The first warm up for Nunwell House took the form of a chance visit to the small museum in Brading Town Hall, the one by the church, looked after, on this occasion, by a lady who was born an Oglander (the people who came across with the Norman bastard, extinct in the male line in 1874, revived with a spot of deed poll), was brought up in Nunwell House and now lives in the former coach house, the house (but not the estate) having been sold to another once military family, the Aylmers, in 1982. Also Anglo-Normans from Ireland. From what she told us, this was a money decision: the house was too big and expensive, the estate was retained for the income it brought in and the changed arrangements were tax efficient.
The coach house, lower left. Looks a fair size from the air - as indeed is the corresponding place at Polesden Lacey now housing the shop, the cafeteria, rest rooms and ticket office. Plus a rather splendid water tower.
While here we have what looks as if it had once been the walled garden, top middle, given over to fruit and vegetables for the big house. Not clear what it is now.
Maybe a decade ago, we and a small number of others, were shown around the house by Colonel Aylmer, late of the Irish Guards. As I recall, tall, thin and well-preserved. A visit which I do not seem to have noticed. Furthermore, as a non-subscriber, I don't get much more than the snap above.
The museum was small, but contained some good stuff. Which we were allowed to touch and which was presented with some gusto. The museum also housed what was left of the Brading Lending Library, founded by a bequest and appearing to consist of lots of worthy books, uniformly bound for the job. I forget what happened to this library. Perhaps on winding up, they transferred the still useful part of their stock to the county library service.
The second warm up, was a gentle walk across the marshes which were once Brading harbour, towards St. Helens. Lots of twittering in the bushes, but the visual tweets amounted to an egret, a couple of herons and a great tit. Aural tweets amounted to a few skylarks.
A light lunch, followed by a visit to the gardens of Nunwell House, open as part of some gardens' day or some such. The one of the two ladies on the gate being the granddaughter of the colonel.
Attractive gardens, with lots of interesting plants and flowers, but with some signs of retrenchment. Five acres of garden is a fair bit to look after, even with a motor mower doing some of the heavy work. Lots of old oaks in the park land around.
The view up the Wellingtonia. This one being in the garden, rather than in the field, and additional to that at reference 1.
A detail of an attractive, but as yet unidentified tree. A good deal shorter than the Wellingtonia.
A proper close-up.
More evidence of global warming. These echiums seem to have got everywhere since we first came across their headquarters at the Ventnor Botanic Gardens, formerly a sanatorium. Or sana as Simenon's low life would have it.
A couple of buzzards, more or less overhead, in the course of the proceedings.
Quite a lot of dressing up by the ladies. One parasol - plus my umbrella. A mixture of friends, neighbours, local people and holiday makers. At least one male parson, possibly the successor of the female parson at Brading, the one with a toy farm, as noticed at reference 3. There was a good room provided for tea and cake, with both these last being good too. All very Midsomer.
On exit, we came across the very swing which I used as a child in Cambridge, more than sixty years previously. The car however, is not ours. Far too smart and grand.
On return to Brading, amused by this sign on a rather scruffy horse & donkey field behind our cottage. In Surrey, it is just the sort of thing you would expect to see on a field bought by a traveller. Little respect for the property of others, but very touchy when it came to his own, be it ever so scruffy.
References
Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/07/wellingtonia-83.html. On the way in.
Reference 2: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2017/07/junk-shop.html. As the ruling family, the Oglanders rated their own side chapel in the church at Brading.
Reference 3: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/07/back-to-yaverland.html.
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