Visit to Barrington Court

Yesterday was the day we went to view our new kittens (see next post) and as we had to travel to Yeovil for it, we decided to combine it with a day out. Some time ago, when I was attending an Ileostomy Association meeting in Yeovil, my hubby had taken himself off and had discovered Barrington Court, a beautiful National Trust property, and had been waxing lyrical about it for some time, so that is where we decided to go on this occasion.

The house is empty of furniture which is rather strange after all the other National Trust places we’ve visited, but it did enable one to see the beautiful panelling and admire the proportions of the rooms etc. There are several buildings on the estate; the main house is a Tudor manor house and there is an Arts and Crafts house too.

Although the downstairs of the Tudor Manor house was beautiful, for me the main attraction yesterday was the gardens, which are extensive and out of this world. My hubby said, “Shall I look for ideas for our garden?” Lol! We have a postage stamp, but it is his pride and joy and he has worked so hard in it and made it utterly gorgeous!

We had a great lunch in the restaurant. A small menu, but beautifully cooked, using vegetables grown on the estate. My hubby said his cider (produced locally) was the best he’d ever tasted, and I agreed, tasting my apple juice (also produced locally). Later, before we left, we returned to the restaurant and had a cream tea.

I took so many photos that I couldn’t possibly show them all on here, but here is a selection. The local stone is called Ham Stone and it is a beautiful warm and mellow colour. Much of the ancient stone work had lichen growing on it, which enhanced its beauty further. It made a lovely backdrop to all the trees, plants and flowers.

Before lunch we wandered around looking at where they were selling plants, and also in a row of artisans’ workshops where such activities as furniture making, jewellery and woodcarving were taking place.

Everywhere the paths were paved with narrow bricks, arranged in attractive patterns. At times these were pretty uneven so I had a pretty bumpy ride in my wheelchair but managed OK!

The white garden was so beautiful. There’s definitely something to be said to limiting the colour palette in a garden to a single colour, if you’ve got the luxury of space to do it.

There were some ancient cow pens which were fascinating.

A beautiful weathered old linenfold door (in two halves, like a stable door) leading to a little bridge over the moat that surrounds the whole house.

The carved lintel over the top.

Looking back towards it from the bridge over the moat.

There was a tennis court, and beside it, a little pavilion with a thatched roof.

Beautiful trees everywhere. I particularly loved the pattern these tree trunks made with their graceful curve into the ground.

Lichen.

The kitchen garden was massive. There were apple and pear trees trained along its walls, which were all topped with decorative tiles.

There were two sundials that we discovered, including this very unusual one with ten faces on it, each with its own sundial.

There were numerous beautiful arched doorways through the various stone walls, each one different, and leading one into separate gardens.

Many of the gardens had a central feature, such as a pond, fountain or statue.

There was even a statue of a Roman soldier.

As for the flowers, plenty of colour and variety. It’s a funny time of year because the spring flowers are now all over, and the roses are coming to an end, but the later summer flowers aren’t yet fully in bloom. Despite that, there was plenty of colour.

After a good traipse around the garden, we headed for the house. We weren’t able to go upstairs with the wheelchair without a lot of bother, and by this time I was getting a bit tired anyway, so we had a good look around downstairs. Here’s a selection of some of the rooms and corridors, and the rich panelling.

For the past few days the weather had been poor – cold and wet, and my hubby suggested giving this outing a miss if yesterday had turned out to be wet, but I said we should go anyway, since we were going to be in the area, and we could stay in the house if it was wet. As it turned out, the rain had stopped by the time we arrived, and only started again just as we were leaving! The day was dull, though, which meant I had to lighten most of the photos, and there were none of the interesting light and shade effects you get on a sunnier day, but it was still well worth it, and we so enjoyed going around the gardens. It was a really great day out.

As the day passed, we were constantly aware of the time, and counting down the hours until we would meet our new kittens! It gave us something nice to look forward to at the end of a lovely day out together.