Lodge Park Revisited

Lodge Park is the nearest National Trust site to us but since Covid it has hardly been open, just very occasional weekends. We had booked to go today, the first time since 2019, not realising that the booking slot we chose was for a guided tour of the grandstand building. So we arrived a bit late and missed the introductory video but it was OK as the guide was very good.

The extras show two views of the grandstand, used for viewing deer coursing events. We were able to go out on to the balcony you can see, behind which was the Great Room in the main blip, used for the 17th century equivalent of corporate entertaining. We were a bit disappointed though that the roof was not currently open due to structural issues.

The most interesting bit for me was the flooring in the Great Room. This had been reconstructed from 42 foot continuous planks of sweet chestnut. Because the tree thickness obviously tapers the boards had been laid in alternating opposite directions, so the thick end could be matched with the thin end. You can just about make this out in the blip. The fireplace had also been reconstructed, copying the original which had been moved to Sherborne House.

So that's two National Trust visits in a week.

One year ago:
Reduziert!