Tuesday 17 April 2012

Weekend away; Wimpole Estate.

At the weekend we went to stay with family and walked in the park at Wimpole Hall near Cambridge, which is owned by the National Trust. The stable block is a magnificent building, and to add to the pleasure, in the cobbled enclosure there were a variety of plants for sale.



I thought that baskets containing a selection of wild flowers was a lovely idea.

A woman was spinning Jacob's fleece in the stable yard. (And selling some very scratchy-looking knitted mittens.)

We stood on the front steps of Wimpole Hall and Himself talked to one of the National Trust helpers. She told him that after the death of Rudyard Kipling the royalties from his work helped to restore the hall and estate, which was then owned by his daughter, Mrs Bainbridge. She gave the Wimpole Estate to the National Trust in 1976.
   
The uninterrupted vista of ownership is amazing. A straight line through the centre of the hall to the far side of the building leads to doors which open onto a further impressive view.

The Hall is huge, far preferable to me are the estate houses, initialed and dated

and in this case the place to have afternoon tea.

Although we were too late to be served, the birds were very happy picking up other people's crumbs.


8 comments:

  1. How fun. I liked the Estate House from the outside...that could be a wonderful home. The back patio appears to be nice as well. Interesting tour. A friend of mine has a son attending Cambridge University for his secondary degree. I hope he gets some time to tour the area.
    Karen

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    1. Hello Karen. I hope that your friend will be visiting her son while he's at Cambridge so that she can enjoy such a lovely city.

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  2. thanks for sharing rosemary. what a wonderful day this must have been. history, architecture and gardens. mmmmmm.

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    1. There was far too much catching-up conversation with family for me to concentrate properly on taking photographs, Janet. I even neglected to photograph Wimpole Hall. Next time I'll be a little more thorough!

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  3. Hi Rosemary,
    Thanks for taking us around, it looks like a wonderful place to visit. That vista is incredible, the longest I have seen. I would kick the public out and live in the stable block though, and keep the plant displays in the courtyard!

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    1. The plants were in the courtyard of the stable block, Gary. I didn't photograph the hall, which is an enormous pile of a place. I could just imagine a Norman Foster type glass roof over the stable courtyard and that would be quite grand enough living for me!

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  4. What a lovely spot to visit and taking tea at the end would be like icing on the cake. Love a walkabout in a historic garden.

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    1. Dear Hostess, we were too late for tea, but it didn't matter because we were so very well fed whilst staying with my brother-in-law and his wife.

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