Yet again we had decent weather. It was far too good to sit around indoors. The thought of daytime television was enough to make you want to get out and with endless stupid football on every channel, even remotely connected with the World Cup, we spent some time deciding where to go. As we have membership of three organisations which allow free entry to places such as houses, castles and gardens, we were somewhat spoilt for choice, for example, the National Trust, English Heritage and H.H.A. (Historic Houses Association). Neither did we want to have to drive too far. You are supposed to be no more than 20 minutes from a National Trust property. Probably right if you include Stowe Landscape Garden (probably pushing it a bit. Probably 35-40 minutes), Ascott (maybe just over 20 minutes.). In the end we chose Wrest Park, which is off the A6 between Bedford and Luton. We have visited a couple of times in the past. it's around a 45 minute drive from Milton Keynes. They've had a large Heritage Lottery grant to restore the garden and they have a fairly new visitor centre with shop, restaurant and toilets as well as an up-graded carpark made out of, presumably, one of the walled gardens.
When we drove in (having found it quite difficult to find the road in at the centre of Silsoe. I think they've changed the signage somewhat off the A6.) there were coaches arriving. A similar situation to when we drove in at Waterperry on Wednesday morning.
We went into the restaurant, which was filling up with those people who had just arrived by coach. There was quite a long queue at the counter but Carol was determined to get us something to eat and drink after our journey. We had scones and jam and lattes and she bought some sandwiches and crisps which we took so we had something to eat once we began our walk around the grounds. Then we went into the gift shop (what National Trust or English Heritage property doesn't have a shop? Your visit always begins or ends in a gift shop. Even at Whipsnade the shop seems to loom large. Supposedly a good sauce of income for these places which are charities.) As we got to the ticket desk we were told that, as we were within the first 300 visitors that day, we would each receive a pot-plant. Quite a surprise. So we decided to take these plants back to put in the car as we didn't fancy carrying them around with us all morning. Besides which, it's unlikely they would have survived being carted around in a bag of some sort.
We went into the house. We have been inside before. The rooms are amazing, but there's no furniture. It used to be offices. something to do with agriculture. The National Agricultural Research Institute or something. There used to be an agricultural college in Silsoe at one time, part of Bedford College, but it would appear that it has gone and is now a housing estate.
There's no furniture in any of the rooms, which is a pity. The rooms are vast. Lots of carving, gold leaf and some of the ceilings are painted. Quit spectacular, as they are in a lot of these large country houses. It would be great if they could return as much as possible to make sure the place at least looks lived-in. But no doubt it was all sold off at some point in the house's long history, due to such things as debt or having to pay Death Duties. If it comes to that, it makes you wonder how close these houses came to being demolished, due to the cost of maintenance or the land being sold off for housing or other uses.
We went outside and down towards the lake or Long Water. There were several marquees and tented structures all along the side of the grassed area. One where you could join a guided tour around the gardens with a driver who talked about how the gardens were developed and built. We had to wait around half-an-hour before the next tour began, but we were glad that we did as it was a really interesting tour around, stopping at various points where he explained how certain things were as they were, their history and so on. Considering the size of the gardens at Wrest, this seems a good way to get around. Many of these properties have some sort of transport to get visitors around, but usually they're for people who have some sort of mobility problem. At Stowe they have a sort of train that goes from the visitor's centre, where you park your car and buy your tickets, and there's a restaurant and shop. It's quite a long walk to the entrance of the garden, so a ride on some sort of motorised train is ideal. At Waddesdon Manor you park your car some way from the Manor and then get on a bus up to the Manor. We managed to get round Wrest Park instead of walking. It's a long way from the house up as far as the Archer Pavilion which you can see from the terrace and at the end of the Long Water.
We went into the restaurant, which was filling up with those people who had just arrived by coach. There was quite a long queue at the counter but Carol was determined to get us something to eat and drink after our journey. We had scones and jam and lattes and she bought some sandwiches and crisps which we took so we had something to eat once we began our walk around the grounds. Then we went into the gift shop (what National Trust or English Heritage property doesn't have a shop? Your visit always begins or ends in a gift shop. Even at Whipsnade the shop seems to loom large. Supposedly a good sauce of income for these places which are charities.) As we got to the ticket desk we were told that, as we were within the first 300 visitors that day, we would each receive a pot-plant. Quite a surprise. So we decided to take these plants back to put in the car as we didn't fancy carrying them around with us all morning. Besides which, it's unlikely they would have survived being carted around in a bag of some sort.
We went into the house. We have been inside before. The rooms are amazing, but there's no furniture. It used to be offices. something to do with agriculture. The National Agricultural Research Institute or something. There used to be an agricultural college in Silsoe at one time, part of Bedford College, but it would appear that it has gone and is now a housing estate.
There's no furniture in any of the rooms, which is a pity. The rooms are vast. Lots of carving, gold leaf and some of the ceilings are painted. Quit spectacular, as they are in a lot of these large country houses. It would be great if they could return as much as possible to make sure the place at least looks lived-in. But no doubt it was all sold off at some point in the house's long history, due to such things as debt or having to pay Death Duties. If it comes to that, it makes you wonder how close these houses came to being demolished, due to the cost of maintenance or the land being sold off for housing or other uses.
Statue and planting in garden at
Wrest Park
The house from the garden at Wrest Park
We went outside and down towards the lake or Long Water. There were several marquees and tented structures all along the side of the grassed area. One where you could join a guided tour around the gardens with a driver who talked about how the gardens were developed and built. We had to wait around half-an-hour before the next tour began, but we were glad that we did as it was a really interesting tour around, stopping at various points where he explained how certain things were as they were, their history and so on. Considering the size of the gardens at Wrest, this seems a good way to get around. Many of these properties have some sort of transport to get visitors around, but usually they're for people who have some sort of mobility problem. At Stowe they have a sort of train that goes from the visitor's centre, where you park your car and buy your tickets, and there's a restaurant and shop. It's quite a long walk to the entrance of the garden, so a ride on some sort of motorised train is ideal. At Waddesdon Manor you park your car some way from the Manor and then get on a bus up to the Manor. We managed to get round Wrest Park instead of walking. It's a long way from the house up as far as the Archer Pavilion which you can see from the terrace and at the end of the Long Water.
View from terrace towards the
Archer Pavilion at Wrest Park.
When we were delivered back to the point where we began the guided tour, we left to discover an area we'd never been in before when we've been to Wrest on previous visits. There's a vast expanse of more naturalised garden, with a lake, bridge and a sort of Chinese pagoda which we've never seen before.
We eventually found a bench where we could sit and eat our sandwiches. I think we were in need of refreshment by this point. From there we gradually walked back towards the house and had a browse in the shop and then walked back to the carpark to drive home.
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