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.