Claydon

Over the nine years of this project, I have discovered a category of National Trust properties that I call 'Doesn't Look Like Much From The Outside But Inside It's Amazing'. Claydon in Buckinghamshire is firmly in that category.

To be honest, I don't even know where to start with it. I'll try and begin with some of the rooms before I move on to the history of the Verney family.

The North Hall

The house was built for Ralph, the second Earl Verney, in the 1750s-1760s by Luke Lightfoot. He was a stonemason and woodcarver who had impressed Ralph with his work and it's easy to see why: all of the elaborate wall carvings you see in the terrible picture below are wood carvings by Lightfoot.

Unfortunately, Lightfoot had his limitations. The planned house was actually three times the size of what we see today - there was originally also a rotunda and a third wing. But he made mistakes in how the house was built - a respected architectural expert at the time referred to him as "an ignorant knave" - which probably resulted in the demolition of the rotunda and the other wing after only 20 years. (The demolition of the rotunda also explains why the house doesn't have a front entrance.)

During construction, it was also discovered that Lightfoot had been defrauding the Earl, and he was dismissed from the project before it was completed. (In a later court case, it was established that Lightfoot had been paid £30,000 but had only delivered £7,000 of work or goods.)

The Saloon

The sacking of Lightfoot means that there is a mixture of styles in the house. The North Hall is fully Rococo and then you walk into the Saloon, which is Palladian. It's another show-stopper of a room, however, with a huge expanse of space covered in elaborately designed fittings.

You can probably guess what's coming next: the second Earl ended up in financial ruin and in 1784 work on the house stopped. The furniture was sold to cover his debts.

The Chinese Room

I had done no real research on Claydon before I visited. If I had, I might have seen the guidebook descriptions of the Chinese Room as "the glory of Claydon" and "one of the most extraordinary rooms in any English country house". 

But I hadn't seen any of that, so I unsuspectingly wandered into the upstairs room and was completely dumbfounded by it. The alcove is a show-stopping sight, with its intricate wood carvings. The rest of the room is also covered in elaborate decoration. I've never seen anything like it. 

Florence Nightingale Bedroom

After the jaw-dropping ostentation of the Chinese Room, you find yourself in rooms that are much simpler in style but come with huge amounts of fascinating history.

In 1858, Sir Harry Verney married Parthenope Nightingale, the older sister of Florence. (Both women were named after their birthplaces - Parthenope being the Ancient Greek name for Naples.) 

This meant that Florence spent a lot of time at Claydon from the 1860s through to 1895. There are various rooms that provide insight into her life, her former bedroom being one of them:

There's a portrait of Florence in her room that really didn't match the image I had of her in my mind, but I liked it all the more for that: 

The Claydon Museum

At this point in my visit, I was sure that Claydon couldn't possibly have any more rooms that would wow me. But Claydon wasn't done and I walked into the final flourish; The Museum. It was created by Sir Harry Verney in 1893 to showcase his artefacts from around the world. I failed to get any good photos of his gamelan, a set of gongs and other instruments from Java. But I did get this picture of the case dedicated to Florence - it's a replica of the type of Turkish lamp that she would have used as a nurse in the Crimea when she became famous as the Lady with the Lamp.

Until now, I have always avoided doing 'room by room' descriptions on this blog but it really is the best way to describe the Claydon experience. To be clear, there were other rooms too - I've only shared the most awe-inspiring ones.

Anyway. Before I get to the scone, let me tell you a bit more about the Verney family:

• There have been Verneys in Buckinghamshire since the 1200s
• In around 1463, the manor of Middle Claydon was bought by one Sir Ralph Verney who had been Lord Mayor of London
• The house was leased to a Roger Giffard, who built a house on the site of today's building as well as the chancel of All Saints church that stands next to it
• In 1620, Sir Edmund Verney decided he wanted Claydon back - he bought the Giffards out of their tenancy and became the first Verney to actually live there
• Sir Edmund was a very interesting man: he had served both Charles I and his older brother, who died prematurely. When Charles acceded to the throne, Edmund was a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber.
• He was staunchly loyal to the King during the Civil War, even though he didn't agree with him. There's a lovely paragraph in the guidebook that explains his position: "I have eaten his Bread, and served him for nearly thirty Years, and will not do so base a Thing as to forsake him; and chuse rather to lose my Life (which I am sure I shall do) to preserve and defend those Things which are against my Conscience to preserve and defend."
• Edmund was right about one thing: he did lose his life. His son Ralph had sided with the Parliamentarian cause and begged his father not to get involved but Edmund ended up as the King's Standard Bearer and died at the Battle of Edgehill in 1642. 
• It all gets a bit grisly in the guidebook after that: the enemy troops who killed him couldn't get the Standard from Edmund, so they hacked his hand off. That's the only bit of him that lies in his tomb in the church, as the rest of his corpse was never recovered.
• Ralph was not rewarded for siding with Cromwell. He refused to sign the Solemn League and Covenant, and had to go into exile. Claydon was sequestered.
• Ralph's wife, Lady Mary, came back to Claydon and found it in a terrible state. The house was returned to the Verneys and things improved under Charles II, with Ralph becoming the first baronet.
• His son John was very successful as 2nd baronet and became Viscount Fermanagh in 1703
• John's grandson, also Ralph, ended up as the second Earl in 1752 and it was he that built Claydon as we see it today
• Claydon is located near Stowe, another NT property, which was owned by Sir Ralph's political opponent at the time. Sir Ralph upped his spending on Claydon to compete with the splendour of Stowe. Bad move, Ralph. 
• But the house wasn't Ralph's only financial mistake. He was patron to Edmund Burke, the philosopher and economist, who wrote that Ralph "suspects nothing, fears nothing, he takes no precautions, he imagines all mankind to be his friend". And Burke would know - he and his cousin William owed Ralph £71,000 between them and they never repaid it. 
• Ralph died a broken man. His niece, Mary, became Baroness Fermanagh. She took on the job of sorting out Claydon, demolishing the rotunda and other wing. 
• Mary died in 1810. She was the last in the ancient line of Verneys, and the title died with her too. She left the house to a half-sister who had no children, so she passed it to her cousin, Harry Calvert, who changed his name to Verney.
• He married Parthenope Nightingale after the death of his first wife 
• My favourite fact of the whole day: Sir Harry was an MP and was known affectionately in Parliament as "the Member for Florence Nightingale" - I can't imagine there were many occasions in the 19th century when a man was known for being the brother-in-law of a woman more famous than him
• The sixth baronet, Sir Edmund Verney, still farms the estate and lived with his family at Claydon until quite recently

The Claydon Scone

I wasn't 100% sure that I actually needed to include Claydon in this project. The house is owned by the National Trust but the rest of the estate, including the Phoenix Kitchen cafeteria, is still owned by the family. The Rules of the National Trust Scone Blog state that only scones baked by the National Trust are mandatory. But at this late stage of the project, I'm taking absolutely no chances of missing one.

I was the first customer in the cafeteria today, so the assistant offered to bring my scone over to my table. It turned into the opening titles of Grange Hill, except that instead of a cartoon sausage, it was a ginormous scone that suddenly appeared over my shoulder.

It is definitely the biggest scone I have encountered in my nine years on this quest. And although that was great, it also brought problems, because the jam and the cream barely stretched to cover half the scone. On the plus side, it was warm and very fresh.  

I'll finish by reminding you all that, although Claydon was brilliant, there is only one National Trust property that can win the Gold Award for 'Doesn't Look Like Much From The Outside But Inside It's Amazing' and that is Clouds Hill in Dorset. It's a tiny little hovel, basically, but it's where Lawrence of Arabia wrote his books. Both properties are highly recommended.

Claydon: 5 out of 5
Scone: 4.5 out of 5
Number of times I said "Oh my God" or heard other visitors saying it as I walked around: at least 20

Ascott

I've seen a lot of changes at National Trust properties during the nine years of this project. One thing that hasn't changed is the criticism that the NT gets for the 'Disneyfication' or 'dumbing down' of history and heritage. It was there when I started this blog and it's still there now, mainly in the Daily Telegraph, but it's there, depressing the living daylights out of most NT members.

Ascott, near Leighton Buzzard, is to my mind what the Daily Telegraph wants the National Trust to be. It's a stunning estate - it's maintained beautifully, with not a leaf out of place. But there wasn't much to bring the place to life, or to explain its history, or to provide details of the people who have lived there over time. 

The reason for this is that it's still, in principle, a family home. Although Ascott is owned by the National Trust, the de Rothschild family still have use of it as a residence. You can look around the ground floor and peruse the collection of Ming porcelain and artworks. There were a couple of signs explaining the pictures and quite a few volunteer guides on hand, who were very pleasant and helpful. And for a lot of visitors, that's probably enough. For me, however, I love knowing about the people who built and lived in these places, and Ascott doesn't really offer that.  

So I did a bit of reading and discovered a few facts I can share:  

• In 1873, Lionel de Rothschild (grandson of Mayer Amschel Rothschild, the man who started the famous European banking dynasty) bought a farm at Ascott for his son, Leopold. The architects took the original farmhouse and turned it into a hunting lodge and then a fashionable country house that Leopold could use for entertaining guests. He also had a successful stud nearby. 
• Leopold's sister Evelina was the wife of Ferdinand de Rothschild, the creator of Waddesdon Manor
• In 1947 the house and some of its contents were given to the National Trust. 
• Sir Evelyn de Rothschild and his family still use the house on occasions and it is only open to the public at certain times, so be sure to book before you visit. 

The Ascott Scone

I wasn't entirely sure if the tea-room at Ascott was National Trust owned/run - according to the rules of the National Trust Scone Odyssey, a scone is only mandatory if it's officially NT. But I'm taking no chances at at this late stage of the project, so I went in anyway. And to be honest, I'm still not 100% sure - in some ways it was a very NT experience and it other ways it felt a bit different. 

The scone itself was fine. I did at one point wonder if it was a tad under-baked but concluded that it was just very cakey, with a lot of sponginess about it. It had a crisp exterior though, which was very good.

So that leaves just 19 properties left for me to visit. Today's trip made me realise that I probably shouldn't leave my final mission to chance - I have to make sure that it's a visit to remember for all the right reasons. I'm therefore adding one special place back on to my list and intend to close proceedings there in August. But for now - stay tuned as we embark on the final 19 scone expeditions!

Ascott: 3 out of 5

Scone: 4 out of 5

Waddesdon Manor Revisited

If I ever finish this Scone Odyssey, I expect the National Trust will want to reward me by giving me one of their many stately homes.

I will need at least a week to mull it over when the time comes, but Waddesdon Manor near Aylesbury will surely be a contender. It's one of the most impressive buildings in the country:

And although it has a lot of rooms, some of them are very cosy and homely. Having said that, some of the not so homely ones are great too - I particularly love the Miss Havisham-style dining room:

We went back to Waddesdon today, because for the first time in three years I generously allowed the Scone Sidekick to pick our destination. I have around 130 NT properties still to visit and I am getting increasingly worried that I'll never finish. So I was hoping he'd say Chedworth Roman Villa or Hidcote but he didn't. He absolutely loved Waddesdon on our first visit so that's where he wanted to go. 

And it was great to see it all again. I won't repeat all the history, as you can find that on my original post, but I noticed other items that I hadn't seen before. This is a portrait of Ferdinand de Rothschild for example - apparently it's the only one:

We also spent more time in the gardens - I'm afraid gardens always get short shrift from us on our visits. I always tell myself, a la Arnold Schwarzenegger, that I'll be baaaaack but I should really make more effort while I'm there.

As you would expect, the Waddesdon gardens are very neat and orderly:

I was also pleased to see that someone had been making good use of the contents of our recycling box to create this bottle sculpture:

But onto the scones. Scones don't get marks on revisits - like any decent quizmaster, I can only accept your first answer - but the Waddesdon scone was OK this time. On our first visit it got a unanimous five out of five; today it probably got a four. It was nice - it just wasn't as nice.

I'll finish with a nice picture of the Scone Sidekick. It'll be three years before he gets to pick another property to visit, poor love.

Hughenden Revisited

It's the season of goodwill to all men AND to all National Trust properties that didn't have any scones the first time I visited them. 

So today I returned to Hughenden. I absolutely loved Hughenden on my first visit, despite the lack of scones. I wanted to go back at Christmas, as they deck the place out Victorian-style in honour of former resident Benjamin Disraeli, so back we went.

Ominously, our day began almost identically to our first visit: we got lost and we had a big row. Last time, my map reading was at fault and we ended up driving round High Wycombe three times. This time I failed to interpret the sat nav correctly and we ended up driving in the completely wrong direction for four miles. 

But I shouldn't have worried. This time the Hughenden cafe had scones galore, and what fine scones they were too. A cream tea consisted of two mighty specimens - only Sheffield Park has served bigger scones this year I think - with a choice of jam. They were delicious.

As promised, Hughenden was all decked out for Christmas. The very homely drawing room had greenery (and reddery) everywhere - note Mrs Disraeli's portrait over the fireplace:

And there were plenty of Christmas trees too, like the one in the dining toom (with Dizzy's portrait over the fire):

There was a brass band playing carols, mulled wine, marshmallows for toasting...it was all very festive. There weren't any horses pretending to be reindeer like there were at Polesden Lacey last year but you can't have everything. And to be honest, I was just so relieved to find some scones that I didn't mind at all.

My previous post about Hughenden and Disraeli covers the history of the place, so I won't repeat it all here. 

There was some new excitement to report, however: a couple of weeks ago Hughenden announced that they are the proud owner of the largest horse-chestnut tree in Britain! Imagine! I was very excited about this, rather overlooking the fact that a) the Hughenden estate covers more than 600 acres and b) you can fit an awful lot of trees into a 600 acre estate. We wandered around for five minutes saying "could that be it?" "what about that one?" until we realised we were never going to find it, so we gave up.

Scone sidekick: "Are you the oldest horse-chestnut tree in the UK?"
Tree: "I'm not even a horse-chestnut tree."

So Hughenden comes off the list of National Trust properties that don't do scones - hurrah!

Christmas at Hughenden: 4 out of 5 
Scones: 4.5 out of 5

Stowe

It costs £30,000 to send your child to school at Stowe. I thought to myself; 'That's a lot of money. But if it guarantees you 7 years of education, 36 A'levels, and a network of friends who probably have to try quite hard NOT to be successful in life, then I can see how a certain type of person would think it worth it.' But it's £30,000 A YEAR, readers. A YEAR. Still, some people pay it - Richard Branson went there, as did Prince Harry's former squeeze, Chelsy Davy. 

But let's be clear: the National Trust owns the gardens at Stowe, not the school, so I've split this post into three chunks: the house, the gardens, the scones.

1. The House
Stowe House has been a school since 1923 and NT visitors can only marvel at its exterior. This is my single picture of Stowe House, taken during the torrential downpour that lasted for pretty much the entire duration of my visit - I'd taken my sister along, so naturally something had to go wrong and it was the weather:

The core of the house was built in 1677-1683. Various parts were rebuilt and extended throughout the 1700s until the 2nd Duke of Buckingham went bankrupt in 1848 and the contents of the house were sold. It was eventually saved by the people that turned it into a school.

2. Stowe Gardens 

The National Trust has looked after the gardens at Stowe since 1990. They were created mainly by Viscount Cobham and his nephew Richard, Earl Temple, who inherited Stowe in 1752. Many illustrious talents worked on the gardens, including Sir John Vanburgh, William Kent, James Gibbs, and 'Capability' Brown, and it became a popular visitor attraction in the 18th century.

There are three main paths at Stowe: the Path of Vice, the Path of Virtue, and the Path of Liberty. As you walk round, you come across 30 or so statues, temples, and other buildings - there were others, but they've been demolished over the years.

We took the Path of Liberty, which was one of the last areas of the gardens to be developed. In this view, you can see the Gothic Temple, Lord Cobham's pillar, and the Palladian Bridge:

I will advise that you don't make the same mistakes as us: if you go to Stowe, set aside a good three hours minimum to see the sights and don't go when it's pouring down. And if you do happen to go during wet weather, don't wear open-toed shoes, as they don't combine well with rain and sheep poo.

But here are a couple of highlights to whet your appetite.

The Palladian Bridge was completed in 1736 and was probably designed by James Gibbs. It provided a nice sheltered spot for visitors, and it really did serve that purpose for us today:

The Gothic Temple was completed in 1748 and was also designed by Gibbs. It commemorates the British liberty of Saxon kings like King Alfred, as opposed to Roman tyranny. Apparently, it's now a holiday cottage:

And that is sadly as far as we got before we had to admit defeat and make our way like two drowned rats back to shelter out of the rain. There's loads more to see, though, and I will definitely be back.

3. The Stowe Scones
I had really high hopes for today's scone, purely because Stowe was the 50th stop on the National Trust Scone Odyssey and I felt that this deserved a 'golden' scone. But as we've seen before, high hopes are a risky business when it comes to scones. 

The tea room at Stowe was lovely (it looked very new) and the scones were beautiful dinky little things. Then I cut into one and my heart sank - it looked really dry (which was a bit ironic considering the torrential deluge that was battering off the windows). But it didn't taste dry at all. These scones were dense, sweet and tasty as anything. Top marks and five house points to Stowe.

I then went home and tried to dry off, a task made somewhat easier by the radiant evening sunshine that streamed in through the windows and made it impossible to watch the TV. I felt like getting back in the car and returning to Stowe but that'll have to wait for another day.

And so that completes 50 National Trust scone missions. We're taking a few weeks off but look out for the scone blog's 1st birthday round-up of Top National Trust Scones in two weeks' time. 

Stowe: 4 out of 5

Scones: 5 out of 5

Man rescuing us from the mud in his little golf buggy: 5 out of 5

Waddesdon Manor

There are some National Trust properties that are very understated. An old mill. A crumbling tower. A piece of moorland.

And then there are some properties that come into view doing high kicks and going "YOO-HOO! HERE I AM! A FRENCH RENAISSANCE-STYLE CHATEAU BUILT BY BARON FERDINAND DE ROTHSCHILD!". 

Waddesdon Manor near Aylesbury belongs in the latter category. In fact it IS a French Renaissance-style chateau built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild: 

It's almost like a tornado ripped through the Loire Valley, picked up a chateau, and then deposited it just off the M40.

Waddesdon Manor was actually built in the late 1870s. Ferdinand de Rothschild bought the land from the Duke of Marlborough and commissioned a French architect, Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur, to create a brand new build in the style of the French chateaux he admired so much. 

As you have no doubt worked out for yourself, Ferdinand was a member of the Rothschild family. My limited knowledge of the Rothschilds comes from the Evening Standard, a highly reliable source of 'news', if your idea of 'news' is enough gossip about London-based rich people/celebrities to fill the 20 minute train journey from Waterloo to Mortlake.

But once again the National Trust has rescued me from ignorance. Here's what I learned: the Rothschild family stems from Mayer Amschel, who set up a successful financial business in Frankfurt in the late 18th century. He had five sons - James, Carl, Salomon, Nathan, and Amschel - all partners in the business, who spread out across Europe. Our Ferdinand was the grandson of Salomon. Ferdinand was born in Paris and raised in Frankfurt and Vienna, before settling in England after he fell in love with his cousin, Evelina, granddaughter of Nathan - the Rothschilds were VERY keen on marrying within the family.

Ferdinand seems to have used Waddesdon for two things: 1) housing his collection of art, furniture, china, clocks, mechanical elephants...you name it, Ferdinand seemed to collect it and 2) entertaining kings, queens, politicians, archbishops etc etc etc and showing them his collections. 

The rooms are exquisite - each one is a treasure trove of beautiful items. And because Waddesdon was left by Ferdinand to his fastidious sister Alice, and then passed to their nephew, James, before being handed over to the National Trust, much of the house and contents are as Ferdinand had them.

But it's not just the beautiful facade or the sumptuous rooms that made today so enjoyable. I would go as far as to say that Waddesdon is one of the best National Trust properties I've been to. Here's why:

1. Waddesdon has an audio guide 
God, I LOVE audio guides. I love them. I wish every National Trust property had one. They make a visit so much easier - you notice 10x more than if you try and walk round reading a guide book and you learn 100x more than if you walk round with nothing. There were visitors today walking round unaided and I was most concerned for them. Did they know that Evelina died in childbirth? Had they seen that the mechanical elephant can swing its trunk about and flap its ears when it's wound up? I'm still worrying now.

2. Waddesdon is extremely well organised
My heart sank a bit when I saw a shuttle bus taking people from the car park to the house but there are at least 3 buses and they whizz discreetly round the place, giving you a real 'WOW' moment when you first pull up opposite the Manor. The timed tickets also work really well, the restaurants run like clockwork, the car park is huge, and the staff are very knowledgeable. I really could not fault one bit of it. 

3. Waddesdon has an excellent guide book
If you decide not to part with £3 for the audio tour (WHY?) the 'Waddesdon Companion Guide' is very good value for money; £5 for 144 pages telling you all about the contents of each room in great detail.

4. The Waddesdon scones are superb
Yes indeed, scone fans, Waddesdon also delivered when it came to the main event. The scone was fresh - I'd estimate it'd been out of the oven for two hours, tops - and it was quite simply delicious. Even the scone sidekick gave it a five. 

I'd always suspected that Waddesdon would be one of the National Trust's star properties and I wasn't disappointed. I highly recommend it. 

Waddesdon Manor: 5 out of 5
Scones: 5 out of 5
All-round National Trust Visitor Experience: 5 out of 5 

Hughenden

It had to happen sometime I suppose. The scone blogger arrived at Hughenden near High Wycombe only to discover that there were NO SCONES.

That's not actually true. They had cheese scones. And I never said that this was a sweet scone-only blog. A correspondent from Nymans had already questioned me on my anti-savoury bias and I'd agreed to be more open-minded. But I won't lie; I was really disappointed.

It didn't help that a) it was raining and b) we'd got lost on the way, so relations were, let's say, a tad fraught before we even got to Hughenden. But I decided to change the habit of a lifetime and affect a cheery, worse-things-happen-at-sea! demeanour and so I plumped for the cheese scone:

I've never eaten a cheese scone and so I have nothing to compare it to but it was OK - they warmed it up for me and it had a nice spongy texture, plus the tea was lovely. My accomplice forked his way miserably through a slice of Victoria sponge as if he was heading to the gallows but maybe he was just regretting his choice of girlfriend and her lack of map-reading skills.

ANYWAY. Things were not going well and then we went into the manor house itself and it was FANTASTIC. Hughenden is a real little delight of a place. There are so many National Trust properties that are lovely but you'd never want to live there in a million years - too big, too draughty, too forbidding. Hughenden - I'd move in tomorrow: 

I wanted to visit Hughenden because it had been the home of Benjamin Disraeli. If you sent me on Mastermind, the one subject I would not want to face (along with anything to do with cricket, science, cooking, films, or the Kardashians) is British Prime Ministers. I couldn't even tell you who was Prime Minister when I was born (I just looked it up and it was Ted Heath). 

I have to say that I didn't learn that much about Disraeli while I was in the house itself - we'd just missed the guided tour about him. However, I bought a really good guide book for £4.50 in the shop, although I didn't realise it was a really good guide book until I got home. BUT ANYWAY, here are some things I learned about 'Dizzy' from the really good guide book:

1. Disraeli was born Jewish but his father converted to Christianity when Benjamin was 12. However, for his whole life and career he was caricatured as Jewish.

2. He married for money but then fell in love with his wife. He was known for spending way beyond his means so when he got the chance to marry a rich widow, Mary-Anne Wyndham Lewis, he took it. He subsequently went on to describe her as "the most cheerful and the most courageous woman I ever knew". Which was pretty fortunate for them both when you think about it.

3. Queen Victoria loved him. The more I read about Queen Victoria, the more she sounds like a really unappealing old curmudgeon. Anyway, at first she didn't like Dizzy and then she did and then she loved him until he died (mostly because he was so good at flattery it seems to me). 

4. He was a Byron fan-boy. When I read this, I assumed that Byron was long dead but no - he was only 16 years older than our hero and they knew each other. As you can imagine, Byron wasn't much of a role model - basically what Disraeli learned from him was how to dress extravagantly and spend excessively.

BUT! The history of Hughenden doesn't end there. It is also famous for its contribution to WWII. It was commandeered by the Air Ministry in 1941 and it became the secret centre of map production, creating all of the maps that were used for night-time bombing raids in Germany. 

BUT! What is really amazing is that nobody knew about Hughenden's role in WWII until 2004! Yes indeed, for almost 60 years the story was hidden, until a National Trust guide overhead a visitor telling his grandson about how he'd sat at a desk in front of a window in one of the rooms drawing maps. The story was then declassified and more people came forwards with tales, helping to create an exhibition that is fascinating in every way. 

And I LOVE that about Hughenden. You have to remember that most properties hitch their wagons to a certain era - so at Hughenden it's the Victorian era when Disraeli lived there. But go downstairs and there's a 1940s sitting room, complete with radio and sewing machine on the sideboard. It was fascinating to suddenly see the house in a completely different timespan. 

So, in conclusion, we loved Hughenden. I overheard the very lovely guide in the Entrance Hall telling someone that they decorate the place at Christmas in Victorian stylee - I hope I make it back there for that because it would be something pretty special. 

Sweet scones: 0 out of 5 (there weren't any)

Cheese scones: 3 out of 5 (not my thing really)
Hughenden: 5 out of 5 (when can I move in?)