Mapledurham House and Watermill

It was raining the day we had decided to go to Mapledurham House, pouring down with rain actually but we went anyhow.  This was the remainder of N's present to PJ for his birthday - the Japanese Garden visit was the first part.  There was a cruise along the Thames, Cream Tea and a tour of Mapledurham House all included, even in the rain!
After we left the Motorway, we travelled along a very narrow dirt path, drive, lane with passing points along the way, and then came to a really quaint village.  As we turned off we were met by a very pleasant lady who gave us an envelope containing all our tickets and told us where to find the various points.
We were about half an hour early so we parked up (in the field) and sat watching others arrive, the rain falling and then our boat - Devon Belle - arriving.
The boat was the usual river boat except for the lines of red chairs on board!  We took our places and, once all the passengers had arrived, we started cruising down the river on a Sunday afternoon.  (Sounds like a song)
The Captain gave out some interesting information as we cruised along, even though it was raining and quite cold, it was good fun. The boat had been in the D Day Landings and travelled down to London for the Jubilee Flotilla.

Along the banks we caught a view of Hardwick House.....



.... several places connected with 'Wind in the Willows' as the author Kenneth Grahame lived locally.



As we left the boat, the Captain gave us directions to reach the Watermill which was also part of our 'day out'.

So much to see here walking all through the Mill itself, and the Miller and his wife were so pleasant, no question too stupid or difficult to answer.  We bought a bag of Apple Crumble  Mix as a present for N and a big bag of Stoneground Flour so we (PJ) could make some bread when we arrived home.





In the rain...... yes! it was still raining! ....  we walked on towards the House .......... we came in the back way.......... as one should!





Further along we came to a small outlet and collected our Cream Tea ......  now I had seen someone taking their tea to the Manor House and they had to walk under a leaky (streaming) pipe so we (I) decided to eat ours in the Stables!!!  There were two rooms of choice, one was the stalls and quite crowded so we chose to eat in the Tack Room.  This was a good idea not just because we had the larger room all to ourselves but ........ see the TV screen? ......... it showed the story of how the Archimedes Screw was installed, with all the background history.  Amazing!



Suitably refreshed we walked round to the front of the house and entered through the main door ..... love it!  

Those large trees either side of the main door were just sooooo high with enormous buds, something like a Camellia, but bigger.  The staff once again were friendly, knowledgeable and really interesting to talk to.  There was a beautiful Chapel, Catholic and white and pretty .... you get the picture.......

It had stopped raining by the time we left ......... we walked along to the Church.  There were several people in the grounds but as the door was open ..... in we walked and found some wonderful stained glass windows, little old pews....... and a large mausoleum!

We came home in the dry along all the back roads so this was a good end to a wonderful day!

Thank you N