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I decided it would be a good idea to take advantage of the excellent weather we’d been having at the end of July and head out into the countryside. I picked Rufford Abbey Country Park because as well as a lake and woodland walks there are also the ruins of an Abbey to explore. Plus, I haven’t actually been there since a school trip when I was in primary school.
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The Galleries of Justice Museum is in what was once Nottinghamshire’s old Courthouse and County Goal and was opened as a museum in 1995. It’s an impressive building from outside and is surprisingly deceptive in terms of just how large it is and how far down it goes.
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On what proved to be a warm but overcast day in June I headed out to The Arboretum, somewhere I haven’t been since a child. I didn’t really have much memory of the place, which is Nottingham’s first and therefore oldest public park and was opened in 1852.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Louise Jayne's Blog 