Walking off the feasting!

Saturday was a crisp, cold day with a clear blue sky and sunshine - time to walk off some of our indulgent holiday feasting! We drove to Kingston Lacy, a nearby National Trust property to see the house decorated for the holiday and to walk in the spacious grounds. The sunlight brought out all the winter colours. Here, a view looking down on the Japanese garden,

Contrasting with the bright sunshine the house interior was dark. The library would need better lighting than candlelight for me to be able to read the books!

My favourite decorative displays were those in the dining room, the table full of faux delicasies, mushrooms, moss balls and greenery. Absolutely delightful.

The telephone on the wall reminding us that the staff could be summoned upstairs at ant moment. (Things have moved on a bit since then, on the telephone front at least!)

The laundry room was decorated with branches wrapped in white cotton with cotton wool for snow, quite different from the opulance of the house, but very lovely and suitable for a room that will have done a lot of white washing!