In mid-November, we drove to a National Trust site about 40 minutes away from our current house. The place is called Lyveden New Bield, and it is an unfinished house from the Elizabethan period. It was begun to be built in 1604 or 1605, but the original owner died, the 2nd owner was executed for his role in the Gunpowder Plot (see previous blog post!), and the third owner lost all his money. It was therefore never completed and remains the shell of a house that was never used.
We got to use audioguides for the house, but didn't get through too much of it due to Charlotte-chasing :) It was clear from what I listened to that there was an extensive Catholic persecution element to the house's owners, and there are a lot of structural and decorative elements (religious friezes, etc) to the house that mark it as a Catholic-owned home.
Charlotte had a great time running up and down the hill leading to the basement entrance to the house, falling happily multiple times and getting quite muddy! After looking through the house, we walked the gardens and orchards on the property as well. There is a huge labyrinth that they keep mown well during the summer months, but it was a little hard to pick out during the fall due to lapsed maintenance. It was a cool and windy day, but we enjoyed seeing the site.
No comments:
Post a Comment