Anglesey Abbey

 

Normally it’s just myself and Jo who go away, but - in advance of Latitude we did want a trial run with Michael and James.


So we drove the sixty odd miles and arrived at Anglesey Abbey- and how nice it was to see the dedicated area of the car park for motorhomes!

The entrance area was clean and very busy - I think it’s wonderful just how many people obviously have National Trust Memberships - and take the time to visit - with out membership you would be paying over £45 for a family of 4.

The first thing that struck me was how the grounds are laid out with some statues for emphasis, leaving through paths that lead to the house.






I don’t know what I was expecting from the house, but knowing that part of it was pre reformation I was intrigued - though not outwardly large, it was certainly well appointed. The first Lord Fairhaven had bought the house in 1924 and extensively renovated it to house his collections - especially of British landscape art, though he also had a great eye for beauty:







Lordy never married, and left the house to the National Trust on the proviso that it was maintained as it was when he died in the late 1960’s - which is how the kitchen / servants areas present now - also, in the main dining room is a wonderful, assumed medieval, hand grind stone carved into the shape of a dog.






Outside the back entrance to Leaving the house, we walked up to Lode Mill- there had been a mill on the site recorded in Domesday Book 1086 but the current mill was built in 1745 - I was fascinated with the inner workings, but there was no extensive access inside - possibly due to a lack of volunteers on the day.

Again the walk there through the grounds was beautiful - the water was swift moving, and the multitude of arbors were diverse and enthralling - the silver birches struck home and I wondered if it was Lordy recalling some of the scenes where he served in WW1
















We then left and drove a few miles to Cherry Hinton CAMC campsite - this is an interesting campsite due to the geography - there are different elevations and quite narrow entrance tracks. A lovely warm welcome, and a fair size grass pitch - due to the weight of Ziggy and damp ground at the time of year, I will review booking hard standing in the future.
The sulks shared a pup tent, and had a comfortable night - so a great work up to Latitude in July!





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