Part 4 of Across the Pond - Grotto anyone?

Hi ya! Are you worn out with my England vacation yet? LOL! I promise, there are only a few more posts to go. I must say that I have truly enjoyed living it all over again. Of course, it also makes me want to go back right away!

As I mentioned before, we visited, and truly enjoyed, the National Trust Properties. I know if I lived in England, I would be a member so I could go to these properties all the time. They are absolutely wonderful!

Oh my gosh was Stourhead a magical place! One of my all time favorite things in this world is a thatched roof cottage. It was on my "must see" list for this trip. I can't tell you how many hundreds of times I sent Jules photos of these cottages! I bugged the poor woman to death! LOL!

Well,  I almost passed out from excitement when we came down the path and I spotted it!

Oh..my...GOSH!!!!! Squeeeeeeeee!

CHECK this off my list of things I've always wanted to see! It couldn't have been more perfect.

I just had to hug it. I wanted to take it home and put it in my backyard. I would use it as my studio. The magical tales the bunnies and I could tell from there! hee,hee,hee

The leaded windows inside were so pretty. I love this photo of Sallieann standing near them.

There was this charming fireplace with pumpkins and dried flowers hanging from the rafters and

this was the view from the windows, complete with a perfect swan. Oh how fun it would be to have that as my studio view!

Moving on down the path we came along the Grotto.

A grotto is a natural or artificial cave used by humans in both modern times and antiquity, and historically or prehistorically. Naturally occurring grottoes are often small caves near water that are usually flooded or liable to flood at high tide. Sometimes, artificial grottoes are used as garden features.

Here's Beth near the entrance. She was cold most of the trip as you can tell from this photo. LOL!

This is the view as we entered.

Inside there were sculptures and vignettes.

Looking out across the lake. Magical isn't it? It was like something from a movie.

We all had a good chuckle as we visited all the magnificent places on this property. We said things like, "Darling, what do you think we should build on the property this year? Oh I know, how about a Grotto?" LOL!!

Moving on down the path we came along the Temple of Apollo.

Absolutely amazing inside with the soaring ceiling and sculptures.

More winding down the paths.

Cottages you can rent out!

Flowers! I remember back in the late 90's there was a commercial for Lowe's Home Improvement stores for Laura Ashley home furnishings. It said, "It must be cloudy and damp for roses to bloom their full bloom." They then proceeded to show all this wonderful Laura Ashley floral stuff, to which I got in the car and went out and purchased a rose trellis rug. hee,hee,hee. I loved that rug. I still love Laura Ashley to this day and I couldn't agree more about the cloudy and damp being good for everything that grows in England. It's funny as I thought the same thing about all the vegetation when I visited Seattle Washington.

Moving on down the path, how about a Pantheon? Why yes, we should build a Pantheon on our property this summer. ;)

Just as our many wonderful meals before, our lunch at the Spread Eagle Inn was simply perfect. This is the view looking out from our table. I had the most incredible carrot and parsley soup with a hunk of crusty, fresh made bread. Jules ordered a traditional cider for us all to try. Heaven it was! Everyone there was so lovely to us. We loved the look on their faces when they found out we were Americans. Beth and I are both quiet (Beth more so than me) and respectful of people and places. Apparently, as Jules and Sallieann told us, most Americans are viewed as LOUD and a bit overbearing. I was happy we could disprove that theory just as I disproved to friends here that the food in England was bad. ;)

Well, I was going to show you the Cotswolds and the Manor House where we had high tea, but there are too many photos for me to go through and it's already late. So, I will be back here next week with that. Maybe I will be back on Sunday to show you that...yes, I think I will. High tea on Sunday it shall be!

So until then, I leave you with a link HERE to Stourhead. I do encourage you to visit this lovely, magical place. Oh and I also recommend the carrot and parsley soup. :)

Light, love and hugs,
Michelle

The Sights - Part II of Across the Pond

Hi my friend! As promised I am back this week with the second part of my journey across the pond to England. So let's go for a stroll through some magnificent pieces of architecture and gardens shall we?

Our first adventure took us to Bath. We rode a train there and it was such a fun ride through the countryside. Bath is an incredibly beautiful city and seeing the ancient Roman Baths was a sight to behold.

What was truly amazing is standing somewhere that is was so old. The temple was built between 60-70 AD. The pure genius of people then to create something like this simply blows my mind.

The city is rich with architecture, shopping and lovely restaurants. Here Sallieann stands beside a postbox. Isn't it pretty? They make our postboxes look rather dumpy. LOL! These are still in use as a lady walked up and dropped her letter inside!

People here in the states told me that the food in England was not very good. Well, I do believe they were fibbing as everything I had was amazing and being a vegetarian, the choices were plentiful. This is what I had at "The Ivy" in Bath. It is a vegetarian shepherds pie. The center is an eggplant stuffed with quinoa. Then the herb, mashed potatoes cover all sorts of root veggies in a scrumptious gravy. This veggie girl was in happy land!

We went into a cute little shop and I saw this pillow. It described my feelings about England perfectly. ;)

Bath was the closest thing to mainstream "tourist" attraction that we did. What's wonderful about visiting somewhere with local people is that you can discover things off the beaten path.

Our next journey took us to one of the National Trust properties,  Montacute House, which is a late Elizabethan mansion and garden in South Somerset. It was built in 1598 by Sir Edward Phelips and it is one of the few prodigy houses to survive almost unchanged from the Elizabethan era. Let me just say that it was absolutely stunning!

Not only the house, but the gardens as well. Everything is so lush and green.

Jules knows just about every flower, tree, grass and creature around. She is an excellent tour guide.

Jules and I collaborated on a project in 2017 called Briarside Lane in which there was a project called the "Pudding House."

Jules gave me a painting and I created this wool and embroidery version.

It was so much fun to stand in the actual place that inspired Jules! Talk about walking into your art! :)

All the detail that went into building this mansion. I'm a total architectural geek, so I soaked up every last detail.

This is the view looking out across the gardens. Way down in that open area was once a Roman road. Now the sheep are the only ones on the road.

Speaking of sheep, I tried so hard to get close to the sheep. I wanted to pet them! Sallieann still laughs that I went running out into a field after them. Jules has it on video. They weren't having any part of this crazy American bunny lady though. Nope, not, go away woman! LOL!

This is looking inside a hedge. Magical isn't it?

This is the hedge!

The trees, oh the trees! This is a Chestnut tree. Blight killed these trees here in the US, so it was a special treat to see one.

And the chestnuts!

I would love to have one of these in my yard. So sad that we don't have them anymore.

Inside the house, I was amazed by the details in all the furniture. Nothing pressboard, MDF or made in China here. Solid, strong, real and absolutely beautiful. The green on this bench was so lovely.

All the intricately carved wood. Everything has a story to tell.

From the wall mouldings,

to the exquisite carvings on this bed, the details on the trunk,

to the framed portraits,

historic books

and the stained glass coat of arms window panes, the details took my breath away.

It made me think about how disposable everything is now. How much is wasted, consumed, destroyed and made so cheaply. Looking at things like this, that are hundreds of years old, I pondered the waste in the world today.

This was fun to see the all the royals during the time of this mansion.

Beth had a nice chat with these folks.

We had coffees and lunch at a charming cafe on the property. I had the most incredible soup and the bread. Their bread is nothing like our bread. I rarely eat bread here as it makes me fat and fluffy. I ate bread there almost every day and not one bit of trouble. The girls told me it's because our bread is loaded with sugar and chemicals where theirs is not. Natural food. Hmmm... what a nice concept. ;)

The last bit of Montacute house that I want to show you is this model, which is quite large if you scale it to the table in the far right. This model was made for the filming of Wallace and Gromit the Curse of the Were Rabbit.

Talk about details!

You know I loved it with the bunnies everywhere! When we got home that evening, we all watched the movie.

And so I will leave you with one of my favorite clips. See ya back here next week for part III of this adventure.

Michelle