May 2, 2013 - Tatton Park, Cheshire

Greetings All,

Spring has finally arrived and we got ourselves out to a National Trust site in Knutsford, Cheshire about an hours drive away.
The estate was owned by the Stanley family by the end of the 15th century who built and lived in The Old Hall.  By the 1580's it had been expanded and was owned the Brereton family.  In 1598 the estate was bought by Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Chancellor of England.  At the end of the 17th century John Egerton, Sir Thomas's grandson, owned the estate.  It was John who built the Mansion which we visited today. The original estate covered 251,000 acres, today it is a mere 2,000 acres.  The estate remained in the Egerton family name until 1958 when  the last Lord Egerton died without issue, that is, no heirs.  He left the house to The National Trust and the park in lieu of death duties.

Our exploration started off with a visit to the gardens.  We started off in the kitchen garden.  Already there was lettuce in bloom.  The picture in the upper right corner is of an apple tree in bloom.  All the apple trees here have been forced to grow in this peculiar manner which I guess makes apple picking very easy as the trees are not much taller the me (5'4") and the branches grow along wires that would support the fruit. The gardens consist of 50 acres with different designs

being added by each generation of the Egerton's.  The picture on the right is of the Japanese Gardens.  There is also an Italian garden, rose gardens, Arboretum, Topiary, Maze and Glass Houses.  We wandered through most of the Gardens stopping for photos.  The Magic of Beatrix Potter, an exhibition of her work, was on display at the park and there were numerous statues and poster boards of Peter Rabbit character''s throughout the gardens and mansion where one can pose for a picture.  I had a picture taken by Fred with my face against the hole in one of the poster boards.  He wanted me to stick my head through the hole but these were obviously for kids.  We had a good laugh with some other visitors.

After finishing our walk through the gardens we headed to the mansion, which was built in the Neo-classical style in the 18th century and underwent extensive alterations between 1780 and 1813. The mansion is home to the family's collection of art, furnishings, books and ceramics.  The extensive servant quarters, kitchens and layout gives us a good picture of what a well ordered and sophisticated house hold this was.

The last picture is of an owl and squirrel, Beatrix Potter characters, in the library.  In one of the bedrooms we got to see some of Potter's original art work, with drawings of her characters of the Peter Rabbit series as well as botanical drawings.  She was a very talented woman in a time trying to gain recognition for her work in a male dominated world was difficult to say the least.

We spent a good 4 hours exploring and did not see all that Tatton Park has to offer.  So a return at some point is in order to visit the Old Hall the original home, the farm and gardens when the roses are in bloom.

Ta Ra for now,

Sandy & Fred