Woolly says – It was rather nice to see Jo again and having caught up on our news and having been complimented on my successful travel presentation we set off with daughter Zoe for a day out in the sunshine. I’d tried to find a place that was half way between us and had stumbled across something that looked rather interesting and included a maze which is something all three of us enjoy.
Weston Park is a country house in Weston-under-Lizard, Staffordshire set in more than 1,000 acres (400 ha) of park landscaped by Capability Brown. Which would mean a great walk for the panting beast and something of interest for all of us.
Having parked and shown our prebooked tickets I ambled along the drive on a route that took us past the front of Weston Park House a rather splendid Georgian house built in 1671 for Lady Elizabeth Wilbraham, its sweeping balustrade provided an ideal place for the gardens and as I peered through, I realised that we couldn’t actually get to it on the route we had come.
With Zoe holding the map, Alfie the Dog bouncing through the longer cross we headed towards what looked like another path only to find ourselves even further away, turning tail I led the way back along the route we had come and eventually found a passage that led us into the more formal gardens.
We arrived at arrived rather odd-looking bronze sculpture which was supposed to be a representation of some bulls, even on closer inspection I couldn’t see the likeness.
Heading into the walled garden and the orchard and I raced towards the turf maze and set about finding my way around it before admitting defeat and deciding to concentrate on the yew maze, splitting into two groups Jo and I headed in one direction whilst Zoe and Alfie the Dog went another way. It seemed to take forever to find the centre with lots of blind alleys and arguments on which direction we should go in next. As we arrived in the middle, I could hear Zoe’s voice in the distance explaining to the beast that he couldn’t go under the hedges.
Eventually we reunited and took a few moments to have a look at the parks weather station, which consisted on an upright pipe in the ground and a thermometer in a box, this apparently was sufficient equipment to keep the National Weather Statistics up to date and had been checked daily since 1866.
The pathway led us into the vegetable garden which was rather barren, I felt sorry for the two scarecrows as they barely had any veg to guard. Some small buildings were attached to the walls and we stood contemplating their use, had they once housed pigs and maybe chickens, one of them would actually make rather a nice house for me.
As we walked on passing a large pond surrounded by willow trees, we arrived at the conservatory which had stood there since 1939, it’s blooms were bright and the fish in the centre pool seemed happy swimming around.
We arrived at Pendrill’s cave, hermits and hermitages were popular features on country estates like Weston in the eighteenth century and it is thought that one of the Pendrill family lived in it. Having peeked inside I decided that I wouldn’t fancy cave life and we moved onwards.
With a lovely view across the lake the Church of St Andrew is a Grade I listed Anglican church. Its origins are medieval, but it was largely rebuilt in the very early 18th century by Elizabeth Wilbraham and restored in the 19th century. Inside it held some lovely stained glass windows and a rather beautiful wooden ceiling.
As we crossed the front of the main house through its formal gardens my tummy gave out a large groan and it seemed like an opportune moment to get some lunch in the courtyard restaurant. A large sharing platter arrived and ad I tucked in the women discussed the new car that would be joining us soon.
Sadly, our current vehicle hadn’t fared too well in its MOT and having been told that it wasn’t going to get any better I had made the difficult decision to part exchange it for a much newer model. Belle’s as she is known had done valiant service over the last five years and I didn’t look forward to parting with her but needs must.
Woolly says – With bellies full we set off along the river walk crossing over Pains Bridge and finding ourselves at the temple of Diana which had been built by James Paine in the early 18th century and housed the orangery for the estate, now it is a private residence and as Jo snapped a picture, I wondered what the residents thought of the never ending supply of tourists taking pictures of their front room.
With the grounds well and truly covered Alfie the Dog was popped into the car with plenty of ventilation as Zoe, Jo and I headed into the house itself.
Originally belonging to the de Westons of Weston, it passed by inheritance to a branch of the Mytton family when their heiress, Elizabeth Mytton married Sir Thomas Wilbraham. Built 1671 for Lady Elizabeth Wilbraham, the three-storey, twelve-bayed south front of the house was originally the entrance front but alterations and improvements carried out in the latter 19th century for Orlando Bridgeman, 3rd Earl of Bradford changed its façade.
It was a fine looking building and as we entered the main hallway the first thing that struck me was the number of paintings on the walls, my beady eye was drawn to a rather fine Stubbs famous for his painting of horses.
As we made our way through the grand rooms there were more and more paintings to view of the long gone family that had lived here.
A three arched divide led us into the library area where the books where four times bigger than me and I pondered on how they would have read them in bed at night.
Cabinets full of chinse porcelain lined some of the walls while tapestries in incredibly good repair provided the wall coverings completely in one room.
A number of Chinese screens gave privacy in areas while huge sofas were in abundance.
A rather curious fireplace held a one legged ram and I had to wonder where his other three legs had gone.
Having arrived back at the starting point I bade a cherry farewell to the lady on the desk and we headed back towards the cars and the trip home.