Saturday, February 16, 2013

Canons Ashby and Great Brington church

Hello. what is that thing in the sky? And why has the sky gone a blue colour?

A few National Trust properties were open today so Trish came up and we went to the National Trust's Canons Ashby.

Why Canons Ashby? well Trish had never been before and its Cafe came 3rd in a poll of NT cafes.

I noticed there was a church on my list nearby and as we were early  ......

So 803 St Mary's Great Brington.

We got lucky as the Churchwarden arrived as we did and told us all about the church. The  church is notable for the Spencer tombs of the Earl Spencer's of Althorp (yes Diana's family).





















A lovely churchyard and the village looked lovely.

We headed to Canons Ashby, I spotted a few bits of snow en route. I'm not sure I was believed, however when we parked........

Trish said look snow..... no flies on her eh!


The website implied that the house was open or free flow from 1pm but it wasn't so we booked ourselves onto a tour at 11:45.

So do we look around the garden first? nearby church? Nope into that tea room! It is a nice spot and in summer would be a lovely spot tot read a book and drink a cuppa.


So Carrot Cake and Victoria Sponge. The Carrot cake was very fruity, it was much richer than normal. But it was lovely! The Victoria sponge was pretty fine as well. I emerged well happy.

As we had time we wandered to the church of St Mary's. The church was once huge but at the dissolution it passed to the Dryden's who were puritans and much of it was pulled down.












A quick walk around the garden.





Less photo's than normal as we were on a tour.





Trish was excited to see they had her first camera!!













The house is one of those smaller properties that are the reason the Trust is so important.

So back to that cafe for Leek & Potato Soup BUT, and I will be complaining about this, they had sold out of Cheese Scones!!! AND I HAD TOLD THEM I WAS COMING on twitter!! LOL. The soup I might add though was rather good. Nice bread as well.

So a walk around the garden.








Will be worth a revisit in Summer.

This handsome chap saw us off.


4 comments:

Ragged Robin said...

Great photos Pete and looks a great house to visit.
A friend of mine has been trying to persuade me to visit with her - and can now see its worth the effort!
Loved the photos of the first church too :)
ps cake looks delicious!

The Quacks of Life said...

cheers Nora

RR - the cake was delish! well worth a visit. I'll go back later in the year.




oldcrow61 said...

Interesting photos of the house. I really like picture 16 of the headstones on the grass and white flowers scattered here and there. The rooster is a handsome fellow.

Tricia Ryder said...

The church was a lovely surprise....
Cake was excellent and sunshine was great!!

Blog Status

If you want to use any photos on this blog please see this link.