Monday's outing this week was to somewhere I haven't been before, Charlecote Park near to Wellesbourne and about four miles outside Stratford-upon-Avon. It was about 45 minutes in the car but pretty straightforward to get to.
Charlecote Park was built in 1558 by Sir Thomas Lucy, the Lucy family had owned the land since 1247 and Queen Elizabeth once stayed in the room which now the drawing room.
Only the lower floors were open to the public and we couldn't spend too much time reading or looking at all the lovely things because we had three children in tow. So I think a child free trip might be in order so that I can appreciate it and find out more.
The servants quarters were interesting, Arty took a liking to the stove of all things
And they were all fascinated to see how washing used to be done. What hard work it must have been, I wonder what they would think if they came back now and saw our washing machines and tumble dryers.
The grounds are huge, 185 acres, and there were lots people taking advantage of the good weather that day. It mentioned on the NT site that deer roam freely around the estate, we found a bunch of them on one side of the estate and a bunch on the other side of the lake.
Jacob sheep have been kept at Charlecote Park for over 200 years. They were introduced by George Lucy from his travels through Europe back in 1756 and were the first managed Jacob flock to be introduced into England. Today they have one of the largest flocks in the country
It was a great day out and I can highly recommend a visit, especially if the weather is good because the walks around the estate are so lovely, there are plenty of things to see and lovely big open spaces for the kids to run around. There was even a bit of den building, Arty's not afraid of getting his hands dirty that's for sure, lol
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