April 12 Christmas Common
Another dull and misty morning - both at the rear and the front of the house.
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We drove along the Chiltern ridge, with trees appearing through the clouds, and up the M40, not too busy on an Easter Sunday morning.
We turned off onto some country lanes, passed through some pretty villages and, eventually, parked in Broughton, where we met Heather & Steve. We all changed into our walking boots - except me because I only had one pair of shoes to begin with.
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Across the road we found some lambs and then a stile, marking the start of our footpath. We scaled this, crossed a small farmyard, where I photographed a large horse in a stable, and set off across the fields.
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It was damp but not actually raining and wasn't too muddy underfoot. We passed more sheep and lambs and, after about a half hour walk, we arrived in North Newington, where we took shelter in the Blinking Owl. The pub offered us good hospitality, beer, sandwiches and a couple of roaring log fires. The village was pretty enough and even had a minor horse jam. |
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After a considerable period of time, we emerged again into the open air, crossed lots more fields, saw more lambs & lots of flowers before dropping down the hill into Broughton again, arriving in the grounds of the church and the castle. |
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The castle is the ancestral home of the Fiennes family, Lords of Saye and Sele. They still live there and we met both the current Lord and his wife, who were showing off their home to the assembled masses. Their connections, through the numerous film star members of the family, have resulted in it being used as a film set, most notably for Shakespeare in Love. Operating a museum out of a working home must be a major operation but the upkeep costs must be terrifying, making it an absolute necessity.
There were lots of fascinating exhibits, some very interesting new furniture ranged alongside suits of armour, and the usual collection of stuff which accumulates in any castle over a period of a few centuries.
The Civil War material was of particular interest to me, with several etchings of Cromwell on display. The downside of the place was that it was very cold. How anyone lives there, I do not know.
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The gardens were surrounded by a small lake which, on a very still afternoon, offered some splendid reflections. We had a short wander, visited the church, which was pretty enough with lots of interesting family memorials, but not exciting and climbed back into the cars. Jerry, Kathryn & I followed the pretty route through many more small villages until we reached Steve & Heather's house in Buckingham. There, we had a very good - if somewhat unhealthy - dinner and finally drove home again, a journey of something more than half an hour. |
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