Yorkshire 9 - Nostell Priory, a glass of wine, a piece of chocolate cake and a garden with a difference .

---

What shall we do today? You know how the conversation goes.

It's a lovely day, the sun is shining so where shall we spend the day? You choose. No you pick a place. Ok let me go swimming and when I come home we will make a decision. So back home and have a make a cup of coffee and decide. Coffee made. Biscuits picked . We sit down and slowly enjoy it so .................what do we do today? With a sense of de ja vu we carry on.

Where would you like to go? No come on you pick. I can't think . You make a decision . How about Lichfield? Never been before . There is a fantastic cathedral there to see but then there is Nostell Priory up the M1 just outside Wakefield. Both the same distance barring about 10 minutes . We could go to either of them if I am honest . Go on you choose. No you pick . I picked the last one so it is your turn.

In the end we decided after much deliberation to head up the M1 and see Nostell Priory. So decision made we hit the road . Not in Suzy sadly . She still sits on the drive. She is slowly getting filled ready for the off which is now only 18 days away. We have had to make some amendments to travel mainly due to not having four weeks on the road but also because many of the campsites we wanted to use will have closed down for the season. In Europe the sites close early compared to Britain. They have a very short season . Some open only in May and close again by the end of September. So some sites we have chosen have had to be ditched . The ACSI Book has come out again and others chosen and the CAmperstop book is on fire as we try to find aires or places to stop in little villages along the way.

And so to the journey . The down side of the M1 at the moment is the repairs going on. The central reservation is being worked on and has been in the process for months and months . In fact it probably has been going on for the best part of a year . . The barriers have been replaced but sadly someone, somewhere dropped an enormous clanger and the cement being used is the wrong type . In ten years it will degrade so the whole lot have been ripped out and work has started again which means we travel at 50 mph. I wonder whose head rolled when this mistake was noticed .

50 feels lovely in Suzy but it feels slow when we drive in the car . In fact it feels pedestrian and we want to put the foot down and drive along the road at 140 mph . Way above the speed limit but we get nowhere on the M1 at the moment. We travel slowly and eventually move to the M18 and head for exotic locations such as Rotherham, Doncaster and Wakefield.

An hour later we arrive at Nostell Priory in the heart of Yorkshire countryside. The fields are yellow now as the harvest is being taken in. The hedgerows look Autumnal with the leaves looking crozzled and the berries turning red .

This is another National trust property so it proves another freebie to enter. You cannot knock that. For us free is good .

Parking is easy but the place as it is high summer in England and it is school holiday time is heaving. There are acres of parkland so despite the hundreds of visitors we do find we can find a quiet place to ourselves . Being miserable gits quiet places are lovely where we can poke our noses into things we shouldn't , where we can ponder and wander at leisure, where we can stop and think and stop and just do nothing at all. Sion even likes these quieter little corners and comes out of my bag when he thinks the coast is clear.

The priory is a typical Palladian house in the village of Crofton close to Wakefield. It dates from 1773 and was built for the Winn family on the site of the older medieval priory. None of which remains of the older priory. The house was built by James Paine for Sir Rowland and Robert Adams was commissioned to design the additional wings. Only one of the wings were completed, and complete the state rooms and Adams added a double staircase to the front of the house, and designed buildings on the estate, including the stable block. It is a rather austere house rather grey from the distance. A flight of steps lead up to the house. Inside there are many rooms the first is a hallway with niches and statues all lit rather evocatively. Difficult to take photos but it does look rather fetching. A hallway leads to a room with a dollshouse full of minature furniture and fascinatingly a row of bells all with the labels still intake telling the staff who was ringing the bell and wanted attention. The downstairs rooms were full of period wooden furniture but it was upstairs that really shone out. The large windows overlooked the parkland with its pretty lake and neatly trimmed lawns. Other windows overlooked the austere stables block which now contain the national trust shop and the cafe . We stopped off for a well earned glass of wine and a huge slab of chocolate cake . The cake was wonderful and the local wasp population thought so too.

Upstairs was a delight the rooms full of beautifully polished tables covered in tablecloths with silver plate adorned with fruits. The paintings on the walls were interesting , statues beautifully carved and chinese wallpaper on the walls. The ceilings were either white all over or highly patterned . It was wonderful set of rooms on the upper floor and this was part of the tour we most enjoyed .

Outside the gardens were quiet. A walled garden with a fountain and rows and rows of late summer plants. Pink Phlox, pink and white Japanese Anemones in one corner, next to them lilac was the pedominent colour. Then a riot of yellow . Not the most vibrant of borders but neverthe less a plantsmans heaven working out what plants were flowering . Obelisks with perpetual sweet Peas in both white and pink. The odd thing about the garden were the fences covered in apple trees full of ripe fruit . Within this a huge plot full of exhibition onions, red onions, leeks , peas growing up frames and strawberry beds. Rhubarb growing along the wall bottom and heaven few raspberries begging me to eat them. A charming working garden. Not the most vibrant we have seen but it showed just how you can combine flowers with vegetables and fruit and the display of courgettes and marrows were worthy of the country flower show.

Sion found his latrine and I had to hold him down . Shouting Woolly Woolly I have found a latrine would have drawn all the room guides in wanting to see what the heck was going on. We took his picture and that seemed to keep him happy. All in all we had a good day in the end . All that indecision but in the end we found a house which was fascinating and a garden worth a visit.

Those who know leisure alone may watch the changes in the water and the trees, the bamboo and the stones - Hong Zicheng wrote these words and we had a day of leisure , we watched the ripples on the water and the breeze blowing through the flowers and the trees ................Yes after all our deliberations we had a lovely day of leisure .



So where to next ?

---