Greys Court 31 July 2016

Back to some local exploring for a change.  I'm England bound until October, then there's a trip to South Africa.  But in the meantime, time to get some mileage out of that National Trust card.

Greys Court is a country house in the southern Chiltern Hills at Rotherfield Greys, near Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. There have been buildings on this site since the 11th century.  The name comes from the de Grey family.  The only part left of their life here is the remains of the wall adjoining the Tower.

The house is a 16th century building with 20th century twists.  Through the years there were various inhabitants but the most recent - from 1937 to 2003 - and the donors of the house to the National Trust were Sir Felix and Lady Brunner.  The beautiful gardens are her vision and creation.

I did the tour of the house but unfortunately as with most places like this, no photos allowed.  The tour guide was remarkably knowledgeable, she really made the house come alive with it's various inhabitants.

The gardens consist of a series of walled gardens planted with organic principals.  Even on a Sunday there's evidence of work happening.  It must take the most enormous amount of work to keep them looking this good.

There are often memorials to gardeners in these wonderful gardens - appreciation indeed.

Some very happy bees ..

Flowers, vegetables, herbs, fruit trees ..

Places to sit and paths leading you on. Shady spots and expanses of sunny lawn.

Windows giving glimpses of the next garden ..

A very old and impressive Wisteria ..

The calm oasis of a white garden.

Tea time.  These were good scones!  What do you think - cream first or jam?

Outside of the walled gardens is the wider estate made up of beech woodlands and farm land.  Time to walk off that cream tea.

Coming out of the woods you come across the reconstructed 19th century ice house. Well the superstructure is reconstructed.  The well is original.  Apparently the best ice houses could keep ice frozen for up to 2 years!

There are a gates along the walk which were given names by Sir Felix.  This gate was named for his Labradors.

This is the MoonGate of the adopted daughter.  There was no more information about who the daughter was but Moon Gates are a Chinese Design meant to show love and welcome to family members.  Nice.

There wasn't any more information about the planting beneath the bridge but there is obvious design happening.  Would be interesting to find out some more about the intention.

And then after a good stroll you're approaching the house from the back.

All that is left to see now is the labyrinth.  It was past 2pm now and hot so I thought I'd give the meditation walk a miss and head off home.

Ulster Folk and Transport Museum 27 July 2016

Back to Belfast and an Optometrist who was only too happy to help with contact lenses and not even charge me.  Sight at last!  It takes a few days of reduced eyesight to really appreciate what I had taken granted.  I'll never go away again without backup of some kind!

We headed off to the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum with Tony and the most delightful 6 year old I've met in years - his grandson.

The outdoor museum is located on 170 acres of land consisting of houses relocated and rebuilt on this perfect site overlooking the Belfast Lough and depicting early 20th Century life in Northern Ireland. Museums like this really give you a sense of time and place and what it was to live back then.

We all took off in our own directions after arranging to meet up for tea at the restaurant.  For those of us who know the Marshalls, this isn't unusual.  We all like people but are more than happy to have time to do our own thing.

So, for me it was into the village and a good look around all the cottages.

People were smaller back then I think, this is an incredibly narrow staircase.

Ran into Ann at the weaver's studio.  There are costumed visitor guides in a lot of the houses and shops who are happy to chat about what they are doing and what life was like.

The pub, not much has changed then.

The bank manager's abode, above the bank.

A coal yard.

Apothecary.

Cobbler.

Cycle repair shop.

Some familiar brands.

Precious ornaments and clocks.

A movie house showing Charlie Chaplin. Diverted for a while there.  I'd forgotten how funny those movies are, and how violent!

Time for tea.  The food at this restaurant looked delicious but it was a bit early so we made do with scones.  Pretty good too.

Sustained we headed out of the village and into the countryside.  This was my favourite part.  The sun came out and ambling down the country lanes was just delightful and peaceful.

A shepherds hut

The schoolroom

This is Ireland of course, so an Orange Man's Meeting Hall.

And farm houses with farm animals.

Mama pig and babies.

I really loved this place.  It's so well done and absolutely engrossing.  We had spent so long in the Folk Museum part of it that we didn't even get to the Transport Museum but we had been walking for hours so it was time to put our feet up with a glass or two of wine.