Huge topiary hedge
Walled kitchen gardens, which used to supply the house with all their fruit and vegetables and plants for 'her indoors'. Lots of espaliered fruit which yesterday were really getting the benefit of the heat radiating from the brickwork.
hundreds of terracotta pots, which were coveted by my companion (though I have to say that this became a bit of a theme for the day ....)
pomelo - gigantic lemon-like but sweet fruit native to South East Asia, growing happily in the hothouse
Then off to the Jacobean stables, as we had been told a very handsome groom was on duty. Actually the horse was pretty gorgeous too.
round by the river over the daisy-strewn lawns landscaped by Capability Brown
to the Tea House Bridge designed by Robert Adam
and back to the service wing of the house and into the laundry
coveting of pegs took place
followed by coveting of lacy linen
I think these are irons, but it's not a pastime I'm very familiar with ... not much coveting going on
round the corner into the dairy with it's sparkling white tiles
and my turn to covet
then what we wanted was a nice sit down and a cup of tea
Then we had a tour of the state apartments in the main house, but no photos allowed, so you can always go to the website to see.
After lunch we drove a couple of miles to the wonderful little town of Saffron Walden, mainly to visit the Fry Gallery ..... which I'll tell you about another day.
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend whatever you're doing!