Cotswolds day out

My friend took a day off work and we decided to make good use of our National Trust membership as the weather forecast was brilliant.

Definitely the right idea. Snowshill Manor, in the Cotswolds, near Broadway, was idyllic and fascinating.

Charles Wade was an odd man - a collector. He'd been fascinated by a Chinese cabinet his grandmother had owned and he turned this old Manor House into his own version. It's stuffed full of, well, everything. A room full of spinning wheels. Another full of wooden model farm carts. A room full of recorders and string instruments.

He bought the Manor to house his treasures and he and his wife lived in The Priest's House, adjacent.

He was an architect and they are reconstructing his model Cornish village in the grounds.

It was bliss to stroll in the perfect country gardens, gently tended by volunteers. Sunshine....

And then a splendid lunch (scallops followed by turbot).

Life doesn't get better than this