Shropshire 46 - Shrewsbury /Attingham at Christmas /a small cafe and a pulled pork bap

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A friend said that this time of year of year is melancholy and without a doubt that is true. The weather looks sad with the sky various shades of grey. The grass looks silvery with its early morning frost . The leafless trees just look bare. The dark nights and short days are always invited. The places to visit seem to go into hibernation.

In the run up to Christmas all the local National Trust houses close to clean/stock take/conserve or get ready for Christmas opening. The staff and volunteers dig up trees from the estate , place them around the hall and decorate them in readiness for the Winter visitors .

Christmas tree trails appear and disappear just as quickly once January arrives . I wondered how much of a job it is to put up the trees for such a short space of time and then to take them all down again . It must be lucrative for the properties to put in such a lot of work for a short period.

The festive menus are brought out for the visitors. Usually turkey Christmas dinners , Christmas pudding or turkey , cranberry and stuffing baps . All the shops are full of gifts for the discerning buyer. National Trust Christmas cards , Tea Towels , soap, jams and chutneys . Jigsaw puzzles and books for adults and children .

Then just as quickly as it arrives everything closes down again. They get back to taking the trees down, stocktaking , cleaning and conserving and then getting ready for Spring opening . That won't happen for another 7 weeks. Half term and everything begins the slow Spring opening with more places to visit . There are some places that do continue to open through January and February but they are few and far between.

On a melancholy day we decided to find a National Trust property open and decorated for Christmas . Erddig - went last year . Chirk - went the previous year . That left us with Powys Castle when the trees were going to be room themed. Or we could go further afield and see one of the houses in North West Wales . There were a few open in Lancashire and Cheshire and then on the other hand there was nearby Shropshire. We were heading for Telford to drop of wreaths and then would drive back to Shrewsbury to buy another set of thermals for the football matches and some thick woolly socks to keep our feet warm. So Attingham seemed a reasonable idea .It was not too far away and seemed a good option.

It had been over 10 years since we last visited . I thought bout our last visit and what had changed since then. We had moved home twice We lived in Wales and were now back in Wales after seven years in Derbyshire .. I had retired from work almost 18 months ago . . We had met Ian and Jo with Woolly. We had Suzy the motorhome and were in the early years of travelling . Since then Suzy had gone and so had Gabby . A lot of water had gone under the bridge since then.

I checked on line for opening times which seemed to fit in with our arrangements . Leave at 9.30. Arrive in Telford close to 10.30 . Do what we need to do and then head for Shrewsbury. We should arrive shortly before lunch. Before we left I checked for our National Trust cards for free entry and also checked whether we needed entry tickets for the Christmas trees . There were 320 available for us to choose from . No specific times on them. We could visit anytime between 12 and 4.30.

The drive to Telford was much the same as any other time we drive there. Not a lot of traffic on the road . Roads that look exactly the same. I swear without a sat nag the most patient of souls would drive round in circles and never get out of the place .

We arrived at Attingham around 11.15 and the car park was heaving . There was not one space to be had. Cars were milling in to the park in front of us and behind us. Each jockeying for a non existent place. A couple of motorhomes must have arrived early as they were parked up at the far end of the additional parking spaces . We drove round once . Then drove down again and still could not find a space for the car with no name. We almost turned tail and left. It seemed impossible to park up . Then out of the blue we found one space which we drove into quickly.

We walked slowly to the entrance and the desk where we showed our cards . A hint of what was to come was clear to see as people like cars milled about with no obvious urgency or plan. We got past them all heading for the cafe. A few people sat outside in the cold but the remaining were inside . It was heaving and hard to find anywhere to sit for lunch. The queues were long and seemed to get nowhere. I did eventually get to the counter and ordered two pulled pork rolls. Issued with the strange plastic out of this world device that would tell us when our food was ready I headed back to the high counter we had found in a corner . Not the best place to sit but at least we did not have to struggle out with the strange pulsating device to pick up our food . Food was Ok but not to the usual National Trust standard as there was little choice and I would have hated to trying to eat something like a One Pot meal perched high up on top of a bar stool.

We left the cafe and the courtyard and headed toward the house which had opened at 12. It seemed as if the world and his dog had joined us. People were everywhere . Stopping to look at something and nothing . The first of the outdoor Christmas trees came into view. A wooden one. There were others dotted around the parkland and we hoped many would be here just for the Christmas tree trail. Some did head for the woods but others like us headed for the house which had just opened .

The house was being renovated and opened up when we last visited . Few rooms were open . Today just the ground floor was being utilised.

Attingham Park was built in 1785 for the 1st Baron Berwick and it replaced the original house on the site Tern Hall. It is the typical style of a house of this period and we knew roughly what the inside would look like. The furniture too would be from the 18th century. There was a queue milling around the front door and grand entrance hall. The room guide welcomed us, warned us that the queue was moving slowly and took our entry tokens from us. We had to stand and wait in the hallway unable to see the christmas tree for the crowd around it. We quickly moved on deciding that waiting would be futile and perhaps the best way forward was to get ahead of the crowd. It was not that easy as the walkways in each room were narrow . In the second room the tree was lovely . I guess it was a drawing room with much the same furniture as we see in any Georgian house .

Room 3 was another drawing room but by now the crowds were behind us and we were able to stop and admire the trees, the furniture in the room and the ceilings. We learned that the Attingham Trust had been set up in the 1950's to offer American curators the chance to learn about British country houses . Summer schools had been held every year since 1952 but now visitors were given the opportunity to see other houses around the British Isles. In each room fireplaces had been decorated and another tree with decorations hanging.

The dining room table was set for a very large Christmas dinner. The silver gleaming . Greenery brought in from the estate and the fires burning to keep the room warm. Two trees decorated this large space . One tree was lying on the floor with its baubles scattered . A chair had been upturned and glasses strewn at odd angles . The scene was supposed to tell the story of a drunken rowdy Christmas meal where someone upset the table ware, updended the tree and probably upset the hosts .

My favourite room although it was not a room as the grand staircase . Lit from above by a stunning window a Christmas tree sat in the middle of the staircase . It served two purposes . One that i was beautiful to look at decorated in a crimson theme with baubles falling away all down the steps . Secondly to stop visitors going upstairs which were closed for the winter.

By now we had the place to ourselves with time to stop and stare and admire the estate handiwork in each room . Tree after tree all decorated differently. Either a different colour or different baubles. The servants quarters were decorated too. Not in the flamboyant style of the hall . But equally lovely as some of the decorations were handmade. It was easy to imagine the staff making their own decorations in the run up to Christmas .

We eventually got to the exit and left the building . Just a short walk back to the car and the long drive down the driveway to the main road . The cars were still coming in to the hall and passing through the ornate gateway as we were leaving . We noticed the toll house across the road and the old bridge that is now disused. All that was left was a drive into Shrewsbury to buy some items to keep us warm for the next football match . Thoughts moved on to socks and thermal vests and where to visit next year for Christmas . It will come round quickly enough. I wonder where we will end up for Christmas 2024.

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Comments

[Dancing Dave]

Had not occurred to me but you are right
I was attracted by your opening pic, Jennifer, but on reading the pic represents that that does not change while your blog reminds that to attract visitors many sites change their decore constantly to maintain their appeal. I love your line, [i]"The places to visit seem to go into hibernation."[/i] To visit National Heritage sites attracted by the allure of Christmas trees. Wow! Reminds me of freshly opened flowers to honeybees, art or museum temporary collections, or a client that made a fortune by constantly upgrading nightclubs so partygoers would keep returning. Had not occurred to me, but whatever works to keep these sites open...thanks for the reminder...and of course you are right!

[JenGog]

hibernation
Hello Dave - I always feel that the houses go into hibernation or as the trust staff say "They put the house to bed ". The melancholy bit came from Bob Carlson. We had been talking about this time of year and he described it as melancholy which certainly fits the bill. Hard to find things to do in the winter here but we keep trying .