Stunning Stourhead

The gardens of Stourhead are like no others in England, or probably anywhere. Designed in the 1700s by Henry (The Magnificent) Hoare II, they are unique in that there is not a flowerbed to be seen - instead, they are designed to be a wonderful woodland walk, with entrancing vistas of lakes, lawns, follies, shrubs, bridges etc, opening out at different angles as you walk the two miles around the garden. Whereas yesterday I went dotty over thatched cottages, today it was snapping one beautiful chocolate box vista after another. The rain had come down again, but we managed to dodge the worst of it by breaking our walk midway in a pub for lunch, then wandering for a half hour of bright sunlight past a faux-Pantheon, a Palladian bridge, a huge grotto, all around a beautiful meandering path on the edge of the ornamental lake. More rain sent us scurrying for shelter, with umbrellas at the ready once more, but the misty version of the views had their own beauty. This garden is the beginning of the landscape architecture that was continued later by Capability Brown, as a break from the tradition of the formal French garden. It is maintained by 10 full-time gardeners and an "armada of volunteers" according to our very own volunteer guide who took us around.

The house at Stourhead has a great collection of Chippendal furniture, including a wonderful circular desk with individual locked drawers around the top for each tenant farmer's rent book and ledger. A Chippendale son lived at the house for some years making the furniture, so it is everywhere in the house, even including the Chippendale bench we sat on in the entrance hall to put little blue plastic bag covers over our shoes.

There is also a "Pope's Chest" which was apparently made for Pope Sixtus (??V or VI), which looks like an over-decorated baroque cathedral, covered in jewels and painting, with about 100 little drawers of various shapes and sizes making up the different parts of the "cathedral". Little treasures of painted miniatures were discovered in some stuck drawers, and there are still two little drawers that, tantalisingly, they cannot get unstuck.

The rain had not deterred other tourists either, it seems, as the car park was full as we left - obviously if we let the rain put us off, we would not get to see much of England!!!