Amazing National Trust houses and parks

Unfortunately, I'm very busy so I'm not able to write in details about the visited houses. However, I would like to show all of the houses that we have visited last autumn and this spring.

Basildon

Lord and Lady Iliffe restored this Georgian mansion which was badly damaged during the Second World War.

Obviously, the kitchenware wasn't restored: it is from the fifties.

After the visiting you can take a walk in the huge park.

The Vyne

I have "felt the history" at all of the visited places. However, this house made the deepest impression on me. Maybe its tight corridors, small rooms and the amazing oak gallery caused this feeling - I don't know.

Talk with one of the enthusiastic volunteers:

The door of the gallery:

One of the fantastic oak carvings:

There is a golden ring in the library which was found at Silchester in 1786. It has recently been suggested that it was the inspiration for the One Ring and the Lord of the Rings. The ring linked to a curse tablet at the site of a Roman temple dedicated to the god Nodens. Tolkien worked on the etymology of the name Nodens and repeatedly visited the temple in 1929. His novel The Hobbit was published in 1937.

Of course, there is a huge and beautiful garden:

Hughenden

I loved Benjamin Disraeli's house. It wasn't the history that I felt but his unique personality. He was a leading statesman, a writer and a loving husband.

Mrs Disraeli's diary entry is on the blind - it is very romantic: "Dizzy married me for my money. But if he had the chance again, he would marry me for love."

There are two possible stories about this chairs below. One of them has shorter legs. It's said that when Queen Victoria visited her favorite minister, he ordered to cut them because she was very short. The other story is more romantic: he ordered to cut his chair's legs so he wasn't taller than the Queen. I think neither of them are true because the difference between the chairs is really slightly. It is more likely that they had to cut due to a damage. Of course, my version isn't too interesting.

During the Second World War there was a shelter in the cellar and a bunker in the ice house.

After visit the house, we took a walk in the woodland.

I am going to show 4 other National Trust properties in my next entry.

Mottisfont - Hampshire

We bought a National Trust family membership in the summer when we were visiting Claremont Landscape Garden. The membership was not too expensive and we can visit lots of beautiful places for free with it. One of them is Mottisfont whcih is between Winchester and Salisbury.



It was a melancholic early autumn day: little bit hazy, dull but warm:

Mottisfont

The story of Mottisfont began in 1201 when William Briwere - who was the right hand man of four Plantagenet kings - founded an augustinian monastery at this place.

The remaining part of the monastery

Monks had a thriving estate by the 14th Centruy but a lot of them died because of Black Death in 1348. As they were waiting for the Pope's help, another disaster happened again: an earthquake demolished their buildings. Finally, they left the monastery during the Dissolution (1536-1541) when Henry VIII closed or destroyed all monasteries and churches.
The king gave Mottisfont to his friend, the statesman Lord William Sandys who built a new, Tudor style house for himself. He did not destroy the church in order to use its stones but constructed his new house around it. Therefore you can see some medieval parts in the house. Poor Lord Sandys did not enjoy his new house for too long because he died four years later.
His successor died in 1684 so their nephew, Sir John Mill inherited it and his family lived here for 200 years. Interestingly, only the 6th baron, Sir Richard wanted to change the characteristics of the house. He rebuilt it in Georgian style in the 1740s and he improperly began to call it an 'abbey'.

This bear is the part of the Mill's coat of arms

The last Mill died in 1835 and the estate was left to Reverend Sir John Barker who changed his name to Barker-Mill. He was a keen sportsman: he loved playing cricket and hunting. He had a stud and bred hunting dogs. After he died in 1860 his widow lived in the house for more than 20 years. Mrs Barker founded the first school in Mottisfont village.
When she died she left the estate to a distant cousin: Mrs Marianne Vaudrey. She let it for a rich merchant banker, Daniel Meinertzhagen and his wife, Georgina. The couple loved the house and they rented it although they were not allowed to install electricity and central heating. They had 10 children who enjoyed the beautiful garden. Their parents were not bored either: among their guest were George Bernard Shaw, Charles Darwin, Cecil Rhodes, Henry Stanly (who had found Dr Linvingstone in Africa) and Herbert Spencer.
After their oldest son had died in an accident in 1898 they moved out. Their second oldest son, Richard was a soldier, explorer and ornitologist. It is worth reading his controversial, interesting biography: supposedly he changed his diary later, stole from his co-scientist, killed his second wife and he was a spy... We found a detail of his memories in the playground:

Richard's diary entry on a bench in the playground

After Meinertzhagens left the house Mrs Vaudrey recognised that they had installed central heating after all. As she loved gothic architecture she wanted to summon the spirit of the monks. So she removed the central heating and took down some walls in order to make medieval walls visible. After this huge renovation she let the house for shooting parties! Finally, she decided to sell it in 1932.
Maud and Gilbert Russell bought the estate in 1934. Their first task was to install electricity and central heating (lots of money for these conversions again:-)). They did not alter the oustside of the house but redecorated and refurbished the rooms in 18th and early 19th Centruy Neo-classical style.
Maud was a generous supporter of artists and an art collector. She hosted lots of artists in the house for example Rex Whistler, Russell Page, Ian Fleming, Boris Anrep - the latest was her lover. Maud sat for Modigliani, but she did not like his painting of herself.
When her husband died she offered the ownership of the estate to the National Trust. After long negotiations she gave her possessions to the company in 1957. She lived in the house for the next 15 years then moved  to Mottisfont village and lived there until her death in 1981.
When she moved out she removed all of her belongings therefore the National Trust had to refurbish the house according to the remaining photos, and in the same style which Maud had liked. They were absolutely succeesful! I had an impression that occupants had had left rooms just one minute ago:

You can see the saloon painted in trompe l'oeil style on the next picture. It is Rex Whistler's work. The trompe l'oeil is a painting style in which things are painted in ways that make them look like real objects. You can see a 'relief'' above the sofa in the next photo:

Draperies and some decoration of the ceiling are painted as well and you can see a small painted ink pot with a brush on the left :

Servants's rooms are refurbished, too:

There is a nice view to the backyard through the windows. There are lots of parts of the park: Italian Garden, lime walks, yew octagon, dog cemetery, ancient trees, walled rose garden. The latest one was created in 1972 and there are lots of rare and old type roses in it. Some photos of the garden:

Old oak

The rear view of the house

Dog cemetery

Robin

Lime walk,  inspired by the colonnade of monastery

Italian Garden

Yew octagon

Autumn Saffron in the Rose Garden

There are not too many blooming roses - but the garden is lovely

Exit to the park

Of course, you can walk in the huge park:

Well

Bridge above River Keeper

The Winter Garden is beautiful, too:

Spindle Tree (Euonymus) in the Winter Garden

Holly

It is an amazing experience to visit such a park. I you want to get to know England you should visit a place like this. In fact, tourists really must see a country house as well as the compulsory London-Oxford-Stonehenge triangle in order to know how English aristocrats and rich people used to live.

In addition, the experience is further enhanced by volunteers's work. They stand in the rooms and enthusiastically explain everything about the family's history, paintings and furniture. They do not stare with piercing eyes but offer you the chance to touch some objects, for example cookery books. So, now I know that rich people used to eat terrapins ('cut the terrapin's head' - yuk!) at that age. Taking photos is allowed without flash.

Mottisfont is open for the whole year but it is undoubtedly the most beautiful when roses blossom in June-July.