Pictures from my afternoon out at a Historic country house and gardens

[AZ Jim]

Just beautiful Holly. What an amazing structure. Those grounds rival many parks.

 

[Cookie]

Aye! Very hard labour back then. Not as hard as moving all the giant stones to make the stone circles and standing stones way back in 3000 BC. Oh to be able to time travel!

Something like building the pyramids I suppose, lots of ropes and pullies.

 

[Ameriscot]

This is a quite interesting history of the house and former abbey site.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audley_End_House

and this one:
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/audley-end-house-and-gardens/

I was trying to find out how many acres it looks never ending in Holly's photos.

 

[hollydolly]

Thank you all for your lovely comments, I've been out almost all day and it's late now, so the last few will be posted tomorrow..

 

[SeaBreeze]

Lovely!

 

[hollydolly]

Between my house and the Big House.. is a continual route of typically English small country villages many with old thatched cottages, I took a few photos of the villages on route for you to see..remember our country lanes roads) are very narrow, and many only one car wide..

 

[Ameriscot]

Love the wee villages in the UK (and Ireland).

 

[hollydolly]

A little tiny Baptist church in the same village as the picture above..

In the first picture on the right, you can see a very old white house circa 1700 which has been a village pub with a pretty garden. for many many years . Inside it's small but with loads of original beams etc..and still has very old sash windows..although not the original ones...

They have very large hanging baskets from each window, so I took a photo of one window..and on the windowsill I hope you can see an old Pewter jug..( I've tried to be a little bit arty with it, making it look like a polaroid snap)..but anyway I hope you like it...

This is inside the pub looking out of the same window..

 

[Ameriscot]

These old buildings have character. Something seriously missing from almost all new buildings, IMO.

 

[applecruncher]

Holly, a relative (cousin) worked for a large pharmaceutical company. He had to move to a different location every few years. From 2000 – 2003 he lived in London and I recall him talking about the narrow streets. But he and his family liked the UK; they said the people were warm and friendly.

 

[Shirley]

OMG! Holly, those are gorgeous pictures. You did good. I so envy you.

 

[SeaBreeze]

Very quaint, thanks for sharing!

 

[NancyNGA]

Those thatched roofs are interesting and beautiful! I didn't know they still existed.

 

[Jackie22]

Holly, the pictures are just beautiful and interesting, thank you for sharing with us.

 

[Underock1]

The outdoor shots of the main building look like the building in "To the Manor Born", an English comedy series that we enjoyed many years ago.

 

[hollydolly]

Thanks everybody...I'm glad you enjoyed them.

Nancy, we have thatched roof cottages in just about every Village and Hamlet around here..

Underock..yes I can see where you might see a similarity...but the building used for the location of ''To the Manor Born'' is quite substantially smaller and is actually a Hotel in Somerset called Cricket St Thomas.. Remember these?





AC yes your relative was correct our roads are very narrow in the countryside often just one car wide, but of course not so much in the cities..albeit often gridlocked...and we have normal 4 and 5 lane motorways around the cities , towns and villages. like anywhere else .

 

[applecruncher]

Wonder how the thatched roofs hold up under rain, snow, ice?

 

[Glinda]

Holly, these were all beautiful pics and brought back so many lovely memories of my trips to England. I hope to go again next year and visit friends in London and Ipswich. Thanks for posting!