Attingham Park

Since I've been to Attingham Park three times in the last week I thought I better write about it!
As with all National Trust properties it's a beautiful place and has a mixed history. Attingham as a property has seen a lot. The man who commisioned to have it built died before it was completed so it was passed to his son when it was finished. The son however changed the design of the house and had more work done. He furnished it extravagantly and lived beyond his means until he was forced to flee to Italy to evade his creditors. 
Furniture and fittings were sold and the building left largely abandoned for many years until, in the 1920s, Lord and Lady Berwick moved in and tried to restore some dignity to the place. The trust took over the building around the 1980s and have been restoring the building and adding to the collections since. 

The trust is also restoring the gardens and greenhouses. The gardens are always my favourite part of any property tat we visit and at this time of year I like to see the volunteers planting out the new seedling and also seeing the early flowers coming into bloom.

 
  At the moment in the gardens they have a focus on what it would have been like during the war. They have a pen of chickens on one of the vege plots and this cute sign to show you that, during war years, chickens were enlisted too! These chooks were super friendly too and wandered over to the mesh to eyeball us and see if we were going to feed them. 

 Every large garden should have a cat to keep the rats and mice down. This curious fella followed me and Dad through the green houses and out to the gate. I think perhaps he too was hoping we might give him some breakfast.

While I'm on the subject of animals I should mention one of my favourite reasons for visiting Attingham is the deer herd. They have so many that it's really quite a sight the first time you see them. I'm not sure on the trusts breeding policy but since it's spring I'm hoping I might see some fawns soon at the feet of the does. 

 
 For now though I am content just to see the hinds and the stags with their large antlers. They really are a beautiful creature.

Attingham is also a farm and has a few different herds of cows and sheep that graze the outer pastures. Today we saw this gorgeous little bull calf out the back of the property with his mother. I have a thing for cows, espeicially speckled ones .

 Not content with pets and farm animals, Attingham is also a haven for wildlife. Squirrels, rabbits and pheasants all call the fields and woods their home as well as wood peckers, crows and hares. There is even a pair of swans nesting in the reeds this year.

I really enjoy going to Attingham as there is always something new to see in the garden and there are so many animals to watch. If you are ever in the Shropshire area you should really give it a visit.
 

Er, So I Moved Country...

Hi guys! How's it going? Long time no see right... Yeah I kinda slipped off the face of the earth for awhile there, quite literally really since now that I've landed I'm on the other side of the world in England! No more NZ for awhile, I'm back in the mother land! Although I should call it the father land since this is where my father was born and my mother comes from NZ... Anyway

It's spring over here and today was a beauty day. Me and Dad spent the afternoon in Bridgnorth which is a lovey two tier town. No matter how many times I go there I always find something interesting to look at. Today it was steam trains at the severn valley railway station.

We spent some time sitting on the platform watching the comings and goings and enjoying the sun. It was warm enough to actually take our jumpers off which is quite a feat for England in early april. So we made the most of it and lounged until the clouds came over.

After the station we went for a walk up the hill and saw a gorgeous retriever who was very intent on something that it could see but well behaved enough to just stand and stare. It took me a minute to twig what it was so keen on but when I worked it out I cracked up.

 

Cheeky cat knew it was out of reach! We carried on towards the shops where we saw a great sign in a window, good humour on the shopkeepers part and pretty true too.

We were very lucky with the weather today as for most of the time that we were walking around it was sunny or at least patchy sun but on the horizon we could see dark storm clouds gathering. I was very glad to be where we were rather than under those threatening clouds.

Bridgnorth is such a historic town, and such a touristy town, that it's hard not to learn something new while you're there. Today I learnt that the steps leading to high town are so shallow as they were designed for donkeys! Apparently there was only one road wide enough to allow passage to wheeled vehicles so most goods had to be brought up the hill on the backs of donkeys. So they made a set of shallow steps that wouldn't trip them up.

So there you have it. A day trip in Bridgnorth sort of, more like a lazy afternoon but that still counts. Here's hoping I can get back into the blog a bit more in the next few months and keep you updated on my adventures around jolly old England. As a parting pic, have another steam train.

 

 

Day 14 - My Bedroom

This was one of the blog prompts so I'm not really sure what I'm meant to write about. But here is my bed. Dad bought me the Union Jack blanket last time he was over. You can just see my prize soft toys on the far pillow. I think at the moment I have 7 in the party but they vary from time to time.

This is above my bed. I call it the travel wall. The large fan in from Thailand and the small white one from Spain. There is also a smaller black one from Tenerife but it's hard to see. There's the world map underneath and then the map of the Game of Thrones realm just for fun.

On one of my shelves I have my bottle collection. They pretty much all have a story and my favourites are the small ones at the front which were all found in the garden, beach or river mud flats. Not sure why I collect them. It's my hoarder tendencies shining through perhaps. Also I come from a family of collectors but I never found my niche so I have quite a few little collections of random things.

I adore anything miniature so miniature bottles are doubly exciting to me. Closely followed by miniature books. Then mini anything else! So far I've only been able to find tiny bottles that are full of glitter. I saw a few empty ones online once but they were too expensive for me to bother with and the only other ones I've seen are used in fancy jewelery or keychains and although they are adorable they are also way over priced. Yep I'm a cheapskate when it comes to my collectables, if it costs more than $10 I'm probably not going to buy it.

Another sort of collection. Dragons and Wicca/witchcraft/pagan related items. This shelf is pretty empty because most of these kind of items are again quite expensive. At the other end of the shelf though is a collection of sea shells. I find it hard to resist picking up more whenever I go to the beach. I only like to have less than a dozen on my shelf though so most have progressed out to the garden!

Last picture. This is my favourite thing in my room, my book shelf. I actually have two in my room. Both full. and three others around the house. Plus my desk. I have a 'thing' for books. Books to read, books to write in. Fact, fiction. Pretty much anything. The whole top shelf of this book case is Tolkein at the moment. I like to go to charity stores and see how many different editions I can find. It's amazing what turns up and all have been less than $5.

So there you have it. That's the condensed tour of my room. I could do an entire post on my book collection and perhaps I will some day soon. It will make me want to go book  shopping again though!
Do you have any collections?