Wollaton Park

Last Sunday I was very kindly taken to see Wollaton Park, in Nottingham. This is an Elizabethan mansion which has been a city museum since the 1920s, originally solely for natural history. I loved the setting, on the brow of a hill in a spacious country park:



The building has been redolent of learning from its original decoration with heads of classical scholars:



The windows look out to terraces and planting that feel very nineteenth century:



But behind the solid doors,



... surprises are waiting,



And they've brought their friends and relations...



You feel as though the 1920s exhibits remain, and only the attendants and visitors have moved on:



The modern touches are light,



and the next generation is already here:



And after all that it's out for a cup of tea in a very handsome service block:



which is more vernacular viewed from within:



Refreshed, we went for a wander through the park and admired the deer (on a golf course, ha!)



I loved seeing them reflected in this:



which was outside the Camellia House (sadly not open, perhaps because it is full to the brim with plants)



And finally down to the lake, in the last of the afternoon sunshine: