We had a little cross country on our way to Mike the second day. Still, we got there in one piece, to the lovely area of Wiltshire called “The Donheads”. It had been a long time since I’d seen Mike and Liz so I was really looking forward to it.
We generally just chatted, ate lots of great food. Helping out proved hard, though we were allowed to do the dishes after we gave out for not being allowed to do anything useful!
We did a couple of short trips, one to a place called Stourhead where we did a tour of the (National Trust) gardens and grounds.
Interesting place. Basically a rich banking families former house. One of them still lives there. We learned an interesting thing about the National Trust though: they have reciprocal arrangements with a couple of societies, in particular the “Historical Society of New Zealand”. Now, it costs ~ 240NZD for a years membership to the National Trust, but only $100 for a membership to the NZ Historical society. If we ever do this sort of trip again, I will be sure to take out an NZ membership!
I loved the ice room. Basically this was a rich persons play thing and a way of showing off in the summer months (cocktails, certain deserts etc.)
There were quite a lot of “folly’s”, mostly Italian based, as that was all the rage at the time. The grotto was most ornate. We didn’t get to see inside the Temple of Apollo unfortunately. Hey ho.
This (in my opinion) ugly looking thing used to belong to a Pope. It’s full of drawers. Worth many millions I was told. It certainly stood out in the room anyway. No one knows how much it was bought for.
We also took in a walk around Mike’s vege & flower garden. He certainly has very green fingers. I loved the “rose tree”. Basically you take an apple tree (or some tree) and then get a climbing rose to use the tree as a frame. Then the rose grows up to be huge as it takes over the entire tree.
Thomas came down from London to spend a bit more time with us, lovely as always to see him. We visited “old Wardour castle” with him. It was the same castle as used at the start of Robin Hood prince of thieves. Actually well worth the trip, great audio guide – well worth a visit if you’re in the area.
It was lovely to stay with Mike and Liz, and to catch up with my cousin Bridget, but all too soon it was time to leave for the next stage in the adventure.
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