Canons Ashby

I am now going to risk being disowned by my parents and tell you that my family was not really into visiting historic places of interest when I was young. I remember being 6 or 7 and wanting to go to Rockingham Castle and my dad generously saying "as soon as your mother passes her driving test she can take you anywhere you want." So I waited and she did indeed pass her test soon after, but 33 years on and the trip to Rockingham is yet to materialise.

Anyway, Canons Ashby in Northamptonshire isn't far from where I grew up but I had never been. I decided to invite my family along, although the last time my sister and I attempted a scone mission it was an unmitigated disaster. This time I put some ground rules in place, namely 'let's set off before 3pm and it might still be open'.

We got lost on the way (of course we did) but within five minutes of arriving we were all in love with the place:

Canons Ashby was originally a priory, established in 1147. Henry VIII did away with the monasteries and gave Canons Ashby to Sir Francis Bryan, one of his cronies. Soon after, it ended up in the Dryden family, who owned the estate from 1551 to 1981, when they gave it to the National Trust.

John Dryden, who inherited in 1551, was responsible for extending the original building. He was followed by a long line of ancestors who left their mark on the property, which is displayed today as it would have been when Sir Henry Dryden lived there. He took it over in 1874 - when his wife gave birth to a girl he was hugely annoyed and sacked two female members of staff because there were too many women in the house (his wife reinstated them). 

The most famous Dryden was the poet John Dryden, who was Poet Laureate from 1668. He was prevented from inheriting Canons Ashby because he was considered to have married beneath him, while his son was disallowed from inheriting property because he was a Catholic. There's a painting of John in the Dining Room:

The church next to the house is well worth seeing. It's part of the estate owned by the National Trust and there's a model in the bell tower showing the scale of the original church - it was a mini cathedral before it was greatly reduced in size. 

The gardens at Canons Ashby are also stunning, extraordinarily neat and tidy with fantastic views of the Northamptonshire countryside. The view is visible from many of the rooms and it's enough to make you want to move in tomorrow.

Canons Ashby also has a cat that has clearly been on the National Trust Tourist Management for Cats training course. It came up to us, lay at our feet, rolled about a bit, and then boldly continued on its way to meet and greet the other visitors. I'm not having a go at Jock the cat at Chartwell but I would suggest that he might like to learn some of the Canons Ashby cat's moves if he gets the chance. 

The Canons Ashby scone
But onto the scones. They're strange things, scones. I've had scones that are light and fluffy and I've snaffled them down in about four seconds, with room for six more. And I've had scones that are a bit Tardis-like - they look fairly small but when you start eating there's a LOT of scone. The Canons Ashby scone was definitely of the latter type - crispy on the outside and so, so tasty.

The scone got the highest accolade from my sister, who went back for a second. And she did that thing that happens a lot with my mum and her family - she offered my mum half and my mum said "No thanks" and my sister gave her half anyway and my mum ate it. 

But the highest praise of the day went to the tea. I've mentioned before that I have never had a bad cup of tea at the National Trust and when my mum said "this is a lovely cup of tea" - this is a woman that KNOWS tea - my opinion was validated.

I didn't pick my scone and it looks a bit like a butterfly cake, but it was delicious:  

I'll finish with a note on how much of an eye-opener it is going to a National Trust property with non-members. As we drove out of Canons Ashby, my sister said "That's SO nice, the man on the gate waved us goodbye. Make sure you put that in your blog." And I thought 'of course he did, we're at the National Trust'. But she's right - it's not a given and it was a lovely touch.

Canons Ashby: 5 out of 5
Scones: 4.5 out of 5
The tourist management skills of the cat: 5 out of 5 

Lyveden New Bield

I was looking through the National Trust handbook one day and I came across a picture of Lyveden New Bield in Northamptonshire. I was completely taken aback, not by its lack of roof, but because I knew instantly that it was the work of Thomas Tresham.

This was shocking, because me being able to tell you who designed a building just by looking at it is akin to Miley Cyrus being able to recite The Ancient Mariner or tell you about the finer nuances in the works of Proust. I know NOTHING about architecture. 

I recognised it because I grew up in a town with a Thomas Tresham building - it was the town library when I was little. The Treshams were fascinating people:

• The Tresham family was recusant, which means that they were Catholics that refused to attend Anglican church services during Elizabethan times and were forced to pay massive fines as a result. (William Shakespeare was also born into a recusant family, fact fans.)
• Thomas's son, Francis Tresham, died in the Tower of London having been involved in the Gunpowder Plot. It's claimed that Francis wrote the famous letter that gave the game away - the letter was written anonymously warning a family member to stay out of Parliament but it made its way into official hands, which led to Guy Fawkes being caught skulking about with unexplained bits of explosive. Francis did indeed have two brothers-in-law that would have been blown to bits had the plot succeeded but he always denied writing the letter.
• Francis died of a gruesome-sounding urine-related illness while awaiting trial. They cut off his head anyway, stuck it on a spike like the other plotters, and threw his body down a hole.
• There are three buildings in Northamptonshire that Thomas Tresham constructed and all feature symbols of his Catholic faith. Triangular Lodge in Rushton is a miniature show-stopper - we used to walk there on school trips, somehow without getting killed - and I urge you to see it. The Market House in Rothwell has long ceased being home to my Topsy and Tim books but still fascinating. And then there's Lyveden.

I decided to take some Northamptonshire Catholics along to Lyveden, namely my mother and my sister. If you've ever watched The Royle Family then you'll have some idea of what this was like, as I am basically related to Denise and Barbara Royle. But they'll be really upset with me for saying that, so I better not elaborate on the 578 examples I have to hand of them behaving thus. 

I regretted my choice within 30 seconds of arriving. "There it is!" I said happily on seeing the roofless Lyveden in all its isolated splendour, to which Denise Royle replied "How do you know that's it?". So I pushed her in the moat. 

The Lyveden scone
The tearoom at Lyveden is relatively new but it is quite possibly the nicest National Trust tearoom in existence. Cosy doesn't even begin to cover it - the log burner was a sight for cold limbs, and the waitress service was really efficient and friendly. There was a choice of plain or fruit scone, the jam tasted home-made and was delicious, and the scones were really tasty, as was the tea. Well done, Lyveden.

Lyveden itself scores top marks for a) being fascinating b) having Robert, the most helpful man ever, manning the visitor centre and c) providing a free audio guide. My love for audio guides at National Trust properties knows no bounds (see also Petworth and Osterley House) and I appreciated it today more than ever. 

Work started on Lyveden New Bield in 1594. As well as being a dead-ringer for Edmund Blackadder, Thomas Tresham was a generous host (too generous it would seem; he died heavily in debt, although having to pay fines left, right and centre to get his treason-magnet son out of bother didn't help) and the new building was to be a garden lodge for entertaining. He died in 1605 and work on New Bield ceased, although his wife, Muriel Throckmorton, continued to use the property (it's rumoured for worship). 

During the Civil War, Lyveden was seen as a Papist abhorrence and was pillaged for building materials. However, somehow it remained pretty much in tact and has miraculously remained so for over 400 years. 

So as you can probably gather, I loved Lyveden and would highly recommend it and its wonderful tearoom.

Scones: 4.5 out of 5

Lyveden New Bield: 5 out of 5