Image Map

Friday 9 August 2013

LITTLE MORETON HALL and BIDDULPH GRANGE GARDENS ..... finally !!



About this time, last year, the sun was shining so, Mr. Home and I thought we would go and visit Little Moreton Hall in Cheshire.{ All will be revealed later as to why it's taken me a year to post this !!!! } It's a three hour journey from where we live but, it was a lovely day so we jumped into the Audi TT Roadster, down went the hood and off we went. Wind blowing through our hair, sun on our faces .... all was well with the world.



We arrived at Little Moreton Hall { considered one of the finest Tudor timber framed houses in Britain } and, it was a joy to behold. Stepping back in time, over 500 years, we marvelled at the delights of the picture book moated manor house. The South Front reels drunkenly because of it's Elizabethan Long  Gallery. I won't go on about the history of the house ....... I'm sure that you don't want to read reams of facts !!
Mr. Home and I both had a camera and, in a jokey way, I kept nudging his arm and stepping in front of his camera when he was taking a photograph ....... all day I did this { so annoying !!}
This piece of information is relevant as to why it has taken so long to do this post !







Crossing the moat, you enter the cobbled courtyard .....



..... the timber Manor House surrounds you, throwing it's  arms around you in a wonderful homely hug !! 




It has been suggested that this heavily decorated fireplace is the only true vertical in the house !!
 ALLEGEDLY, there is a grey lady who likes to stun visitors by drifting slowly past them before disappearing ! ..... and, there are also uncontrollable sobs to be heard from a child in and around the chapel...... I didn't hear or see them !



Here is the ' Privy ' ........... a bunch of thyme and lavender provide a natural air freshener !!!!



Pretty much all of the leaded and stained glass remains intact and .....



..... the carpenter, Richard Dale, is immortalised with an inscription on the bay windows.



There is a delightful historic knot garden together with traditional fruit trees of apple, pear, medlar and quince, which are used in delicious cakes and scones, served up in Little Moreton's renowned restaurant.



Just up the road from Little Moreton Hall are Biddulph Grange Gardens so we drove up to take a look at them.



These amazing Victorian gardens were the creation of James Bateman for his collection of plants from around the world. I took photographs and, Mr. Home tried to take photographs while I still jogged his arm and generally made a nuisance of myself !!





The garden takes you on a global journey, from Italy to the pyramids of Egypt, a recreation of a Himalayan glen and,




what was to be my downfall, a Victorian vision of China.

See that bridge ? ....... well, I sat down on it and was about to take a really artistic photograph through the wooden balustrades when .......... I dropped my camera in the water !!!!!!!!!!
I saw it glug, glug, glug to the bottom but could still see it. Mr. Home thought it was hilarious and my come-uppence for messing around earlier. I laid myself prone and put my arm in { up to my shoulder } but, no joy. It was just out of reach. Biddulph is a very large place but, luckily, one of the gardeners was in the Chinese garden and managed to get a net onto the wrist strap of the camera and, just as he was fishing it out, the battery fell out { in slow motion !! } and fell into the deepest part of the little lake.
We glossed over that and went back to the car to make the three hour journey home. It was early evening and the sun was still hot so, the hood went down again and off we went. Just before we hit the motorway we decided that it was time to put the hood back up ........ but the hood decided that it didn't want to go up !! We rang the RAC and he suggested that we get home and they would sort it out then. There was obviously a way of doing it manually but, nobody seemed to know { the manual was back at the house of course !! }
It was just a good job that it was a lovely evening and that there weren't any downpours.


When we got home { roof sorted by lovely Mr. RAC man }, I put the camera's memory card into a bowl of rice to dry out. I'd just read that a scuba diver had found a camera a few hundred feet down and after a bit of drying out, the photographs were all there.
Well, after a few weeks .... NOTHING ..... after a couple of months ..... NOTHING . I threw a couple of those silica gel packets into the rice to see if that would help ..... NOTHING.
..... and then, about a month ago, I found the bowl with the rice, silica and memory card and thought I'd give it one more go and, 
VOILA ..... there they all were.
So, that will teach me not to be so horrible to Mr. Home when he is doing his David Bailey thing !!

I think that's called ' Getting your just deserts ' !!










All images by me !


Jackie

15 comments:

  1. this is truly an incredible spot.
    wish i could have seen in in person.

    happy weekend
    xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank goodness you got your photos back... they are glorious. Little Moreton Hall is a great looking place. I've always wanted to visit, I love buildings of that age.
    I used to have a TT roadster and loved it. As long as you keep moving the rain doesn't come in. Traffic lights are a problem..

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Jackie,

    What a story! Glad to hear you got your photo's back. They do look really good, considering all that happened!

    The Elizabethan house and garden both look beautiful! We love to visit places like this as well. A good combination of history and beauty.

    Happy weekend,

    Madelief x

    ReplyDelete
  4. Glorious grounds, Manor House and exquisite gardens to visit. Terrible camera news but thank goodness for RICE and patience . . . and that we can see your photos!

    Loved the image of the two of you in the roadster with hair flying, out for the day! Liked the night time image too! Happy the rains stayed away and hopefully the top is working again.

    Is the camera still working? I took a canoe ride tumble a year ago and my camera never survived. The memory card was okay but the camera was not.

    Wonderful photographs, I always enjoy visiting you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hilarious post, Jackie! Lovely photos of an absolutely gorgeous place! Wishing you a happy weekend and be kind to Mr. Home! haha

    ReplyDelete
  6. Fantastic photos,loved your buildup story to the outcome of the pictures. I was expecting you to have to admit to using Mr Home's pictures. Hope your camera is still working !

    ReplyDelete
  7. Such a lovely, funny post Jackie...your photos are great, I had never heard of doing that with a memory card before...one for the memory bank ;-)
    Have a lovely weekend.
    xx

    ReplyDelete
  8. My goodness, I am rushing away immediately to place all my wet laundry in rice. What a fine tip! And to think of all the machine-washed mobile phones I have needlessly thrown away.

    Your photos are lovely, elegantly aged by their lingering, and worth the wait.

    ReplyDelete
  9. OMG Jackie ~ I laughed and laughed at this ~ nothing like life coming around and kicking you in the butt! I am so glad the the memory card finally dried out so you could share these beautiful pictures. Thank you for the great chuckle ~ hugs. xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  10. I reckon that cantankerous Audi of yours is just the Germans extracting revenge on you Poms for having lost the War! I'm very impressed with Mr. HOME's photographic skills, does he do weddings?
    Millie xx

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow..you are so lucky! Yes, don't harass poor Mr Home :) Love the pic's, looks such an interesting place to visit. hugs D

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a GREAT house, that little Moreton, and lovely gardens! But what a horrible story about your camera....luckily with a 'happy' final. Loved to read it and thank you for following me.
    Lovely greetings, MJ

    ReplyDelete
  13. What an amazing place this is Jackie!!! and the gardens you visited are so beautiful. What a bummer about the camera though, but to save the photos is so very lucky! Isn't it funny what we will do to get a blog-worthy shot :))))
    much love...

    ReplyDelete
  14. Good save Jackie! If I'm ever in the same predicament, I'll be sure to forget about the item in the bowl of rice...good to know!
    So jealous of where you live...to have such close access to some of the most interesting and beautiful places on earth would be a dream, thanks for sharing!
    xo J~

    ReplyDelete
  15. I'm glad you saved your photos because they are amazing, I want to rush on back to ENgland to visit all the lush gardens immediately! The photo of the 'privey' made me laugh, my Dad insists on tucking it into every cupboard and drawer where it dries out nad then sticks to all your clothes!

    ReplyDelete