The morning was quite sunny but during the afternoon some light rain occasionally put in an appearance. Overall, it was rather chilly.
Our main aim today was to visit Dunham Massey Hall, a large National Trust property close to the canal north of Lymm.
We set off in good time but had some support calls to make along the way. We passed the Waterwomble that plies up and down the Bridgewater collecting rubbish.
The first stop was at Lymm to visit the nearby Sainsbury Local for a newspaper and a couple of other items. The town centre is compact with more eating places than ships selling everyday goods. Mike found a local bakery and picked up a loaf of brown sourdough bread and found the rest of his short list at Sainsbury.
In the centre there is a clock tower commemorating the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897. It has three different sundials, each adapted to the direction in which it is facing. Note also the stocks!
On again and we paused very briefly at Outrington to use the elsan facility one of just a few. The canal here is well maintained and open but with little remarkable about the immediate landscape.
We continued then to the mooring spot for Dunham Massey, pulling in just after passing over the River Bollin. We tied up and then walked the short distance to the entrance to the hall and grounds.
The Hall is very much larger than many we have visited but, on the other hand, it felt much more like a family home, albeit a very wealthy family. The estate dates back to the Norman Conquest when the land was given in recognition of efforts in putting down the angry Anglo Saxons! The house today was started in the early 17th century by the Booth family which later became the Grey family. Along with a number of marriages, each bringing in more land, the estate became one of the wealthiest in the country and its owners equally influential.
Not sure if this statue outside the front door is now PC!
This did not stop Henry Booth, First Earl of Warrington, from squandering much of his inheritance in a dissolute life and when it was left to his son, George, it was in financial ruin. However, the Second Earl set about restoring its fortunes through determined improvements, investment, and innovation.
Roger Grey, the last family owner of the estate, the 10th Earl of Stamford, never married and when he died in 1976 both his titles as Earl of Stamford and Baron Grey became extinct and he had already arranged to bequeath the estate to the National Trust.
A condition of that bequest was that nothing should be thrown away. One of the first rooms in the house that we visited was his study and that has been left jut as it was when he used it. It also meant that the Trust has a lot of 'stuff' that needs either careful conservation or restoration.
The Reading Room had this little cameo of practical everyday life - at least for those with time to read.
The house once had a conventional moat but in one of the re-developments much of it was widened out into a lake for boating.
When we arrived we began a walk around the house but we kept an eye on the clock as the person who welcomed us at the door also told us about the talk she would be giving at 1 o'clock.
One of the rooms contains the State Bed, a huge traditional four poster but with very expensive original hangings.
Another room is set out as reminder of the time when much of the house became the Stamford Hospital, caring for men who returned from war badly injured. The servants of the house often tackled difficult nursing roles whilst still running the house for the family who continued to live here.
The talk was in the portrait gallery where there is presently an exhibition in conjunction with the National Portrait Gallery showing pictures of people who have made a contribution to environmental concerns - some of them rather controversial! Each guide giving the talk has been encouraged to pick out three that mean something to them.
Our guide began with a portrait of Octavia Hill who took an interest in a number of issues but is perhaps most well known for developing models of good social housing. especially in Dickensian London. The portrait was commissioned by friends for her 60th birthday and she certainly looks a formidable person. Our guide said that her friends felt that although the picture was a good likeness it made here more serene than they knew of her in real life.
The second portrait was of Gertrude Jekyll, who developed a reputation as a leading garden designer - she based her ideas on scientific work she did on he effect of different colours in pictures. She looks somewhat austere but, this portrait took Lutyens a long time to arrange as she was a very reluctant sitter and by this tine was 90. Again, a person not to be messed with!
The third person our guide chose was Prof James Lovelock, famed for his Gaia Theory - but perhaps the least said the better . . .
After the talk we went down into the working' area of the house, the kitchen, larders, scullery and laundry. These were amazingly extensive, some almost as much floor area as some modern houses.
In the kitchen, on one wall are the earlier cooking ranges, initially fired by wood and then coal and finally early gas supplies. But eventually they could not be converted further and in the period just after the last war they were rep[laced by specially commissioned 'modern' appliances which were installed on the opposite wall. Apparently these still work and sometimes the educational team use them to bake scones for visiting schoolchildren. However, they lack temperature control so it takes some skill to make sure that the scones are not Alfred-burnt!
The laundry was huge and alongside it an almost similar sized room was used for ironing. It is hard to imagine just how many servants were employed in these places. Some of the displays told the story of one woman who became Housekeeper early in the 20th century and worked there for nearly 40 years. Although she was given the courtesy title of Mrs, in fact women in service were not then allowed to marry.
Outside again we headed for what turned out to be a highlight of our visit - the garden talk. Just four of us, later increased to six, followed the volunteer gardener who gave us a continuous and amazing commentary as we walked around the different areas of the formal gardens. Unlike inside the house where the conservation staff focus on maintaining the rooms just as they were, the gardens have been continually developed since the National Trust took ownership, following in the traditions of the many previous owners, each of whom made sometimes sweeping changes following the trends of their times. The talk was so detailed and full of information not only about individual plants but also how each section is being improved to give even better visitor experience, that we cannot do justice to it so we will let the pictures speak for themselves. Except perhaps to say that we were shown several rhododendrons that were developed from the same species with a snow white flower. They have seven different varieties and guess what they have as names . . .
The North Avenue - somewhere in the middle distance is the canal!
After the talk and walk we adjourned for a cup of tea by which time it was too late to return to the house to see thew rooms we had missed earlier. Hence we walked back to the boat before ore rain arrived.
6.1 Miles - 0 Locks
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