A history lesson

An additional day off today - we're celebrating. Although it took us the morning to recover from the weekend.

We decided to go for a short walk this afternoon - and so south into rural Cheshire, park outside a closed pub, on with the boots, and striding forth until in no time at all ...... A sign saying "teas available". So we stopped for a cuppa. And the lady explained that the adjacent Hall was open for a guided tour in 15 minutes (only Tuesday and Thursday afternoons). So we diverted there.

And it was really interesting. We were outnumbered by three guides who gave us a tour.

The Peover estate was run by the Mainwaring family from the Conquest to 1919 (if you accept that the lot who inherited in the 18th century were Mainwerings by dint of changing their name to fit in). Post WW1 it was sold to a Mr Peel, a cotton baron. Then he sold it in the late 1930's to a Mr Brooks, a furniture retailer from Canada who introduced the idea of "Buy Now, Pay Later " to the UK. His son still lives here.

During WW2 it was taken over by the army, then the Americans, with General Patton living here with his forces prior to the Battle of the Bulge. Then it housed prisoners of war, then families returning from India after partition and independence in 1947. Mr Brooks got it back in the 1950's. In the 1960's he demolished the Georgian parts ( not something he could do now !).

It is a complete mis-mash inside, as the family have collected all sorts of stuff, and it is lived in (the Panasonic TV is quite modern, and they love magazines). Fascinating.

Our guides pointed out all sorts of paintings, including Civil War and Georgian portraits. The interesting clipping of Mr Brooks with George Osborne - the local MP - on a mantelpiece went unmentioned.

This is the view from the gardens. It is open this weekend as part of the National Garden Scheme. Walking back to Over Peover - good views of the nearby radio telescope at Joddrell Bank. And if you like Polo this seems to be the area.