Another visit to an English Heritage Property (thanks to Tesco Clubcard) but not a castle this time!! It is Audley End House and Gardens.
Situated just outside Saffron Walden, this stunning house was adapted from Abbey buildings between 1603 and 1614. It has been extended and adapted on many occasions since then.
A kitchen, laundry, pantry and a dairy
have all been recreated.
have all been recreated.
One of our favourite features was the 'cloud hedge' which apparently takes 1 gardener 12 days to 'carve' the patterns into the hedge, giving it this stunning 3D effect. It was originally planted to hide the service wing as the 'servants' were not to be seen.
In the kitchen gardens the Elephant Garlic has grown so tall, the tops can only be reached by ladder (probably!)
A view of the front of the house, the Urn is in memory of Polish Soldiers who fought in WW2 and trained nearby.
Pickle and Picklesister had such a good time we are going back at Bank Holiday when Queen Victoria herself is making an appearance.
Honestly!
London Time
3 comments:
It looks a lovely place to visit - we got Lifetime English Heritage membership this year so we'll have to drop by sometime. Those hedges look weird!
Wow, a lifetime membership sounds a good idea. Then we wouldn't feel we had to see EVERY property within a year!
The hedges look better in real life.
I meant weird in a good way! Maybe I should give it a go in the back garden, then no more worries about trying to get our hedge perfectly straight and level.
We got lifetime membership to both EH and NT. And it does mean we don't have to rush around the country now - wherever we go and whenever then there'll be somewhere to visit. And with the EH one we can take in 2 guests, and up to 12 children! So it'll soon pay for itself too.
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