To get there we had to cross this privately owned Aldwick Toll Bridge. At least it saved us an extra 25 mile round trip by doing so. It is a reminder that in the past our whole country was criss crossed with toll bridges. We take if for granted now that we can drive everywhere free, (apart from major toll crossings.) We see here part of the cottage that is the home of the toll keeper. The bridge is more like a wooden gangway with a kind of chain link planks of wood that make quite a loud clinking sound as one crosses over. The keeper said that I could go on to it to take photographs but as there was a steady drip of traffic I shot a long view only.
Beningbrough Hall is a grand red-brick mansion which was built in 1716 for John Bourchier, a Yorkshire landowner. Today in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery, it offers a unique attraction with over 120 outstanding portraits of famous eighteenth-cenury figures. These are hung in furnished period rooms with important furniture and porcelain collections.
The hall is set in six acres of show gardens. The Walled Garden has over 20 varieties of apple and pear trees and is used as a venue for events. You are welcome to walk with me in the garden and I don't think I have to tell you that you will get wet, after all it is a Summers day in August!
Everybody is opting to take tea inside today
A 19th century potting shed
10 comments:
We need more gardens here. I just can't get over it all starting in 1500 and 1600's English gardens are so wonderful.
Patsy
Ooh what an awesome house and pretty gardens. The part about the toll bridge made me think of all the Georgette Heyer books I've read that talks about them travelling and paying the tolls.
Hi and nice to meet you Barbara. What I wonderful post, I just wish I could walk through those gardens especially the walled garden. Thank you for sharing/ Tyra
There was an awful lot of rain across the pond this past summer,wasn't there. I wouldn't mind pottering around in that pottery shed for an afternoon (or more).
Yes, do lets take our tea indoors today!
Very nice to catch up here with you...
You won't believe this, Barbara, but I am featuring a garden tomorrow. My featured garden is so humble by comparison that you may well keel over laughing. :D
These grounds, this home, your photos...all splendid!
I sure enjoyed this post. The pleached fruit trees, especailly the arches were lovely to me. I am thinking of doing one pleached fruit tree on my wall in my tiny little kitchen garden. And I loved the old potting shed, especially when I clicked on it.
Thanks for not forgetting Beningbrough.
You know I think I meant to say espalier.
I love that archway of apple trees trained over the path...and all the color in the gardens alongside the trees.
Hi Barbara -
Once again I feel as if I was with you on this little adventure. Until I get to see your beautiful country with my own eyes (hopefully!) I enjoy seeing it through yours. Thanks for taking us along.
~Adrienne~
Hia Barbara, yes back home in Oxfordshire we have Eynsham Toll bridge. You can usually spot old toll houses as they jut towards the modern roads.
Love the lavender hedge. Yes August has been very wet.
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