Monks House

If you're a regular National Trust go-er, you'll know that there are loads of different types of NT visitor. There's the Expert Visitor, who likes to correct the tour guides. There's also the lesser-spotted but brilliant Lived-It Visitor, who has some kind of first-hand experience of the place. 

But the category of visitor I'd like to talk about today is the Pilgrim Visitor. The Pilgrim is not a casual visitor - they have often travelled a long way to visit a specific NT property for a specific reason. This presents a bit of a challenge to the staff and I'm not sure they always get it quite right - but more on that later.

The properties that tend to attract Pilgrim Visitors are usually connected to a famous person, for example at Greenway (Agatha Christie) or The Firs (Edward Elgar) or the Beatles' Childhood Homes (The Beatles) - I've added a longer list below.

But whichever property they're visiting, you can always spot the Pilgrims by one common identifier: they have a look of ecstatic awed happiness on their faces. It's like they've finally found their ancestral home or caught a glimpse of their hero. They almost start glowing.  

Monk's House in East Sussex probably had the most Pilgrims per square foot that I've ever encountered. There are two reasons for this: firstly, Monk's House is very small so it doesn't have many square feet. But the most important reason is that it was once owned by Virginia Woolf and her husband, Leonard.

To give you some idea: I hadn't even made it out of the car park when a group of women in their 20s passed me. They were animatedly debating Virginia Woolf's books, the order in which she had published them, and whether any had been written at Monk's House. 

Rear view of house, with cat probably called Orlando

And this is where the problem lies. I hate to say it but the visitor experience at Monk's House may need a rethink.

It started well: I booked a ticket online in advance and managed to get there on time. I was expecting some kind of actual tour where a guide collects a group of people and gives them an introductory talk and then either sets them off on their own or actually leads them through the property (like the very excellent Birmingham Back to Backs or Beatles' Childhood Homes). 

It turned out that there wasn't a tour at all - and that's fair enough, as they hadn't actually specified there would be one. Instead, I checked in at the reception area, which is very tiny, and was then directed down the street and through a gate. I got to the back door of the property and wasn't really sure what I was supposed to do, so I kept walking and got told off for jumping the queue (and I'm definitely not a queue-jumper so that was a bit awkward).

But the real problems start once you go inside. The property is small, so if more than 5 or 6 people are already looking around a room then you don't really feel able to enter or hang around. But if you're a Pilgrim-type visitor, coming from miles away for an important moment in your favourite writer's house, then you'll want to linger for a while and take it all in. You'll likely have loads of questions. And that's great, because the room guides are really knowledgeable. But when another visitor follows you into that room and catches 5 minutes of your questions, they come out with a really detailed understanding of where the bookcase was found or who made the rug but they'll probably have missed lots of other general information or detail about other things. 

One guide during my visit literally said this - she was giving a detailed and very informed answer to a super-specific question and then looked around and said "I've lost track of who's just come in or what you've heard" and it summed up the whole experience for me. It felt like potluck as to whether you learned anything useful, which made it seem disorganised.

When I got home, I read the really good guidebook and immediately wanted to go back. There was so much I'd missed. And that's not completely unusual - on a few previous occasions I've found interesting things in the guidebook that I hadn't appreciated during the visit - but at Monk's House I felt like I'd missed most of it.

The Sitting Room

So let me give you a quick summary of the life and times of Monk's House:

• Virginia and Leonard Woolf bought Monk's House as a country retreat in 1919.
• They loved the South Downs - Virginia had previously leased another house in the area with her sister, Vanessa, and when that lease ended she bought Monk's House.
• The house, which had no electricity or running water when they acquired it, is located in the village of Rodmell near Lewes.
• It had been originally built in the late 1600s as a three room cottage for servants. It was then sold on to various families including the Clears, the Glazebrooks, and the Verralls.
• The Woolfs built a two-storey extension in 1930, with one of those rooms becoming Virginia bedroom, which you can visit today.
• The house was decorated by Virginia and filled with artworks by Duncan Grant and other members of the Bloomsbury Group.
• Virginia had originally used an old toolshed in the garden as a place for her writing. In 1934 the couple replaced this with a purpose built writing lodge, which you can see today.

Virginia Woolf's writing lodge

• Virginia wrote Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), Orlando (1928), and The Waves (1931) at Monk's House.
• The couple loved gardening, especially Leonard, and the gardens are still lovely.
• Their London flat was bombed in 1940 and they moved to Rodmell permanently. 
• Virginia, who suffered severe bouts of depression, drowned herself in the River Ouse near Monk's House in 1941. 
• Leonard Woolf continued to live in Monk's House until his death in 1969. he left the house to his partner, Trekkie Parsons, who offered it to the University of Sussex. The house began to deteriorate and Nigel Nicolson, son of Vita Sackville-West, encouraged the National Trust to take it on and look after it.

I'd been wanting to see Monk's House since I started this project 10 years ago. It's only a few miles from Alfriston Clergy House, which was the first building that the NT ever acquired. However, neither place owns a cafe and until recently I've had to prioritise NT properties with scone opportunities. Now that I've completed all of the scone destinations, I get to visit all the other really fascinating NT places.

In summary, then: if you're a fan of Virginia Woolf, you have to visit Monk's House. It's very easy to imagine her living and working there, making it perfect for any Pilgrim visitor. The visitor experience could admittedly be better, to make it more informative and complete, but the guides are very well informed and there's lots to enjoy in the gardens and local area. 

A walk near to Monk's House

Monk's House: 4 out of 5

Scone: there's no cafe so no scone and no scone scoring

Other National Trust properties where you're very likely to find Pilgrim Visitors:

• Avebury - popular with fans of Neolithic standing stones
• Bateman's - Rudyard Kipling lived here
• Beatles' Childhood Homes - for obvious reasons
• Carlyle's House - one for fans of Thomas Carlyle 
• Chartwell - home of Winston Churchill 
• Clouds Hill - used as a place for writing by Lawrence of Arabia 
• Coleridge Cottage - Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote his masterpieces here
• Flatford - childhood home of John Constable 
• George Stephenson Birthplace - one for fans of Industrial Revolution geniuses
• Greenway - the summer home of Agatha Christie
• Hadrian's Wall - very famous Roman construction
• Hardy's Cottage - where Thomas Hardy lived and wrote Far From The Madding Crowd
• Hill Top - Lake District home to Beatrix Potter
• Hughenden - home to Benjamin Disraeli
• Leith Hill Place - was once home to Ralph Vaughan Williams
• Max Gate - another Thomas Hardy residence
• Runnymede - where Magna Carta was signed
• Sissinghurst - home and garden of Vita Sackville-West
• Smallhythe Place - Victorian actress Ellen Terry lived here
• Sutton Hoo - one for fans of Anglo-Saxon burial mounds and treasure
• The Firs - childhood home of Edward Elgar
• Washington Old Hall - ancestral home of George Washington
• Wordsworth House - childhood home of William Wordsworth 

Alfriston Clergy House

Get ready, everyone - it's time for another National Trust Factoid. If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that on several occasions during the National Trust Scone Odyssey I've had to stop the presses and put the scones down while I digest a mind-blowing factoid about the property I'm visiting. 

Some of the National Trust Factoids I've shared are shocking - take, for example, the factoid that Dunwich Heath will have fallen into the sea by 2070. Some are very unexpected yet fascinating: Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame opened one of the rooms at Knightshayes, as he is a big fan of the architect. And some are just bonkers: one former owner of Attingham had a working model of Vesuvius.

Today's factoid comes from the guidebook at Alfriston Clergy House in East Sussex. It turns out that the village of Alfriston inspired the hymn Morning Has Broken, which was written in 1931 by Eleanor Farjeon and was probably sung in primary school by every single person in the UK who is currently over the age of 40. Luckily for me, my primary school teacher preferred to play the Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam version of Morning Has Broken, rather than let a bunch of 9-year-olds howl along to it, so it was Cat/Yusuf's very calming version that played constantly in my head as I wandered around the village.

Anyway. I was delighted to finally see Alfriston Clergy House today. I've been wanting to visit for 10 years because - and here's another factoid for you - it was the very first building that the National Trust took on in 1896 and I knew it would be fascinating. But I was also aware that it didn't have a cafe on site, so until now my ruthless pursuit of scones meant I had to focus on other places first. 

After waiting 10 years to visit, I coincidentally turned up on 15th April -
the day before Alfriston's 127th anniversary as the first NT building.

But having now completed my scone odyssey, I'm free to go crazy and visit all the National Trust properties that don't serve refreshments. I did find today's outing a bit weird - I looked around the building, chatted to the guides, bought a guide book and a mug, and then casually decided I might as well have a cup of tea in the non-NT cafe across the green. There was no Scone Stress ("Do they sell scones?? Are there any scones left?? Are they good scones?? Why am I putting myself through this torment??") although I will admit I missed the stress a bit.  

But let me crack on and tell you about Alfriston Clergy House:

The Clergy House is built between 1370-1450

Nobody knows who built Alfriston Clergy House or when it was built, but it was a timber-framed medieval building that was typical of the area, with a Hall, family rooms, and servants' quarters. It was extended in Tudor times, possibly to accommodate a married vicar and his family.

The Hall at Alfriston Clergy House

Alfriston declines from the 17th century

The first recorded vicar to live in the house was Hugh Walker who arrived in 1593. The last vicar who resided there was Robert North who left in 1709. The area had prospered during the 15th century but it soon declined and was not a good living - this meant that vicars were often absentees living elsewhere.

The Clergy House is earmarked for demolition

After 1709, the house was rented out to non-clergy tenants. By 1841, there were 11 people living there - mainly the families of agricultural labourers. After the final resident died in 1883, the house became virtually derelict and permission was given to demolish the place.

The Bedroom - set out as Harriet Coates, the last pre-NT tenant, likely had it

Rev Frederick Beynon saves the day

Thankfully, demolition was prevented thanks to Rev Beynon, who became vicar of Alfriston in 1889. He appreciated the building's historic value, as well as seeing its potential as a possible location for a night school or other community use. He began to seek advice on how the place could be restored but he met with a lot of derision and discouragement.

The newly formed National Trust steps in

In 1894, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) advised Beynon to speak to the council of what would shortly become the National Trust. The Trust had originally been focused on protecting open spaces - after some debate they agreed to take on Alfriston as their first building, completing the purchase in 1896. It was a struggle to raise the funds for restoration. The brilliant volunteer guide told me how the survival of the National Trust back then depended on the success of the Alfriston Clergy House project - if the latter had failed, the National Trust could have failed with it. (I didn't want to appear selfish or shallow so I didn't say "and I wouldn't have had 244 National Trust scones or been interviewed by Phillip Schofield on This Morning!" but it was what I was thinking.)

Thank God for the National Trust.
This is what they took on in 1896 to restore it and save it from demolition.

The NT lets the property to tenants

Once the purchase was complete, restoration got underway and the NT let the house to a series of tenants. The longest tenancy was Sir Robert Witt, a solicitor with a passion for art. He co-founded the Courtauld Institute and was a trustee of the Tate and the National Gallery. The garden was acquired in 1950 and the building fully opened to the public in 1977.

Scones make a surprise appearance!

I wasn't being completely honest earlier when I told you there was no Scone Stress today. On my previous visits, the sight of a cafe serving scones brought me huge relief and joy. Today's stress was inverted: having gone on national TV to tell everyone that I'd eaten a scone at every National Trust property that sells them, I carried terror in my heart that I'd walk round the corner and find an NT cafe at Alfriston. 

Luckily for me, I didn't find an NT cafe (although there is a very friendly non-NT coffee shop across the green called The Gun Room). But I did give a little cheer for this stunt scone that I found in the Parlour, bravely teetering on the edge of a plate:  

National Trust stunt scone seen bravely doing its thing in the Parlour.

I become a founder member of the BYOSS (Bring Your Own Scone Society)

I had decided to make Alfriston my very first BYOS (Bring Your Own Scone) outing. This was for two reasons: firstly, to prevent Scone Withdrawal Symptoms in places where there is no NT cafe. Secondly, I absolutely love the Lemon & Coconut recipe from the National Trust Book of Scones and decided to bake some for my spring day out. Unfortunately, I overdid it with the lemon juice and forgot that wet scone dough doesn't rise. BUT - it was extremely tasty:

The Lemon & Coconut Scone from the National Trust
Book of Scones. Verdict on my bake: flat but delicious.

If I'm being honest about my Scone Sommelier skills, I'm not sure Lemon & Coconut was the right pairing for a medieval clergy house. I can't imagine there were a lot of lemons or coconuts knocking around the place in 1370. But nevermind! Onwards to the next outing!

Alfriston Clergy House: 5 out of 5
Scones: The quest is officially complete, so no more scone scoring required for properties that don't serve them!

Lamb House

Lamb House in Rye has been the home of many authors over the years, including Henry James, E.F. Benson, and Rumer Godden. 

I knew, without even looking, what was going to happen next: I would be 99.9% sure that I had read many novels by Henry James but I would discover that I hadn't read any of them (tick); I wouldn't know any of E.F. Benson's works at all (tick); and Rumer Godden would have written some obscure children's story that only I and 0.01% of the population remembered, which I would get really excited about, ignoring all her other more important works (tick, tick, and tick).

But before we get to the literary history, let's talk about Lamb House itself:

1. It's in Rye and Rye is fantastic
I had never been to Rye in Sussex and I highly recommend it. It's a lovely place.

The back of Lamb House -
I forgot to take a picture of the front

2. It was built by James Lamb
Lamb was a wine merchant who was greatly respected in the town and served as mayor thirteen times. He built Lamb House in 1723 in smart Georgian style.

3. It once provided shelter to George I

In 1726, a storm drove George I's ship onto nearby Camber Sands and he was stranded in the town. Lamb House was the smartest residence and so James offered the king his bed. This was slightly inconvenient for Martha Lamb, who was very pregnant. In fact, she was so pregnant she gave birth that night - the child was baptised two days later with the name George, the king stood as godfather and gave the baby a silver bowl and 100 guineas as a christening present.

Would you give your bed up to this man
if you were about to go into labour?

4. Henry James first saw Lamb House in a painting

The house was sold to a banker in 1864 but it wasn't until 1897 that Henry James moved in, when he was 55. He had first seen a watercolour of Lamb House's Garden Room (a separate building that James Lamb had constructed next to the house) in a friend's home and went to visit the real thing the next summer. The house became available and he moved in.

4. Henry James loved the place

He lived at Lamb House from May to October every year, sometimes staying longer, before decamping to his rooms at the Reform Club in the winter. He wrote every day, using the Garden Room for his writing in summer and then the Green Room in winter:

Henry James' winter writing room - the Garden Room 
where he wrote in summer was obliterated by a bomb during WW2

Henry James wrote many of his best works at Lamb House, including The Wings of the Dove (1902), The Ambassadors (1903), and The Golden Bowl (1904). He also entertained many friends at the house, including HG Wells, Edith Wharton, and Rudyard Kipling who lived nearby at Batemans.

5. E.F. Benson immortalised Lamb House in his books

Henry James never married, so his nephew inherited the house in 1916. E.F. Benson, a friend of James, took on the lease in 1919. He wrote 70-odd books but his most famous works are the six Mapp and Lucia novels, which were made into a TV series. Lamb House is actually in the books - renamed as Mallards - as is Rye itself, renamed as Tilling.

6. Rumer Godden
Rumer Godden lived at Lamb House from 1968 to 1973, by which time it had been given to the National Trust. She wrote a lot of books, including Black Narcissus about some nuns losing the plot in the Himalayas, which was made into a film.

BUT - and I'm truly sorry about this, Rumer - I only recognised her name from a very bizarre kids' TV show called Tottie: The Story of a Doll's House. It was very weird and featured a storyline about a horrible china doll murdering another flammable doll by setting fire to the house so she melted.

This is Tottie on the right
with two of the other very bizarre characters

The Lamb House scone
Anyway, enough about melting dolls. What about the scones?

I had taken my sister-in-law and niece along on this scone mission, expecting the usual response when I invite guests; slight bafflement at the whole project mixed with huge enthusiasm for the idea of eating scones.

But no. They were brutal in their criticism. They didn't understand why the cream was served in plastic tubs (huh?) and they straight away sussed that the scones weren't home made. 

I explained the situation: sometimes NT properties don't have a proper kitchen and so you do come across the mass-produced scone seen below (it always reminds me of someone who has spent 2 hours a day on a sunbed for 20 years). My hopes were very low but actually it didn't taste too bad. The two Craig Revel Horwoods agreed.

Frankly, I think the National Trust got away very lightly when I designated myself the authority on NT scones. I'm a pussycat compared to the others out there.

Lamb House: 4 out of 5

Scone: 3 out of 5
Rye: 5 out of 5

Birling Gap and the Seven Sisters

Is there anything more British than white cliffs? Apart from red postboxes, the Queen, and people saying "fine, thanks" when you ask how they are, even though they're stuck down a manhole with a man-eating shark? 

It is also nicely contrarily British to go to the seaside in February I think, which is how I found myself at Birling Gap and the Seven Sisters near Eastbourne today. 

And what an amazing place it is. There's a tea room and a shop on the cliff top and then a stairway down to the beach, so you can walk along and marvel at the beauty of it all from every angle.

There was no guide book in the shop, which I was really disappointed about. However, there were signs explaining that Birling Gap was a haven for smugglers back in the 1700s. Coastguard cottages were built in 1817 to stop the smuggling and to help any stricken ships that got into difficulties. I did buy a book called Shipwrecks in Sussex, which lists many stories about thousands of pineapples and oranges being washed ashore and appropriated by the locals. 

It's on days like today that I really wish I was a geologist. If I made a list of jobs that I am most ill-equipped to do, geologist would be number two, just behind electrician (I am scared of electricity) and above bus driver (I can drive a Ford Fiesta, but only just). Geologists never stop being geologists - you occasionally overhear them when you're on holiday in Lanzarote or shopping in the Arndale centre, telling their companions about the type of stone they can see and what it all means. I wish I could do that, although it's possibly very irritating.

You don't need to be a geologist, however, to appreciate the effect of sunshine on chalk. It is mesmerising and definitely one of the highlights of Birling Gap. Everytime you glance at the cliffs, the light is having a different effect. I took this photo just as we were leaving - if you compare it to the photos above, you will hopefully see what I mean:

The eagle-eyed among you will have noted the buildings in the foreground of the above shot. These are the coastguard cottages and I understand that there used to be more of them. If you look at the photo of the same cottages below, you'll understand where the others have gone:

It's really very sobering to realise that what is here today might not be here in a few years' time, thanks to coastal erosion. And the tea room at Birling Gap is also perilously close to the cliff edge. It's lovely - you can drink your tea and watch the light moving along the cliffs - but presumably it won't be there forever. Or even for another five years. I don't know. I need a geologist to help me out with that particular prediction.

The Birling Gap scone
And it will be a shame if the tea room does disappear into the waves below, because it's one of the nicest National Trust tea rooms in Britain. There were people coming in and greeting the staff by name, there were dogs leaping out of car boots and making an excited beeline for the cafe (they're allowed in to a section of it)...it was a very happy, spacious place, with lots of comfortable furniture and smiling people.

More importantly, BIRLING GAP TEA ROOM HAD SCONES. Regular viewers will know that I've been experiencing a bit of a scone famine in 2015 so far - despite visits to Aberdulais and Leith Hill, I had yet to find a National Trust scone THIS YEAR. I will admit that it's been very worrying and I did consider that I may have to make myself redundant, or become the National Trust Sponge Cake Blog. 

But Birling Gap came through for me - two lovely sized scones that were a little on the dry side, but after 55 days without a scone I didn't care and I ate every crumb.

So I highly recommend that you go to Birling Gap as soon as you can - it has scones, stunning views, and a lovely friendly tea room that might not be around forever.

Birling Gap and the Seven Sisters: 5 out of 5
Scones: 4 out of 5
Sun-inspired cliff-face light-show: 5 out of 5

Sheffield Park and Garden

I sometimes get the urge to ring Leeds Castle and say "What are you doing calling yourself Leeds Castle when you are in Kent? You could cause someone a serious travel mishap." (Note to the people that work at Leeds Castle: I have never actually done this, so if anonymous callers complaining about the above are the bane of your life, it's not me.)

Likewise Sheffield Park and Garden, which is actually in East Sussex and not in Yorkshire. I was hoping it might be a mini enclave of its Northern namesake, with Geoffrey Boycott in a flat cap saying "ow do" as he directed us to a parking space. But it wasn't and he didn't.

Sheffield Park is in the Domesday Book - it meant 'sheep clearing', apparently. A lot of illustrious personages were connected with Sheffield Park but it was in 1730 that we know Lord de le Warr began landscaping the gardens. 

John Baker Holroyd, the Earl of Sheffield, bought the estate in 1769. He employed Capability Brown to continue the landscaping, and the work was continued by Humphrey Repton. 

(On a side note, the makers of Doctor Who really should have a look at Capability Brown. The man seemed to have had a hand in every garden in England in the 18th century. Either he was a timelord, he had cloned himself and there were ten of him, or he was part-octopus.)

Henry Holroyd, the 3rd Earl, was mad about cricket and built a cricket pitch at Sheffield Park. He died heavily in debt and the estate was acquired by Arthur Gilstrap Soames. He carried on the landscaping effort, putting in a lot of the plants that are still there today: the rhododendrons, the American oaks, and the Japanese maples. His nephew inherited and sold the estate in lots. The National Trust acquired the gardens in 1954.

(On another side note, the National Trust guidebook really didn't seem to want to talk about the house. It's in private ownership so maybe something dodgy is going on in there - perhaps it's the headquarters of the pro-fracking coalition or the National Old Building Eradication and Removal Society?)

The marketing campaign to promote autumn as the best time to visit Sheffield Park and Garden has been a huge success - the place was absolutely packed. And it was well worth the visit - there are plenty of paths for walking and admiring the autumnal views.

I also found what I firmly believe to be Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree. The label said Sequoiadendron giganteum but I know The Faraway Tree when I see it:

The Sheffield Park Scone
Anyway, let's move onto the scones. Sheffield Park definitely wins the award for National Trust Property That Doesn't Skimp On The Scones Like Cliveden Does: a cream tea comprised of two hefty fellas that weren't fresh but by Jiminy they looked the part and they were enormous. I managed one and a half before I had to reluctantly admit defeat.

I'm going to finish with an apology on behalf of the Scone Sidekick to the wood artist that carved these charming sheep that can be found dotted around the estate. The Sidekick, on seeing them, said "oh look, it's a hippopotamus":

Sheffield Park & Garden: 4 out of 5
Scones: 4 out of 5
Trees resembling Enid Blyton characters: 5 out of 5

Bateman's

Here is a list of things that I knew about Rudyard Kipling before I went to Bateman's:
1. He wrote The Jungle Book, but the actual book and not the cartoon

That's it. Worryingly, I knew this when I was about nine years old - I remember finding a copy of The Jungle Book and being really disappointed that it was full of words and no pictures of bears in grass skirts.

But the National Trust has saved the day, yet again, and raised me out of my shameful ignorance. Bateman's in East Sussex was Kipling's home from 1902 until he died in 1936. He loved it and it's easy to see why:

Here's what I learned about Kipling today:

• He was the most famous writer in the English-speaking world in his day
• His most famous works included The Jungle Book, the Just So Stories, Kim, and poems such as If and Gunga Din
• He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature
• He refused a knighthood
• He lost his first child, Josephine, to pneumonia when she was six, and then his son, John, in the Battle of Loos during the First World War
• His remaining daughter Elsie married a Captain Bambridge and lived on the Wimpole Estate from 1938 to 1976, when she handed it over to the National Trust (it's a small world)

Bateman's itself was built around 1634. It is presented today just as 'Rud' left it, but it retains a real sense of its Stuart origins, with huge fireplaces and a Hall for welcoming guests.

In fact, every single room at Bateman's is strikingly pretty. The study feels like he only just left it (although it does appear to have a large run-over cat in it):

And then you leave the house and are faced with the stunning loveliness of the garden and pond, before you look back and marvel at the rear view of the building:

Bateman's is one of those National Trust properties that you know you could live in. I did start to wonder what it would take for the nation to offer me Bateman's. I'd probably have to save the country from an asteroid or a giant tidal wave, or maybe it would be enough to show 11 young men how to win 7 games of football and come home with the World Cup? I mean, how hard can that be?

Anyway, possibly my favourite feature at Bateman's was a radio with a dial that visitors can turn to hear one of Kipling's poems or letters being read by the actor, Ralph Fiennes. It's such a simple idea and yet it made my day - just a few minutes listening to Kipling's work being read aloud in the house that he loved. It was quite mesmerising. 

The Batemans scone
I had had a gentle word with myself before I set off for Bateman's. I reminded me that in National Trust Scone Blog history there has very rarely been a 5 out of 5 in consecutive visits, and Claremont Landscape Garden got a 5 last week. I should probably prepare myself for misery on the M25 followed by potential scone disappointment.

But I was WRONG, readers. The Bateman's scones were absolutely fantastic. They certainly looked the part, there was a choice of plain or fruit AND a choice of jam, and they proved to be extremely fresh, soft, tasty and very crumbly. A triumph. 

So it seems that the only thing I didn't learn today is why the place is called Bateman's. If anyone knows the answer, let me know!

Batemans: 5 out of 5

Scones: 5 out of 5

Ralph Fiennes: 5 out of 5