With the arrival of my Mom (Munk Mom) on the horizon, we set out to scout more places she might like to visit which led us to Wrest Park over near Luton.
When we arrived part of the house was closed off for a wedding but the grounds were open and we set out to beat the rain, which never ended up materializing.
Monsoon Wedding on Tour
The Italian Garden, leading up to the house
The House. That’s what they call it.
The sitting room of the countess at the main house
Honest to God croquet players, just wandering around
Somewhere in here we ran into Glynnis, a lady running the little covered trolley (that’s “golf cart” to you) and she was very nice and explained how we could hop on or off and she’d run us all over the grounds. Very good to know, but we were out for some exercise today.
The pavilion was particularly nice at the end of the Long Water and we finally decided on it as our ZAMS (Zombie Apocalypse Meetup Spot). We have one in each country in case something horrible and disastrous happens, a place we can both get to no matter where we are and would be reasonably accessible but we hadn’t found the one we wanted for England yet. (In retrospect, we had chosen the St.l Louis Cathedral in New Orleans for a while but after Katrina we had to re-think that one and only places above sea level are acceptable now.)
Pavilion, used to be used as a guest house/dining area
And they call this The Long Water. They really do.
We hunted around on the grounds for a while and I managed to find everything I wasn’t trying to on the map, including the Chinese Bridge (no idea why it’s called that).
Bear on the bridge
Finally we found the spot the map had promised –the de Grey family private cemetery for dogs. It was really touching to see how they had cared so much for their dogs (though I wouldn’t have minded a few cats getting in there), going so far as to put up tombstones with names and dates and inscriptions.
No Pet Semetery jokes allowed.
My favorite. I may name my next cat Busy. Katniss Busy Romtelecom.
An actual bathhouse–I seriously want this thing in my back yard.
Apparently Terebithia is in Wrest Park and that’s the bridge
The orangery, like a greenhouse
Having walked ourselves silly at this point, we took advantage of the tea room and then went over to get lunch at Nando’s in Stevenage before catching a late afternoon movie. I think I earned it.
Cambridge Chipmunk 