Erddig Hall

Today we had a day trip into Wales with Roger's parents and his sister Janet and her husband John. In the morning we went to Erddig Hall, a National Trust property nr Wrexham. The original house was finished in 1687, having been built for Joshua Edisbury, High Sheriff of Denbighshire. The building was then sold to John Mellor (1665-1733), who enlarged and furnished the property, and it his his purchases you still see today. On his death, the estate passed to his nephew, Simon Yorke, who enlarged it still further, and the house remained in the Yorke family until it was given to the National Trust in 1973. The first Phillip Yorke (1743-1804) initiated an Erddig tradition of assembling portraits of household servants, annotated with descriptive verses, and these can be seen today in the corridors of the servants quarters. We toured the house and servants quarters, and were just starting to look around the grounds when it started to rain, so we thought it would be a good time for lunch in the cafe! The rain didn't last long, so I was able to get photos of the grounds after lunch.

From there we went into Llangollen, and Janet, John, Roger and I went for quite a long walk along the canal. Roger's parents came with us a little way, but then turned back. It was a beautifully sunny afternoon when we left the car, so we made a big mistake and left our raincoats in the car. As we were walking, the sun got overtaken by clouds, and the sky got greyer. Eventually, on our way back, it started to rain, and then pour and then throw it down! We sheltered under a tree, but that only helped for a while. Finally it eased off a bit, and we finished our walk, but we were four drowned rats by the time we got back to the car! Fortunately, Rogers parents had got back to the car before the rain, so they were nice and dry! We had quite a drive before we could get home, get showered and change into dry clothes!