Stody Lodge Gardens

Stody Lodge was built in the 1930's by Lord Rothermere, founder of the Daily Mail, to replace an earlier house that had burned down.  It is still privately owned by the MacNicol family who also farm the land, but the gardens are opened to the public occasionally and today was their Classic Vehicle Day.  The gardens themselves are beautiful; largely rhododendrons and azaleas and with over 2000 azaleas it is believed to be the largest single planting of them in the UK.  The fragrances were lovely although the azaleas were probably about a week past their best, but the rhododendrons were all still in full bloom; a magnificent sight.  It's difficult to do justice to them in a photograph so I haven't tried; instead, some pictures of the classic vehicles.

We followed the car in my main shot in to the grounds and it is unusual in that it is steam powered; an American model made by the manufacturer Stanley.  Not entirely sure how the steam is generated but I guess it must be from a gas burner as there was no evidence of the driver shovelling coal onto a fire!  I've also added an extra compilation shot of some of the other cars on display.  Lots of choice, and interesting to see that two models of cars I've owned in the past are now considered classics; a VW Beetle and an MGF.