Uppark House

Today was always going to be a day out, but I was privileged to have a mini Blip Meet with the very lovely Paola at Uppark House and Garden near Petersfield :)

I'd already written once, and my entry vanished, so this is a shortened version...

It was a funny sort of morning, warm, but kind of misty.

After we met, we had a coffee and cake, then wandered around the grounds chatting.  We went on a tour of the house, well three rooms before the house opened to learn a bit of history.  Afterwards we wandered some more, saw the dairy and the stables.

Then we visited the 'tunnels' that were used by the staff to deliver food to the house!  I really can't imagine how back it was back in the 18th Century, cold, damp, maybe mice and rats running down these tunnels (they have bats!), and what sort of state the food arrived in!  This is one such tunnel...

We saw the most amazing dolls house which was apparently brought back to Uppark by the lady of the house, Charlotte :)

After lunch together Paola went to visit her Mum, but I wandered on some more, looked round the house (unfortunately no photography allowed), then the gardens which were really lovely (more shots in Flickr)

This afternoon was quite hot and sunny.  Despite covering up, I think I've caught the sun a bit...

I've brought some plants home, and was a bit naughty...I even had an ice cream before I set off for home and also bought some salted caramel fudge :)

I got back about 5pm, made a cuppa, sat on the sofa and the next thing was it was almost 7pm!!!!

Thank you Paola for meeting me and introducing me to Uppark!  I'm sure I'll be back that way soon :)

Tomorrow and Monday I'm getting back to that diet and cracking on with some chores (gardening if the weather is any good) at home....

Happy Saturday folks :)