Stourhead

Catching up
Recent blogs (2nd and 9th June) have been about a trip back in May. This blog’s no different. I declared in January that I was easing off on my blog to do a big push on my novel and that’s been happening. A draft has now gone out to a bunch of readers who’re sending feedback in my direction, prior to offering it to agents. Raydan Wakes has now “left the building” – it’s escaped from my imagination – who knows what next? Tags on the right will lead interested readers to previous mentions of Rhenium Tales, my Young Adult speculative fiction trilogy.

In the meantime
The recent bout of sunshine has allowed England to be not only be green and pleasant but also baking hot and bursting with summery blossom. After being Neolithic in Stonehenge, medieval at Winchester Cathedral and dallying in Queen Anne’s reign at Blenheim, Stourhead House and Gardens provided another stop steeped in history on our May odyssey. According to its National Trust brochure, Stourhead was described in the 18th Century as “a living work of art where all is grand and simple or a beautiful mixture of both.” That describes it pretty well to me.

Folly walk
Our main reason for going was for the gardens and we were delighted by the undulating maze of pathways lined with rhododendrons, azaleas, Spring meadows, classical temples and grottoes anchoring viewpoints around a lovely (artificial) lake.

The Good, The Magnificent and The Scholar 
The owners were heavily influenced by Italian styles and had evocative nicknames:

• Henry ‘The Good’ (1677 – 1724)
• Henry ‘The Magnificent’ (1705 – 1785) and
• Colt Hoare, the Scholar, who combated the grief following the early death of his wife by travelling through Europe and immersing himself in history and the arts.

F.A.B.
Like many of the UK’s stately homes, Stourhead has seen its share of filming – from the Palladian bridge and the Temple of Apollo in the 2005 film of Pride and Prejudice to the use of the gardens in Stanley Kubrick’s ravishing film of Barry Lyndon. A model of the building was used for Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward’s mansion, too – she of course being the London agent of the Tracy family in Thunderbirds. I didn’t feel like we were on a film set, but it definitely felt like a paradise.