Okay. Back to Hanbury Hall. Today started out foggy, which made for some wonderful photographs. We started out by walking what they call the "Park Walk", about 3½ km, round the old deer park (where in 1924 Sir George Vernon, who was not willing to pay a luxury meat tax that had just been introduced, shot all the deer), out past some rare black poplars, and out to the St Mary the Virgin Church, Hanbury, just outside the edge of the estate. There has been a church here since the 800s, but the current building is somewhat newer, dating back only to about 1200!
After this we walked back to the house, and went in for a refreshing bowl of vegetable soup, making use of local produce from the estate — in fact, Hanbury Hall has such a flourishing vegetable garden and orchards that it supplies a number of National Trust sites!
The gardens are spectacular. There is a sunken parterre next to the house, and the orchards are large — one of them had at least 130 mature fruit trees. There is a walled garden, different from the ones we have seen before — it is entirely devoted to producing the vegetables we mentioned before. There is an Orangery — currently closed to the public, as all the citrus trees have been ensconced there for the winter — and at the back there is even a bowling green, which used to be a real statement of wealth, as to have a green in playable condition took a lot of work (and hence a lot of money!).
Another quirky thing here is the "Snob's Tunnel", a tunnel designed to keep the gardeners out of sight of the gentry as they crossed near the house!
The day was drawing to a close, and our feet were beginning to protest, so we left to adjourn to our comfy layby on the A46 near Alcester. On the way, we called in to Macca's where we started to copy the photos for the day off onto the hard drive, finding that there was corruption on the memory card, and that some of the photos had been lost. No real worry — there were still a lot left! But tomorrow we must get a new card that is more reliable!
Distance driven — today, 19 miles ( 31 km ); to date, 8,528 miles ( 13,725 km )
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