Dyrham Park

Last day of our summer holiday (well not quite) and of course, after a few grey days, the sun was shining!   We headed off in the direction of the M5.  Oxford was our destination, but not till later in the day.  Our only plan was to stop off somewhere for the afternoon, we just weren’t sure where.

Rather randomly we stopped at Dyrham Park in South Gloucestershire – a National Trust property. We had a walk through the deer park, and spotted a huge herd of deer running across the hillside in front of us.  A great blip in the making, but I was too slow!

We explored the beautiful gardens, the church and the house.  Like Castle Drogo it has had some major renovations and the house is not set out as you might expect.  BB and TT tasted hot chocolate made to a seventeenth century recipe.  I declined that treat.

Late afternoon we were back on the road, heading to visit friends in Oxford, and it was so nice to see them. The food and drink flowed and we chatted into the wee small hours – somewhere in amongst that we remembered to put the children to bed.  The two were competing to have BB sleep in their room.  E won, on the condition that we would stay another night and BB would sleep in D’s room the next night.  A great excuse to stay for the weekend!

Here is a view of the idyllic garden at Dyrham Park.