May Bank Holiday Monday outing to Wimpole Hall and Home Farm

On Saturday morning Carol had a hair appointment at Arcana In Shenley Brook End booked for 8.30. We were there bright and early, intact far too early and we sat in the car and saw the staff arrive and once it was completed we decided, as it was such a bright and sunny morning to go out somewhere in the car and headed towards Buckingham. We went into Tesco in Buckingham as I needed to get so cholesterol-reducing drinks which we'd forgotten on our trip to Morrison's on Friday evening. We were surprised how quiet it was. Very few customers. Might it be something to do with the fact that Aldi have recently opened a store only a mile or so out of Buckingham? It would be partly be who Tesco have lost so much money over the last year or so. We came out and went to Bicester Avenue garden centre for a wander round and didn't stay long, dropping to to a garden centre outside Buckingham and had coffee and sandwiches before heading home. Just getting out of Milton Keynes for a couple of hours did us a world of good.

Today, as it's a Bank Holiday, and as the weather was so fine and sunny we decided to visit another National Trust property. We had considered a swim at D.W. Fitness, but there was a marathon on in Milton Keynes and it was either beginning or ending at the M.K. Stadium, which is where the gym is situated, so it seemed a better option to get out of Milton Keynes before the marathon began, hence our drive out of the town at 8 a.m. and heading towards the M.1 and the road towards Cambridge, Caxton and the route to Wimple Hall and Home Farm which is near Royston. We have been on several other occasions, but not for a number of years so it was quite a change to visit today. We got to Wimpole Hall at around 9.40, so we had to wait because it didn't open until 10 a.m. we were surprised that it took less than an hour to reach the place, no doubt put down to the fast dual carriageway that has been built between the M.1 at Brogborough right through to the Black Cat roundabout on the A.1. When we arrived there were few cars in the carpark, but by the time we left around two and a half hours later the place was positively heaving with humanity and there was a long queue of vehicles making it's way into the grounds. It was just as well we had arrived so early.

We went into the stable block where we got our tickets for the Hall, Garden and Home Farm and Carol purchased a back-pack in the shop which meant we could carry our bits and pieces around the garden and farm.

We went to have coffee and sausage rolls in the restaurant to start off our day and then walked to Home Farm, a 10-minute walk from the house. We spent some time looking at the animals and then walked back, stopping off to look at the walled garden and Carol came across a lady gardener who was selling rhubarb and then we walked back towards the house. We entered through the front and Carol had to leave the back-pack at the entrance as they wouldn't allow visitors to take luggage around the house because there would be a possibility of knocking into valuable items. We spent a little longer walking around the grounds before we went back to the carpark and drove home to Milton Keynes. We dropped in to Waitrose in Chaffron Way as we needed salad and one or two other items that we inadvertently forgot from our shopping trip to Morrison's on Friday. Just surprised by how busy it was considering that it was a Bank Holiday.

When we arrived home there were some stragglers still running past on the Redway as part of the marathon. It's just as well we went out when we went out otherwise we'd have been stuck in the house all day.

It seems we got the best of the day because as I write this it has got considerably colder and it's raining quite hard.

Weather Wet and Unsettled

After the past week or so of reasonably good weather, today it has changed dramatically. It's wet and over-cast. I just hope it improves before the May Bank Holiday weekend as we hope to go out somewhere. Who wants to be stuck indoors when you can just as easily be out visiting a National Trust property? Trouble is, if we do manage to go out,  everyone else will no doubt be thinking the same as us and wherever it is we end up visiting it's bound to be busy. We have several options as regards National Trust properties, all within an hour and a half's drive. Starting with Stowe Landscape Garden near Buckingham, which we haven't visited for a while. Waddesdon Manor, near Aylesbury, which we went to over the Easter period and found it crowded due to an event there for children. (see a few posts back on here.), Clayton is another which we haven't visited for a few years, not far from Buckingham and Stowe. Wimpole Hall and Farm is near Royston, Hertfordshire, and is actually one of my favourite National Trust properties. It would be worth a visit as the farm is good at this time of year as they're likely to have a lot of newborn animals at the moment. The last time we visited I remember the little piglets running about everywhere. Anglesey Abbey is just off he A14 just beyond Cambridge, although the last time we were out that way we got stuck in really awful traffic jams on the way to my brother Andrew's, who lives in Norfolk. Around four hours stuck in a traffic jam and then we decided to cut our losses and came home as the traffic was so snarled up. A whole day wasted. Ickworth House we visited much more recently and is even further towards Bury St Edmonds and is worth a visit. It is a quite spectacular house and they have a newish part open where you can see the servants quarters. There is something similar at an English Heritage property near Saffron Walden called Audley End House.

I managed to get the grass cut yesterday. Thankfully, because it had been cut only a few weeks ago, the grass wasn't so long and difficult to get the mower to cut and I got it all done in a couple of 'blocks.' The weather was fine and sunny yesterday, but if I'd left it, the wet weather today would have made it virtually impossible.