Exploring Waddesdon Manor

Before I tell you what we got up to on Sunday I need to talk about a phenomenon that puzzles me greatly - people having a picnic in a car park!! What makes someone drive to a beautiful scenic area of the country and then not even make the effort to leave the cars to enjoy their lunch! The people below were less than 100 metres from open parkland which would seem so much more enjoyable. Okay, rant over - if the warm weather continues I'll share some of our favourite picnic spots with you over the summer.

Our day of fun was at Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire which is a National Trust property. The house was built in the late 1800's for Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild and as you can see it is built to resemble a French Chateaux - or a fairy tale palace which I think it looks like.

We decided to leave exploring the house to another day as just as we arrived 4 bus loads of tourists arrived and were queueing to go inside. Instead we explored the beautiful gardens which were gorgeous in the sunshine (perfect for a picnic!). Dotted all around the grounds are statues which add to the European feel - here's just a few of them.

This is the view from the formal gardens at the back of the house - what you can't see is that children were rolling down the slope - we were tempted to join in but thought we might look a little silly - not that it's ever stopped us before.

Here's a few more shots of the area behind the house - we loved the carvings on these big urns.

This was a really nice feature on one corner of the house - ivy has been grown into a diamond pattern.

Another interesting feature was the drain pipes - twisted to look like ropes.

Also around the grounds are some more modern sculptures including this very odd carriage and horses, and two floral birds - I think the second birds head and beak look a bit like a platypus.

This is the aviary and unfortunately the flower beds in front of it haven't been planted up yet this year - they are meant to be quite spectacular.

Selfie in the sun - what do you think of my beloved's facial fur?

Very knobbly tree full of character

The rose garden was in bloom and is planted with hundreds of different types of roses - the smell was amazing. There were so many varied flowers and scents it was enchanting.

What used to be the stables now houses a cafe, shop, gallery, and toilets. It's a beautiful complex - I can't believe that horses used to reside there.

Very interesting wall face

These cakes greatly offended my beloved as he has an issue with the use of vegetables in cakes (though for some reason he tolerates carrot cake) the guilty cakes were  lime and courgette, and chocolate with beetroot.

Ken stopping to smell the roses

Blackbird babies in a man fern

Arty shot - bare bottom and manor

That was our exploration of Waddesdon Manor gardens - it is well worth a visit and it has a multitude of excellent picnic spots (apart from the car park).

Until next time be good, stay safe, and enjoy some time outside.

Pamela and Ken

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

P.S: Final picture is of my gorgeous husband ogling an E type Jaguar which is his all time favourite car - if we ever won the lottery that would be top of his list of indulgences.