Saturday, August 06, 2011

Wrest Park

You may have read about the restoration of Wrest Park by English Heritage, its been on the news rather a lot. Some of the reports have been hyperbole, I read one which implied it had just opened for the first time - odd as I was there 3 years ago!

What has happened? Well the walled garden has been "restored", which means chidren play centre, tea room space etc. I wouldn't have said it had been restored per se. The research facility has gone and a few rooms of the house are open. I believe that the whole restoration is complete in 2019.

Anyway the grand re-opening was August 1st and I intended to go this weekend. Trish sent me an email about it so I sugested she may want to join me. We arived early (good idea!) and we were near the front of the queue.

Whilst others rushed to the ticket office we went to the tea room. We both commented that the serving area was badly laid out. They couldn't put a pot of tea on your tray they had to hand it to you. The cakes looked lovely but it was too early for cake. YEAH RIGHT!! We had a piece of Coffee & Walnut and Chocolate and shared them. LOVELY.

The gardens are superb they really are. I'm not going to waffle on I'll let you look at rather a lot of photos.



































































So we headed to lunch, and there in lies a tale. The tables weren't full but there was a huge queue!! So we decided to head off and get lunch elsewhere. There was a small drinks kiosk but there was no sign and the lady serving gave the impression it was closed. Someone walking in front of me commented that they wouldn't take much on that one!

Do visit the gardens they are stunning!

We went to Rye Meads so Trish could see the Wood Sandpiper (and 10 Green Sands) and a Black-Necked Grebe.





There'll be an alternate look at Wrest Park coming....

3 comments:

Ragged Robin said...

The house and gardens are really impressive Pete and some great photos.

For some reason it reminds me of Osborne House and grounds - perhaps its all the statues and gorgeous ceilings.

I love the eagle sculpture with the wreath of grapes and leaves.

And oh the red car - I want one! :D

Anonymous said...

You got your grove back and that makes me happy. ha the croquet team was pretty funny.

oldcrow61 said...

Oh my, I hardly know where to begin. The eagle with the grapes made me almost swoon. The statues are marvelous. The gardens are superb and I love that bridge. Wonder if I could get himself to build me one, lol. And, I just love that little brown hobbit type house. A great set of photos.

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