Buckinghamshire 2

Tags

cinnamon bark tree, donkey wheel, Greys Court, Jersey Tiger Moth, National Trust, wisteria

The second National Trust property we visited was Greys Court (no apostrophe, which bothers me).  Taking timed tickets for 1.15 pm to visit the house, we wandered round the gardens, which were split up into ‘rooms’, for a while.

This was the first of many references to Lady Brunner that we saw during our visit.  It turned out that she was the last resident of the property. This is not a church tower, but part of old fortifications. Here is a selection of the things which appealed in the gardens.

These ‘wings’ rotate in the breeze.  But there was no breeze today. 

This is just part of a huge, 125-year-old-wisteria

A still quite rare Jersey Tiger Moth, a species gradually spreading up from the south. We waited in vain for it to reveal its glorious scarlet underwings.

Particularly tranquil, and deliberately so, was the peace garden where white flowers dominated, designed for quite sitting and reflection, (though I’m afraid not everyone read the notice).

Cinnamon bark tree

It was time for coffee, which seamlessly merged into an early lunch.

 

While we continued to sit there after we had finished eating, I became mesmerised by this house fly, helping to clear up some dried-on jam.  My friends indulged this peculiar fascination by joining in my photographic efforts.  I particularly enjoyed seeing its jaws at work, the lower one splitting and opening sideways as it seemed to me. (I’m sure there is a much more scientific description of this!)We still had a little time before the time on our tickets, so we went to see the donkey wheel.  Poor donkeys, endlessly walking on this wheel, not even able to see the outdoors. Sadly no brief history awaited us at the door of the house this time,and no photography was allowed inside it.  There was no information about the history of the house inside either.  The only references to inhabitants were to the Brunners.  One volunteer guide, in the kitchen, was able to confirm our observation that the house was many centuries old, and indeed the kitchen was Tudor. Later on in the day we discovered the house’s long, fascinating, and at times turbulent, history. Shame on you, National Trust, for leaving your visitors in such ignorance.

But as we left, despite this dearth of information, I reflected that the Trust does provide very good days out, including for families, and there were many of those there that day.