A Fancy Fedora at Tredegar House

Another day, another outfit, another National Trust property!  One of our local National Trust properties is Tredegar house.  On our last visit, the roof was off the house for essential repairs to take place.  The whole building was wrapped in plastic and scaffolding.  The repairs are now complete, and the building is looking grand again.  We were lucky with the weather, another glorious winter's day of bright sunshine.  Everything in this outfit has been worn on the blog before, just not all together.

In the Deerpark

At this time of year when the days are still short, it's wise to take advantage of any sunny spells to top up the vitamin D levels.  These photos are from just before Christmas.  On the way back from a short visit westwards we stopped in lovely Llandeilo and headed up to the deerpark at Dinefwr for a stroll.  With a light sprinkling of snow on the ground, it was quite the contrast from our last visit back in May, on one of the warmest days of the year when the woods were full of bluebells.

On this visit we were lucky to see the herd of fallow deer, who were grazing close to the back of the house.  They moved away as soon as they caught wind of us, and the clatter of antlers echoed across the park as a few of them had a scuffle.  Later in the year you might be lucky and find some shed antlers on your walk around the grounds.  On this occasion we didn't have much time, so we contented ourselves with a brief stroll around the house and some deep breaths of the clean, cold, country air.

Petworth Posing

Today's outfit post is a his-and-hers special, from the stately surroundings of Petworth house and parkland.  I mentioned in my recap of our West Sussex road trip that we'd called in to Petworth on our journey home.  It was the most gorgeous day of autumn sunshine, and we made the most of walking around the lovely grounds to stretch our legs before getting back into the car for several hours.  As usual, we were perhaps on the overdressed side for a visit to a National Trust property, standing out in a sea of gortex and trainers.  (I'm sure many of you dear readers empathise with this, I've seen what some of you wear to National Trust places too!)

It's amazing to think that the mansion building you see was actually built in 1682.  It's not the prettiest of stately homes, but it's when you're indoors that you realise the whole place is really geared towards the wonderful parkland setting - those windows are designed to look out of, not peer into.  The other thing to notice is that there is no long sweeping drive from which to approach and admire the house.  Today's visitors arrive via a short woodland pathway from the car park, so that the appearance of the house is almost unsuspecting.  This again is intentional.  The original long driveway and formal gardens were removed by Capability Brown, who created the lake and rolling hills in their place.  The overall effect of this carefully constructed landscape is very pleasing.

Gingham crop shirt and midi skirt

The Blickling Estate is another impressive National Trust property, and the last we visited on our Norfolk trip.  It's a handsome red-brick building, set in formal gardens flanked by ancient yew hedges.  Although the current incarnation of the manor was built in 1624, the previous manor that stood in its place was the birthplace of Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII, a whole century earlier.

The manor and grounds are certainly more formal than many National Trust properties.  I felt that the building would make a good film location as a posh boarding school.  Perhaps it was my hat that helped give me that impression - I always think it's a little bit 'St. Trinians'.  Teaming it with my gingham shirt from Heart of Haute helped my imagination along a little further because red gingham was our summer dress uniform at junior school.

The skirt was one of those described as 'midi' - which I always envisage to mean that it will fall to mid calf.  As you can see, it only just passes my knees.  I kept it as it's apparently made of 'scuba', whatever that is, which does mean that it's fantastic for travelling - you can scrunch it into a ball, ram it in your suitcase, and it will miraculously spring back to shape when you unpack it, with no ironing required.  If I find any nice scuba fabric perhaps I can make my own longer version.

The Abandoned Orangery

This post is about the location, not the outfit.  I'd like you to imagine that in the following photographs, that rather than being dressed in polkadots and colourful wedges, with my sweaty hair plastered to my face, that I am wearing a long white gown by Gunne Sax.  My hair is swept up romantically like Helena Bonham Carter's in 'A Room With A View', and my face is full of cool composure, rather than being shiny and warm.

Such is the problem of finding an amazing photoshoot location when you least expect it.  One of our last National Trust stops on our trip to Norfolk was Felbrigg Hall.  It was another swelteringly hot day, and keen to avoid the sun we stumbled into welcoming cool shade of the orangery.  It turned out to have been rather abandoned.  The aura was one of decay, despite the stubborn plants still clinging on for their lives to the damp, flaking walls.  In the rafters, a soft rustle of wings gave away the presence of its aviarian lodgers.

Bizarrely, the room also held a large doll's house, which only added to the somewhat unsettling atmosphere.  I almost had convulsions when the silence was broken open with the deafening thud of one of the birds flying into one of the window panes.  We left hastily.

A Floral Dress at Paycocke's Tudor House

Our first National Trust stop on our recent road trip in the East of England was at Paycocke's Tudor house and gardens.  It had been a long drive from Wales, about 5 hours including driving through London (my first time), and making a stop to drop off a load of stock of CDs ready for my husband's upcoming album launch.  Once we were out the other side of London (slow traffic and 31 degree heat wasn't pleasant!), we were desperately in need of fresh air and refreshment.  I longed for a pretty garden with a shady spot to enjoy a beverage, and we happened to be near Paycocke's on our road through Essex, so we made a beeline for it. Set in a pretty and quintessentially English little village, the house is mainly Tudor and backs on to the most lovely gardens.

What a beautiful place to spend an hour it turned out to be.  I was delighted to find out that it had originally been a merchant's house - selling cloth, nonetheless!  There was a reason we were drawn to it...  Inside there are a number of rooms to explore, each reflecting a certain aspect or era of the property's history.  I particularly enjoyed a bedroom that drew on a period in the 1920s when the composer Holst visited.  After our tour of the house, we ordered some coffees and found a quiet spot in the gardens to enjoy the surroundings more fully.  The gardeners obviously work incredibly hard, are knowledgeable, and friendly towards visitors (that seems to be a feature of National Trust staff - I've never yet met one who was grumpy or seemed unhappy in their job).

You've seen everything in the outfit before.  I re-wear my favourites a lot, but this is a sundress that usually only comes out on holiday somewhere hot rather than here in the UK.  I also wore my colourful wedge sandals, a tiny dragonfly brooch, and carted around a huge red 'Mary Poppins' bag of 'just in case' items.

Anyone For Croquet?

On our whistle-stop Dorset adventure we had to squeeze in just one more National Trust property, aside from the fabulous Portland House that is.  We chose to visit Max Gate, formerly author Thomas Hardy's home, as it's close to Dorchester.  The house is a Victorian building that Hardy designed himself, though it was extended over the years, perhaps to accommodate the icy atmosphere that developed between him and his first wife.  She basically moved into the rather small attic rooms, with a little parlour of her own where she could write undisturbed, whilst Hardy had a massive well-lit study and the large master bedroom on the floor below.  It doesn't seem entirely fair, but I think she just wanted to be left alone!

The garden was delightfully tranquil.  There's a fairly busy road nearby but it felt very peaceful, and very Edwardian rather than Victorian.  All civilised tea on the lawn and rounds of croquet, which Hardy enjoyed with guests.  I admit that my husband and I don't know the rules to croquet, so we made up our own.  I lost the game, despite an early lead.

Green With Envy

As part of the joint birthday celebrations with my husband, we had a night down in the county of Dorset, in England's South-West.  The main purpose of the trip was to visit a fabulous Art Deco villa by the sea, Portland House, owned by the National Trust.  I will do a separate post on the property itself, because I took a vast amount of photos and want to share them all with you!  Today is a teaser, as I'm just showing you what I wore.

It was a fairly overcast day on our visit, but it stayed dry, so were able to wander around the gardens and terrace of the villa, as well as spend time marveling at the gorgeous interiors - all done out in the height of Art Deco chic.  The interior of the house, and the terrace, were both overrun with visitors, so for the photos we found a quiet corner of the garden.  We still had a bit of an audience for most of the shoot though, I think people found our attire amusing for a Sunday, when the masses are in very casual dress.

I'd actually ordered a dress from Pretty Retro especially for the occasion, but I misjudged the delivery time and unfortunately it didn't turn up in time to take on the trip.  Frantically rummaging through my wardrobe the night before for something that would vaguely be in keeping with the 1930s, I came across this green check dress from Collectif that I picked up in a sale a few years ago.  The shoes were part of my March charity shop haul, and seemed to fit the bill too.  Some of the jewellery was a last minute addition from a car boot sale early that morning, isn't it funny how sometimes you find the perfect accessory at the right time?

Birthday in the Bluebells

Yesterday was my 38th birthday.  It's tradition to have a day out (last year it was a bbq by the sea), so we had a little road trip west, to the pretty town of Llandeilo.  There's a beautiful National Trust estate close to the town centre, Dinefwr (din-ev-or).  It's a large estate, with a stately home, a ruined castle, and miles of walks through bluebell woods and parkland.  We toured the house, enjoyed a light lunch in the excellent cafe, and then popped back to Llandeilo for a visit to the charity shops and Gin house.  Suitably refreshed, we then returned to the estate for an early evening walk up to the castle.  The path wound through the parkland and up through the woods, which were a riot of bluebells.  It was too beautiful not to take some photos.

Tredegar House

One of the things I love about the National Trust is that they promote conservation in action.  This means that you still get to see the buildings that haven't been fully restored yet, or in the case of 17th Century Tredegar House, have a missing roof and are wrapped in plastic like a giant present!  We unintentionally timed our visit to coincide with the first day the house was open after the winter, a free entry day, and the school's half-term break.  You can imagine just how busy it was.

Pastel Pink Coat at Aberdulais Falls

Since we bought our National Trust Membership, I've been determined for us to get our money's worth.  That means that days out are scheduled, regardless of how wet and cold it is.  It's not all grand mansions set in parkland though.  The National Trust also preserves miles of coastline and countryside, and relics of Britain's industrial heritage.  One such relic is Aberdulais Tin Works.  Once a beauty spot beloved of painters, including Turner, the Victorians blasted the pesky rocks out of the way to put a tin works there.  The falls are really quite impressive, they crash down with incredible force that comes as a surprise looking at the calm river upstream.

It's a small site; you can easily do it in an hour, and there's a café and gift shop to warm up in afterwards.  There's an exhibition, detailing the works' history, and showing the raw metal and some of the end tin products, from the first beer in cans in 1935, to toy cars.  There's also a short documentary - very well done - that conveys the history of the site and the hardships of the workers.  Sweltering heat, dirt, long days, poor pay, and the risk of horrible industrial accidents (such as falling into molten metal).  The workers were men and women of all ages (no nice early retirement) and children as young as 8 years old.  Life must have been excruciatingly hard.

On to the outfit.  I know pastels are supposed to be for Spring, but I quite like pastels in winter too.  My husband thought I was very unseasonal and couldn't understand why I wanted to wear a pastel pink coat on such a wintry day, but I was trying to cheer up all that grey!  Also, he looked at my tights and commented that they were 'bold', which amused me no end.  I've dressed up in a silk gown to roam the mountainside in, and been to the supermarket in a pink wig and silver shoes, both of which passed without comment.  But my grey knitted tights were apparently a step too far...

Tyntesfield in Photos

My last outfit post was set at Tyntesfield, a sprawling Victorian mansion set in a beautiful spot in the Somerset countryside.  I promised some more photos of the house and grounds itself, so here you go, along with a potted history.

Vintage Suede Coat

Today I have another glimpse into my vintage coat collection.  This beautiful '60s suede coat was a birthday gift from my husband.  I don't get to wear suede often because of the wet Welsh weather, but it was a fine and crisp morning, so the coat had its first outing.  Our destination was a mansion of Victorian gothic splendour, Tyntesfield, set in a sprawling country estate in Somerset.  Tyntesfield is another National Trust property (we're making the most of that membership!).  This sprawling estate and magnificent house was built on an empire of bird poo.  I'm not kidding!  Peruvian bird poo, that's how they made their fortune.

We narrowly averted going to the wrong place.  There are two Wraxhalls in Somerset, one in North Somerset and within easy reach, and the other in South Somerset, near Glastonbury and at least an hour further in the car.  We were headed to the South Somerset one, when I saw a sign for Tyntesfield and veered off the M5.  Phew!

Velvet Winter

Winters here aren't often picture-postcard.  There's no quiet blanket of snow, underneath clear icy blue skies.  Instead, we most often get endlessly grey and damp days.  The light can be almost eerie, and a sort of gothic depression fills the air.  In my efforts to follow my own tips and make January cheerful, I bought National Trust membership with some Christmas money.  For those of you not from the UK, the National Trust is a conservation charity that protects historic buildings, monuments and places of natural beauty.  The wonderful 1920s' country house and Agatha Christie's former home that I visited in Devon last year, are both owned by the National Trust.  Members can visit their sites unlimited times, and as we have a few places locally, I thought it made sense to become regular visitors.  These photos were taken at a wonderful local house and gardens, Dyffryn - not too many photos of the place itself this time as the weather was non-compliant, but we'll be visiting many more times this year I'm sure.  The house had the deserted feel of a summer residence, shut up after lots of parties, and waiting for the return of guests in the Spring.  It felt as though all the furniture should be covered with dust sheets.