Menoffagainorrhoea; When Sunday Shone

A week at Aitch's and it was Sunday the 24th of June. The weariness was really grabbing at me and affecting my appetite a bit, but there were still so many places on the list of things to see and do. Aitch said to forget the list and have a look around on the net for a place I felt I could manage that day. We settled on Melford Hall.

You can see how hot and dry it was - the grass was crisp underfoot and definitely looking more like Australia than the 'green and pleasant land'! It was a short walk from the car park round to the main entrance, with a most impressive doorway - although not as large as is often found in such homes.

We were welcomed by one of the guides who let us know that the entry hall was to be used as if we were visiting friends; look at the photos and albums and sit on the furniture and, out in the garden, use the croquet equipment, enjoy the scones or partake in the afternoon garden 'tour'. It was a comfortable place to be, without the sense of having to keep one's elbows and backside tucked for fear of crashing into something or knocking priceless vases to the floor! The family still live there, in the one wing not open to the public. After going around the garden with "Peter", I chose not to tackle the stairs, so sat beside one of the two-hundred-year-old climbing roses with a cold drink and watched folk attempt croquet and may or may not have pulled The Hat down for some 'contemplation' time...

The Library was definitely a fascination for me. The little nook at the end (which also had the work of a local potter for sale - Aitch got a beautiful light blue bowl) with the fireplace, the mock marble columns, and once I got chatting with the room guide, he also showed me the concealed door. it's the left of the two non-book panels. When open it leads through to the Blue Room, but between them is a whole body-width of hollow wall inside which is concealed a spiral staircase to the upper floor. The Library itself was originally an external portico which got filled in to create this most handsome of rooms... doncha just love these old houses??!!!

...it's Jerusalem Sage, that stuff on the right...

This is the 'back stair' which did at least have a bannister. I still wasn't up for climbing though!

Once Aitch had visited the upper floor we sat and enjoyed a cuppa and a scone (for me) and sandwich and cake (for her) and compared notes on our impressions of the place. Needless to say, Aitch also had some geocaching lined up and there was a church over the road... you can see it peeping over the fence two piccies up!

See you Monday for part two of our Sunday outing! (Tomorrow's FFF remember!)