Day 249 - September 5th

Today was our Wedding Anniversary so we took the day off of work and decided to have a day out.

We visited NT Ascott House near Leighton Buzzard, an historic house with a large collection of paintings, furniture and fine porcelain and natural & formal gardens. The house presents as an ‘Old English’ manor house of black and white half timber but at Its core is an old farmhouse thought to date from 1606.The original farmhouse has undergone many changes since being acquired by the Rothschild family in 1873. It has been on our list of places to visit for some time so was nice to finally spend some time exploring the house and gardens.

Within the garden there is a large pond which was originally created for skating on in winter and beside it the thatched 'summer house', which was also used for changing into ice-skates, sits.

Many areas of the garden are quite unique in their design. In the contemporary Lynn Garden, landscaped circles sit among moated islands and infinity pools.

A sundial is made entirely of topiary complete with Latin numerals and the clipped yew hedges surrounding the sundial read "Light and shade by turn, but love always".

Some of the gardens are more traditionally laid out with fountains and flower borders.

In the Dutch Flower Garden the flower beds were filled with dahlias, geraniums and other brightly coloured flowers,

A huge fountain with dolphins and cupid on top takes pride of place.

Jagged Cornish Slate has been used to create the 'Ascott Circle' modern art installation.

The largest feature of the garden is the bronze fountain representing Venus in her shell chariot attended by cherubs. I loved the sea horses and turtle elements of the fountain.

Having looked around the estate and stopped briefly in the café for a drink we then drove onto P E Mead & Sons Farm Shop and Tea Room for a late lunch. We visited the tea room back in July when walking the canals near Tring and thought it worthy of a revisit. The ploughman's lunch was delicious.

This wasn't to be our only meal out today, as in the evening to celebrate our anniversary we dined at The Flying Horse at Clophill where we also ate some delicious food.