World Travel with Bob: Avebury and Bowood House and Gardens, May 12, 2015

Once again, at 10am, we started another day trip. Our first destination of the day was Avebury, about an hour drive from Apsley House.

Avebury covers over 280 acres and within this area lies an inner circle of great standing stones, with two inner stone circles. The purpose of these Neolithic and Bronze age sacred monuments is still unknown. Many of the stones, over time, have been broken or removed for other purposes.

Also located in this complex managed by the National Trust and English Heritage organizations is the Avebury Manor House. The manor house recently received updated interior furnishings and decorations by the BBC. The BBC then broadcast a series special that focused an Avebury Manor. Each manor room was decorated to a different time period. A docent was available to describe the furnishings of each room and invite guests to actually try out the furnishings, such as table setting, an exercise chair and beds. Some of the room details were amazing. For example, the room adjacent to the bedroom had an oriental style wall paper with whimsical cartoons of regional life – only if you looked very closely.

After lunch in Avebury, we continued our drive to Bowood House and Gardens. Bowood is a Georgian country house, originally built in 1725, residing on 100 acres. Over time, the main house was reduced in size but it was still quite large. The house is currently owned by the Marquis and Marchioness of Lansdowne. Selected rooms of the house and gardens were open to the public for a nominal entry fee.

The immense property, imposing house and expansive gardens were very special. It would take hours to explore the property and we had just about an hour. We wandered through the public rooms in the house and then spent most of our time enjoying the garden areas.

We left Bowood at 3:30 to return back at our Apsley House hotel in Bath. Of course, some of the time was spent in circles as I missed some round-about turns in the central city of Bath.

Our final dinner in Bath was at the Circus Cafe and Restaurant, in the central city (between Circus and Royal Court). Given limited central city parking, we decided to take the bus into town and walk from the bus stop to the restaurant. This restaurant was known for a new take on British cuisine. Betty had a John Dory fish dinner and I had a duck wrap dinner. We shared a half bottle of Pinot Blanc and a large side plate of perfectly steamed vegetables. We splurged with a chocolate and rhubarb/ginger desserts and called for a taxi to take us back to Apsley House.

World Travel with Bob

Pages

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Avebury and Bowood House and Gardens, May 12, 2015

AVEBURY MANOR AND GROUNDS

BOWOOD HOUSE AND GARDENS

1 comment: