by them for free. There aren't very many locations in the city centre, but a couple in Surrey, about an hour's bus ride from where we live. We picked Ham House and Garden simply because it was the easiest to get to.
Built in the 1600s, the house has seen many renovations and changed shape, but this is what it looks like today.
The Grand Hall with its many paintings.
Note the Indian rug in this room. Apparently rugs used to be so expensive back in the day that they were mostly kept on tables, not floors. Allowing your visitors to actually walk on your carpet was a great display of wealth.
I wish tapestries were still in fashion.
The Still House, for making medicine.
Below stairs, in the kitchen. Some staff (well, probably volunteers) were baking bread like they would've hundreds of years ago. I was very tempted to try some but, like Lorelai Gilmore, I don't eat things out of communal bowls.
The beer cellar. It was twice as big as the kitchen.
View from the "backyard". Lawns were difficult and expensive to maintain, so like rugs on the floor, having them was a sign of wealth.
The well-manicured Wilderness past the lawns. Apparently 'wilderness' here refers not to wildland but the biblical 'return to nature'.
Originally posted at Dreamwidth. You can also comment there using OpenID.