mini meet - major house

I’ve known fellow blipper Janjen for over 40 years.  (I was originally going to say ‘Janjen is one of my oldest friends’ but a sharp dig in the ribs from Anniemay suggested that perhaps I should consider other ways of establishing this point.)

We try to meet up a couple of times a year and now we are both blipping this inevitably turns into a mini blip-meet.  Today was such an occasion and we rendezvoused at Clivedon House which is about half-way between Janjen’s home in Surrey and Milton Keynes.

I grew up during the era of the Profumo Affair so knew of the house, but knew nothing about its history or the building and gardens.  

According to uncle wiki; Cliveden is an Italianate mansion and estate at Taplow in Buckinghamshire. Set on banks 40 metres (130 ft) above the River Thames, its grounds slope down to the river. The site has been home to an earl, three countesses, two dukes, a Prince of Wales and the Viscounts Astor.

When three blippers wander round the same location there’s a good chance of similar images appearing in our cameras.  Janjen beat me to the Parterre, which is one of the largest in Europe.  Her blip shows one section taken from the terrace of the house; my extra photo is a view of another section.  I was rather hoping that Anniemay would fill in the middle, but when I last checked she was engrossed in pictures of naked bodies high art.

This is the view of the house looking back from the end of the Parterre.  Frankly, it was all rather wonderful and we’ve resolved to arrange a return visit in the Autumn to see the woodland garden, which we missed this time.


Thank you to all who stopped by to view my 500th blip yesterday.  I’m really pleased to have got this far.