Castle Howard - A Fantastic Setting for a Flower Festival

If there is one thing that I love about stately homes apart from the exquisite architecture and furnishings, is the carefully placed flower arrangements all skillfully put together to give a softness to the often austere rooms.  When we visited Castle Howard in its magnificent Yorkshire surroundings, we were greeted with even more intricate designs for their flower festival.  So, with this in mind dear readers, I have decided to write about Castle Howard in two parts.  The first being the internal decorations, and the second will be external grandeur.  My photos are all jumping and itching to get into this blog post so this is going to be a bit picture heavy.  As usual, grab yourself something nice to drink, maybe a Pimms and a slice of Victoria sponge and walk with me (making sure your crown doesn't slip) through the most amazing rooms.

The long halls full of sculptures and paintings.  Rich beauty on show against the historical stonework.

The enchanting staircase greets you, adorned with carefully crafted vegetation.  Against the illuminated lantern, the banisters shone with the artwork surrounding them.

The bedrooms full of sumptuous furnishings and cleverly crafted flower arrangements.

I think this is a bust of Silenus, the Greek God of drunkenness and wine making - what a happy chap!   

The Great Hall was incredibly crowded so a lot of patience was needed before I could take any photos, but here are some of this particular area.

Even the smaller staircases were adorned with bursts of beautiful, fragrant colour...

Of course, I can't go to a stately home and not capture a chandelier or two.  These glittering jewels that hang from grand ceilings are a joy to my eyes.

The glimmering glass also reflected in the goblets below.  Lunch anyone?

I loved this arrangement... S is for... Sweetbriar!!

This turquoise room was so vibrant and beautifully furnished.

Each room in turn showed the amazing craftsmanship of those who had put the arrangements together.  Beautiful!

By far, my favourite display was in a huge hall like room with books lining the walls...

 A coronet cascading its flowers from the ceiling...

At the bottom of the coronet... pages... fluttering in any breeze that caught the single pages as they hung from the exquisite flower structure.

Phew!  Are you still with me?! Well done!!  Well, that was part one.  Part two will be coming shortly showing the external magnificence of this house along with the spectacular gardens.

In the meantime, have a wonderful week.

A Step Back in Time - Peterborough Heritage Weekend

 

And here we are again... the Peterborough Heritage Weekend (my previous posts are here, here, here and here).  The chance to transform yourself back in time amongst the medieval architecture, the relevance of Catherine of Aragon's tomb, the centuries of history and those who made it happen.  Yes the Heritage Weekend never fails to disappoint both in rain and sun and the camera dances through the minutes clicking away and capturing more moments of time.

My writing will be minimal in this post as I feel that the photos will speak for themselves (if you hover over the photo you will see my notes), so sit back with a slice of Bara Brith and a large mug of tea and let me take you back through history...

The procession begins...

And now a spot of music...

... and how about some lunch? ...

... and a little sit down ...

Katharine of Aragon, Old Scarlett and her lady in waiting were enjoying a well earned sit down too.  Here they are next to Katharine's grave which is in the Cathedral.

And on the opposite side, Mary Queen of Scots sat next to her first grave before she was moved to Westminster on her son's instructions.

Now, let's visit the Bishop's Palace...

The falconry display was held along with Viking camp in the Palace gardens.  Patience I found was needed for these two gorgeous birds to pose!

Now to look around a little more...

Of course there were many re-enactors who reminded me and a friend of many Monty Python scenes (I felt as though a large evil rabbit was about to attack these two!). I bet you are thinking of many scenes right now - they should really have coconut shells shouldn't they?!!

I do hope there wasn't any real gunpowder here!

But just in case, there is help nearby!

And so, another year with exceptional history comes to an end.  I really love this event and the fact that it is set in surroundings that ooze 900 years of history.  Sometimes it's really hard to imagine all the history this place has seen and survived.  It goes without saying that I will be taking you back again next year so set the date and I will take you by the hand and take you through history once more.

Ok, joke's over!  You can cut me down now!!

Have a lovely rest of week, keep dancing through it and keep smiling.

It's all Rush Rush Rush

Is it really July?!  The rain pours, the hailstones fall, the wind knocks you sideways and my impression of Alice Cooper is plain for others to see as I emerge from Tia's walks on the Fens (note to self... WATERPROOF mascara!!).  The last two weeks have however brought some sunshine to my camera card, brief but bright.  So here's some snippets of where I have been.

There has been a visit to Castle Howard (famous for Brideshead Revisited)...

So many photos taken both inside and outside that are just waiting to burst through the screen at you, but for now, just a taster.

(Blog post being written once I have decided on the right photos I promise!)

Miss Teen needed to top up her art supplies and of course, we just HAD to go to London's West End.  A visit to Oxford Street first...

... then on to Liberty ...

... and then Carnaby Street ...

Each year I have posted about the Peterborough Heritage Weekend and each year this event has never disappointed me.  Again, many many photos which need to be sifted through and another post will be written (I promise, again!), but here are some tasters...

So it's all rush rush rush!  

Time to sit now and reflect (and get posts up to date and scheduled!).

Have a wonderful weekend, I know I have so far.