National Trust – Beating The Bounds

PXL_20230809_112915697 — *Shugborough Hall*

Our accommodation was very close to Alton Towers, it would have been churlish not to offer the DBs a day out there, but it’s not really my speed these days, so having dropped them off there, we went instead to the National Trust’s Shugborough Hall Estate, where we had a great day out.

PXL_20230809_115603497 — *Shiny pots and pans.*

PXL_20230809_130702967 — *Shugborough Hall interior.*

PXL_20230809_130539012 — *A fancy ceiling.*

PXL_20230809_131308337 — *Books galore – my favourite room, obviously.*

PXL_20230809_131314291 — *Library ceiling.*

PXL_20230809_132100328 — *In the garden.*

PXL_20230809_132335983 — *Reverse of the house.*

PXL_20230809_133520361 — *The River Sow.*

PXL_20230809_133936866 — *Knopper Gall.*

The arboretum in the grounds is home to 150 species of oaks from all around the world, which was fascinating. Some of the acorns were malformed in this way. I think this is a Knopper Gall. Knopper from the German word ‘Knoppe’ for a 17th century felt hat. The gall is caused by a tiny gall wasp Andricus quercuscalicis, which only arrived in the UK in the 1960s. Curiously, it has two different alternating generations one of which makes these galls, whilst the other lives on Turkey Oaks, an introduced species usually found in the parks of stately homes. I took several photos of different galls but have used this one because it was more colourful and more knobbly than the others. Apparently, the very distorted and folded appearance means that there are lots of wasps present, although I have no idea what sort of number constitutes ‘lots’.

PXL_20230809_134357408 — *A distant view of the house.*

PXL_20230809_135209756 — *The Chinese House.*

PXL_20230809_135805327 — *Europe’s widest Yew* *(and TBH for scale!)*

PXL_20230809_141147935 — *Essex Bridge.*

A document from 1679 mentions this bridge, which is just outside Shugborough’s grounds, replacing an older wooden bridge and having 43 arches. Since it now has 14 either it has been significantly reduced in size or somebody was exaggerating. Has the Trent shrunk since the 17th Century?

PXL_20230809_140741295 — *Essex Bridge.*

It was a lovely spot and there were a number of kids making the most of it and paddling in the river here.

PXL_20230809_141407543 — *English Longhorn Cows.*

I was very taken with the English Longhorn cattle at Shugborough. Apparently, despite the fearsome looking horns, they are docile.

PXL_20230809_141506655 — *English Longhorn Cows.*

I’ve read that they’re very good mothers too.

PXL_20230809_141818157 — *The stables – I think.*

There’s a cafe and a secondhand bookshop tucked away in a courtyard hereabouts. We patronised both. TBH was impressed with her vegan lunch but my ploughman’s was thoroughly underwhelming.

PXL_20230809_142525318 — *1955 Rover 75.*

PXL_20230809_143321891 — *Tower of the Winds.*

PXL_20230809_143500814 — *Tower if the Winds – leaded window.*

PXL_20230809_144410223 — *The Orangery in the Walled Garden.*

Much as I enjoyed the house and the grounds, for some reason it was the walled garden which appealed most of all. I’m not much of a gardener, but I really appreciate other people’s efforts.

Only part of the garden has been restored – if they get around to fixing it all it will be huge.

I like tall flowering plants, and I love to eat artichokes – we really ought to have some in our garden. My Dad used to grow them on his allotment, I’m pretty sure.

PXL_20230809_144835883 — *In the Walled Garden.*

It had been a partly cloudy day, but by this point it had actually become quite hot, not something we experienced very often this summer.

PXL_20230809_145005777 — *In the Walled Garden.*

PXL_20230809_145201507 — *Sweet-Scented Joe-Pye Weed?*

PXL_20230809_145225297 — *In the Walled Garden.*

PXL_20230809_145832047 — *How ’bout them onions?*

PXL_20230809_153753628 — *The River Trent at the Wolseley Centre.*

Alton Towers was open quite late, and we knew the boys would want to milk it to the full, so en route we stopped at the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust’s headquarters at the Wolseley Centre. We actually arrived after closing time, but were told that there was an event on there, so we were okay to stroll around the site before braving the traffic chaos at Alton Towers.

PXL_20230809_154222099 — *Purple Loosestrife at the Wolseley Centre.*

Shugborough is very close to Cannock Chase, which had me very excited because of fondly remembered childhood visits. We didn’t find time to go exploring there on this occasion, so I’ve added it to my ever expanding ‘to do’ list.