Holiday part III

Day 7 - Hanbury Hall

Since we planned to go to the Cotswolds show on Saturday, we decided to take it slow on Friday and visit Hanbury Hall. Hanbury Hall is located near Worcester and was built in 1701 by Thomas Vernon, a lawyer and whig MP for Worcester. On a side note: I always think it's so confusing that the British never pronounce the names how they write them. Worcester, for example, is pronounced "Wooster" (like wood). 

But anyway, back to Hanbury Hall. It actually has some ties to the Netherlands, as the house is modeled after the Palace on the Dam in Amsterdam. Recently, an old campaign poster was discovered, which played an role in the elections in 1715. These elections marked an important turn in the British history, as it reduced the power of the monarchy and laid more power with the parliament.

Besides this history lesson, Hanbury Hall is also a lovely place to visit for its gardens and excellent cream tea (which of course we couldn't resist).

 

Emma Vernon (1754-1818)

The upstairs ceilings and walls of Hanbury were painted by Sir James Thornhill and depict the story of Achilles.

 Day 8 - Cotswolds show

The Cotswolds show is held every year in the first weekend of July. If you've never been, I really recommend visiting this awesome show! It's a fun day out for the whole family with all kinds of (country) activities, including both mechanical (ferris wheel) and non-mechanical (donkey) rides, falconry shows, music performances, food and shopping.
But I took some snaps so you can see for yourself ;)

Can you believe I just ran into this beauty in the parking lot?!

During the day, many demonstrations are held, including on how to perform Parelli with your horse (communication based on natural equine behaviors). 

Rare/endangered farm animal breeds are showed, such as this Clydesdale horse.

  

And there are cute birds of prey! On the left a falcon of some sort and of the right is a little owl (I know, duh!) better specified as Athene Noctua. 

I don't think this owl was fully awake...

I'm guessing a falcon? I'm not really good with falcons... Oh, and a barn owl of course.

Wood sculpting with a chainsaw is so much more fun. And manly. 

Toys for boys!

Dad wanted to take the dragon home, but unfortunatly my mum said no. 

There was even a spitfire air show!

Its upside-down! 

Anyone  up for ferret racing?

And than there was this cutie. No idea why he was there, but he's rather sweet to look at, isn't he?

Day  9 - Stratford river festival
Of course a visit to the Cotswolds region is not complete without a visit to Stratford-upon-Avon, the birth place of the famous Shakespeare. We choose to visit this beautiful antique city during the weekend, during the Stratford-upon-Avond river festival. 

Mister Shakespeare, surrounded by bronze representations of his most famous pieces. 

And of course boats! Lots and lots of boats.

The perfect place to take your wedding photos would be surrounded by dozens of tourists, who will use you in their selfie background. 

Really, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes the number of tourists.

There are almost as many tourists as there are swans and geese. 

But Stratford can also be very romantic once you get away from the crowd...

Day 10 - Baddesley Clinton
Baddesley Clinton is a unique Tudor house owned by the Ferrers family for 500 years. It played in important role in history during the times of the Catholic prosecutions, when it was a safe house for refugees. During the 1590s, many Catholic priests were hidden during so-called house raids up in the attics, behind the fire place and even in the underground sewer system. Because the family remained Catholic during the Protestant times, it was unable to increase their riches, like some many other families. However, this comes to our advantage in the present. Due to changing style and fashion, many old Tudor houses were demolished and replaced by Victorian style houses, but not Baddesley Clinton. This makes it a rare example of a Tudor house of this era. 

The little (dark) room of worship

The (literal) drawing room or art room

The legendary Kiftsgate rambler rose. It completely swallows whatever it gets its hands on and covers it with beautiful fragrant flowers. 

Curious little fellas ;)

Day 12 - Packwood house

Packwood house: "a house to dream of, a garden to dream in ". That was one of the quotes used by a visitor to describe Packwoord. 
Packwoord dates back to the 16th century, but was extended and restored as we see it today by the vision of Graham Baron Ash. Therefore, many different styles and time periods can be seen back in exterior of Packwood. 

  

  The famous yews of Packwood. The massive columns form a labyrinth-like pattern that's to intricate and large to capture in photos. You're just going to have to drop by and see for yourself. Trust me, its worth it. 

  

One more holiday post after his one, I promise!