So now lets visit Montacute House.
This entrance is used for disabled visitors, we carried on round to the side.
where you come across the Orangery.
lots of lovely planting
The other side.
Then we carried on down the side of the house.
Then through a side gate down into the walled garden and the entrance to the house.
To the right , the house and entrance to the left..
the most wonderful walled garden..
borders full of colour!
I just love this whole garden.. I'm feeling the need to have a walled garden with one of those magnificent buildings in the corners ! I wonder how long Paul's going to be on the folly?......
from outside the walled garden peeping in
Looking back across walled garden from the entrance to the house.
another peeking in front outside shot!
I did not take many photos in the house but I did take some of this exhibition of samplers that are displayed on one of the upper floors.
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the detail is wonderful.
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This collection of samplers is know as the Goodhart collection. They were collected over 30 years by a Dr Douglas Goodhart, a doctor of medicine, who on impulse purchased a sampler from an antique shop in Sussex in the 1950's and this set him off on collecting more.
A first he collected broadly seeking the best examples he could find, however he soon started concentrating on English samplars of the 17th century , a period that produced some of the most beautiful and skilled examples ever made.
The collection at Montacute house now include a highly significant group of the 16th and 17th century samplers and is recognised of international significance.
On the top floor of the house in the long gallery there is a display of Elizabethan and Jacobean portraits on loan from the National Portrait Gallery, so not only can you visit a wonderful house you get to go round a gallery of just over 50 portraits and a exhibition of wonderful 16/17th century samplers while outside is a magnificent walled garden and parkland plus a tearoom and shop plus if you walk out the gates you arrive in the beautiful village full of hamstone houses.
so we walked back out and here you can see the sign for the entrance to Montacute house and the house with the white door in the centre is where we were staying! So we left our purchases back at the house and when to the tearooms in the village for lunch, which we very nice.
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It's all very lovely. I'm feeling the need for a stone walled garden with corner pavilions as well, though I think I'll have to settle for our current chain link fence :-( Still, it costs nothing to dream...
ReplyDeleteSteve
This is the problem with these wonderful places.. they make us dream.. but then is dreaming a problem? No it's good to dream :)
DeleteParticularly enjoyed seeing the collection of Samplers as have always been interested in these.
ReplyDeleteDid actually try some very simple samplers with my class of Primary school children by them spelling out their name just using cross stitch.
Always planned to have a go at doing a small sampler myself when I retired but by then my Arthritic hands had put paid to this... though luckily I had been able to do a few rural nature pictures using different embroidery stitches on a silk screen. (Do you remembered seeing these dotted around the house when you visited?)
Beautiful gardens and planting again.
I love seeing the samplers such beautiful work. I too always planned to have a go at this but now my hands are getting the arthritis, so If I ever want to do any I'll need to get going! I do remember your beautiful needlework at your home :)
DeleteI love samplers. I have a photo of a sampler from the Gold Hill museum in Shaftsbury by 10 year old Sarah Ann Taylor dated 1862. The samplers were more than just recreation, they were part of a young girls education. I used to do some cross stitch, but I didn't really enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteMontacute is a lovely town, not very far from Taunton. We visited many times, but never actually went into Montacute House :) Jane x
They are lovely, such a shame they probably cost a small fortune to own an old beautifully made one!
DeleteThe whole of Somerset, Dorset , Devon and Cornwall are wonderful places to visit :) x
The walled garden is lovely - but when I start dreaming, it's of an orangery like this one...
ReplyDeleteMy mum likes doing needlework, so she made a few samplers which are hung now in her house, but none as elaborate as those in the collection. Well they are from a period when there were not so many other things to do in your leisure time, and when idleness was thought of as a sin.
What a grand place to visit. I particularly love the samplers and the gardens of course. Thank you Dee for a beautiful post. 😊 xxx
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