Please note photos have been removed due to lack of hosting space.
On a Friday near the end of June I was walking through Nottingham City Centre when the heavens opened jut as I was passing St Mary’s Church. Since I’d never been in before, and thankfully I had my camera with me, I thought it was the perfect chance to explore somewhere new and shelter from the rain at the same time.
Please note photos have been removed due to lack of hosting space.
One of the main attractions of Kenilworth Castle is the reconstructed Elizabethan garden. They have a remarkable history of their own, set aside from that of the castle. Lost for more than 400 years, the garden which Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, created for Elizabeth I has been recreated to its former glory by English Heritage. It is the first ever recreation of an Elizabethan garden on such a scale and as you’ll see, they have done a quite remarkable job.
Please note photos have been removed due to lack of hosting space.
On a fantastically sunny day in June I decided to head out to Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire. It’s an English Heritage property that had been on my radar for a while because of the reputation of its reconstructed Elizabethan garden and because it had been some time since I’d paid a visit to some proper ruins. In the end it proved to be even more spectacular than I had imagined.
Please note photos have been removed due to lack of hosting space.
During my recent visit to Newstead Abbey I wanted to make sure I saw as much of the gardens as possible, though not all – since they cover more than 300 acres! I decided the best way of accomplishing this was by following the route on the map I had purchased from the Abbey Gift Shop. Although there have been gardens on the site since the times of the priory, the current layout owes much of its design to the later owners, such as the Byrons and the Wildmans.
Please note photos have been removed due to lack of hosting space.
On another gloriously sunny day in May I decided to head out to Newstead Abbey, the poet Lord Byron’s ancestral home (although he actually only lived there from 1808-1814). Founded as the Augustinian Priory of St Mary by Henry II in the 12th century, it was converted into a house by the poet’s ancestor Sir John Byron in 1540 after Henry VIII dissolved the monastery. All that remains of the Priory Church is the below section, although much of the original structure and monastic layout remained when the house was designed.
Please note photos have been removed due to lack of hosting space.
On what turned out to be an exceptionally sunny day in May I decided to head out to The Workhouse in Southwell. It’s a National Trust property and although it’s a bit of a trek to get to on public transport, it proved to be well worth a visit.
Please note photos have been removed due to lack of hosting space.
Recently I decided to visit the Museum of Nottingham Life at Brewhouse Yard which, as I mentioned in my post about Nottingham Light Night, I didn’t think I’d visited before, though it actually appears I may have made a trip there when I was at primary school. Regardless it all felt new and has certainly undergone some changes since that trip. It is based just around the corner from the entrance to Nottingham Castle, right next to Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem and traces the social history of Nottingham over the past 300 years. It spans five 17th century houses and includes a school room, kitchen and bedroom, shop fronts such as grocers and pharmacies and an air raid shelter from the Second World War.
Please note photos have been removed due to lack of hosting space.
Nottingham’s Light Night has been running for quite a few years now, and although I had been aware of it before I had never taken the time to explore any of the events, until this past Friday, 28th February. This year’s focus was Nottingham Castle and it made a nice change to wander around the grounds at night, even if you did have to be very careful about your footing on some of the paths. I was also very glad that I had bought a ticket in advance (£4 instead of £5), because the queue when I arrived at the Castle was extremely long and with a ticket already I was able to bypass that and go straight in with no waiting around.
This year’s theme at the Castle was also tying in with the Centenary of World War I events going on around the country and I particularly liked the videos which were projected onto the side of the Castle, as seen below:
Please note photos have been removed due to lack of hosting space.
As in my previous post on the subject here, back in September we travelled to Clumber Park, former country estate of the Dukes of Newcastle and purchased by the National Trust in 1946. After visiting the Chapel we went on a walk around the lake and into the woods. The grounds actually encompass more than 3,800 acres with a camp site and the facility to hire bikes as well as the usual gift shop and cafe. (I’d highly recommend the lemon cake!)
Please note photos have been removed due to lack of hosting space.
On what turned out to be an extremely sunny day at the end of September, we headed over to Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire. The Park is a National Trust property with the only charge being £6.00 for parking (free for National Trust members) and a charge of £3.00 to visit the Walled Kitchen Garden (which we didn’t visit on this trip).
Once the country estate of the Dukes of Newcastle, the mansion was demolished in 1938 and all that remains are the grounds, the lake and the Chapel of St Mary the Virgin.
Louise Jayne's Blog 