ahhh....Burghley House. I had been begging Colin to go here for weeks but he insisted that we wait for a beautiful day. Turns out, father knows best. ;)
Burghley house is really close to us, so we left mid-morning and decided to have a picnic there and check out all the grounds and the castle. If this particular house looks familiar to you, it's probably because you've seen it in the movies. The house was used in The Da Vinci Code and also in the newest Pride & Prejudice. (It was the famous Rosings Park, home of Lady Catherine de Burgh.) They even had some costumes from the movie on display there. Lady de Burgh's incredible purple gown was there as well as the simple brown dress that Lizzy wears to dinner at the House on her first visit there. We weren't allowed to take photos inside the house (a great marketing ploy to get you to buy the guide books) but let me just tell you it's incredible. The displays are amazing and what's even more amazing is that the house is still occupied by the descendants of Lord Burghley. Lord Burghley, you might know, was Queen Elizabeth I's right hand man for many years. (This is a great excuse to go watch Elizabeth again!) Anyway, the house is rich in history and I was in heaven. Let's start the tour, shall we?
When we came onto the grounds, we parked and just beside the parking lot is an incredible meadow with the cutest mini deer. The deer in Europe seem to be a lot smaller. They were small in Germany, too. Maybe it's because the cars are generally smaller in Europe. The deer in America must have increased in size over the centuries to keep up with our ever-growing vehicle sizes. That sounds about right, doesn't it?
The girls thought the deer were the coolest thing ever.
See? Very snuggly.
And all that fun was just in the parking lot!
Off to the house!
Just inside the House...The door right in the middle of the photo leads into the main house.
Ok, like I said, we couldn't take photos inside. Afterwards we stopped by the gift shop and Lara picked out this frisbee She was ecstatic about it. And it turned up in every photo of her while we were there.
This is use walking around the house, counter clockwise, to try and get to the gardens on the other side.
We're on the west side of the house now. I'm leading us along a path towards a bridge which I am certain will take us back towards the south side of the house (on the right).
Another west view of the house.
We made it to the bridge. And guess what. No access to the south side. Sooooo....we trekked back to the house. I was profusely apologetic.
The view from the bridge.
Us, leaving the bridge.
Ok, we got back to the house and went out through the cafe and into one of the small gardens.
DUCK!!!
KOI!!!
This is the view of the garden you just saw. We are heading out the east side of the house now.
This is the path that the party walks up towards Rosings Park in the movie. It's funny because this path actually leads to a river. :)
In between the large shrubs, there are some really cute topiary. I love the snail.
K, so if you turn around you will see the facade from the movie. (I'm pretty sure this is it....maybe I should watch the movie again?)
Keira Knightley stood on this spot, so I insisted I have my picture taken. I wish I was Keira. :)
K, so if you keep going towards the river, there are some pretty trees along the bank and I snapped a few photos of Colin and 2/3 of his girlies.
Norah, however, had been sleeping and woke up just in time to miss the photo and start breathing fire at us.
We then headed back to the house.
After the house, we went to the Garden of Surprises which is based on 18th century designs for a "trick garden". There were lots of fountains and moving sculptures to look at. A mini grotto, a smooth waterfall you could walk in, and self propelled waterfalls were just a few of the neat things we got to play with. I didn't take any photos because I didn't want to get the cam wet. :)
Afterwards, we headed back to the car. Noodles was soaked. The only dry things on her were her tights and shoes. She ran away from us as we were trying to get into the car, so I ran after her. It looks like we are in a sweet meadow, but in fact, this is the parking lot. :)
And on a side note: Who the heck designed these tights? What child clothing designer was exposed to babies with calves that short? The only way I can get those patches on Noodle's knees is if I pull them up so high her toes curl under.
Ok, anyway. So that was Burghley House. Well, some of it, at least. I hope you enjoyed your photo tour. Ciao all!