Enjoying retirement
In The Red Rose County
We took the opportunity of visiting Altrincham for some clothes alterations ( the tailor a very nice man from Afghanistan who moved here 20 years ago) to visit nearby Dunham. Having approached the house by the moat side, we first entered a rather domestic looking internal courtyard, and on a beautiful day the brickwork glowed. Inside was a lot of what you expect from such a house but made extremely enjoyable and more interesting by the super-friendly and knowlegeable guides. It's something we've noted about returning to the North-West - even in National Trust properties! When you can talk about a single painting in great detail, you can create enthusiasm and the guides created enthusiasm with us. We all take pics of our pets......just think, this had to be commissioned. We presumed this was an internal telephone......... This fireplace is one of the few surviving features of the original Tudor Hall which one of the Egertons pulled down to create today's house. What an unusual chair, one of a pair in this room. I like. Hadrian, I think...... This view greeted us on our exit from the house. How cheering. It was made even a little more special when a boat cruised past on the Bridgewater Canal right at the end of the walk. We weren't expecting too much of the gardens at this time of year, but we were wrong. There were beautiful magnolias......... .....paths going through fields of daffodils....... .....wood anenomies galore........ ....beautiful azaleas.....in fact a long azalea walk....... .......this striking silver birch grove..... ...and we had chance to see various aspects of the House - all magnificent...... Not much political correctness in the North-West thank God, but here a fountain has been removed which apparently depicted a 'subserviant blackamore', whilst the NT decides what to do with it. I can understand this (just) but you can't push our standards backwards into other times, and surely it is more important to see things in context and make up our own minds what to think........ On our way out we passed this 500 year old oak framing the stable block......
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August 2023
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