Chris is the bonus!

It started out grey today but with less wind than yesterday it was not too cold. John has been working and Grace had to go into school for a revision day so we've had the day to ourselves.

We went to The Mall at Cribbs Causeway fairly early before it got busy and made a few purchases at Lakeland, including a Banneton for shaping the sourdough bread as it seems I am hooked!
I wanted something from John Lewis too but they didn't have what I wanted so we just wandered round and had a coffee.

Afterwards we headed south into Somerset to Tyntesfield, another NT property for lunch. It is a Victorian edifice purchased by William Gibb who became Earl Wraxall having made his money from guano!
It was very busy being only a few miles out of Bristol and there were lots of young Easter egg hunters enjoying their Easter holidays.
I have visited before in 2009 with Grace and John and it had only recently come into the hands of the National Trust. What fascinated me then is it had been left just as it's last incumbent had used it till his death in 2001 (he was Richard Gibb, great grandson of William). It was interesting seeing the high Victorian room with relatively modern TV's etc in situ.

They have now restored it to the period of Richard's grandfather Anthony who lived there until 1907. Not sure if this was the right move but as we were just in time for a timed slot we had a look around again.
Victorian isn't really my favoured period and the gothic house is a bit over the top but the grounds are magnificent. (It has an interesting decorated roof too which when we just visited in summer 2010 was being renovated and you could go up amongst the chimneys - I blipped it in July that year here - https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/637409

So I've chosen this shot as it shows one of the magnificent trees and a bit of the house. You get Chris as a bonus and some sun as it came out just as we left the house.

There were bluebells, garlic flowers and primroses in the woods and lovely displays of tulips in pots and in the walled kitchen garden as well as lots of trees in blossom with the beginnings of flowers on the rhododendrons and azaleas.

They've created a great cafe too in the cow shed where the stalls have been kept in situ. Chris had a honeyed pork casserole and I had a wild garlic and cheddar tart with salad. They were both delicious.

It turned into another nice day out.