windy week ends!

Why is it that it can be warm, and sunny all week and come Saturday morning the sky is grey, its cold and its raining? But you just have to get up and make the most of it! So for us Saturday was a fairly quiet day, we headed into town to do the usual food shopping. A wonder around town, and a visit to the supermarket and the post office and most of  our errands were done. We decided to treat ourselves to lunch at Cafe Zen, and then headed home. A busy afternoon followed, a spare room needed making up for a special visitor! This is the first time our new sofa bed will be used and boy did we find out the hard way that making up a sofa bed isn't easy. The sheet did not want to be tucked in, and the duvet put up a fight too. But we got there in the end!

Today we woke up to a nicer but VERY windy day. We got a couple of things done and then headed off for an adventure. Our journey didn't get off to a good start, the sat nav's charging lead burned out, luckily it had just enough charge to get us to Wellesbourne and back! It took us about an hour to get to Charlecote House, i had been wanting to go here for a while. Charlecote Park is a grand 16th century country house, surrounded by its own deer park, on the banks of the River Avon near Wellesbourne, about 4 miles east of Stratford-upon-Avon. Its been the family home of the Lucy family for over 900 years, and with this in mind we took our very own Lucy with us. She was very excited at the prospect of a road trip to rediscover her heritage!! We were astounded at how busy it was,  but once we started exploring the crowds seemed to disperse. First we had tea in the orangery restaurant and then explored the house. What a beautiful place, and clearly steeped in history. Once we had done the tour of the house, we made our way outside to explore the gardens and outbuildings. There was a coachhouse with a collection of the families former carriages, a wash house and brewery and the kitchens were also open to look around. We found the gift shop, and a used book store. Paul found a very old children's book that looked like it had a history of its own, so I invested 50p and bought it for him. Books fascinate both of us, not always for the story itself, but like in this case, the actual history of the book. 

The house is actually surrounded by a deer park, there were lots of them about. They are very tame, and totally at ease with the many people walking near by. They occasionally look up and peer at you, then carry on with whatever they were doing.

We brought lunch with us and braved the wild winds to sit outside and eat. LOL....that was fun! I really loved the place and hope we can go back again. We didn't have the time to visit the garden centre next door. Maybe next time.

The drive home was uneventful, and we were back in under an hour. I have to say I love being a member of the National Trust, definitely something i will continue to do. Though following a comment from Paul earlier today, I shall be careful not to let myself be cloned into a typical NT visitor! LOL! Break out the pink tutu and feather boa!