Sunday 16th and Monday 17th September 2018 – Closer to home

Sunday

I’ve been enjoying a couple of lovely days out so thought I would blog about them in case any of my readers are near to where I live at any point and it’s useful.

I can’t really recommend any campsites near here as funnily enough I haven’t stayed in them! But I can tell you about two places that are worth a visit and don’t feature as prominently on websites about local tourist attractions.

The first one is Kelmarsh Hall.

Owned by the Kelmarsh Fund, this is a beautiful country house in Northamptonshire that’s only open on certain days of the week and at certain times of the year – so check before you visit!

Run by volunteers and all profit is fed straight back into their projects, one being the recent opening of the servant’s quarters and laundry.

I went along with my Mum and was lucky enough to decide to visit on a day when they had a Dahlia festival, so got to enjoy the house and the lovely flower displays in the gardens.

Kelmarsh Hall is a Grade I listed country house built in 1732. You can find out about its previous owners on their website and when you visit, but the most recent was Nancy Perkins (married name Nancy Lancaster) who created the design term ‘Country House Look’. Using oriental wallpapers, fresh flower arrangements and her own signature paint colour, she made the house a home. As the Niece of the famous Nancy Astor, good taste was in her blood and her house was legendary for its home comforts, including en-suite bathrooms (very rare in the 20s) and central heating.

The house certainly felt special, which would be why people choose to get married there and the volunteers are doing a great job of opening up more and more rooms in the house.

The servant’s quarters and laundry were very modern and informative and it was great to look around house so local to me that felt like you could easily move in to.

The gardens were also beautiful and much larger than I expected and we also went along to watch a flower arranging talk from a volunteer who often creates displays for the house.

We also enjoyed a slice of Victoria sponge between us and a latte in their lovely tea rooms – always time for tea/coffee and cake.

Monday

I’ve started a new year’s resolution near the end of the year! I want to achieve at least 10,000 steps every day while I have the time to do it, so have been walking around my village, plus I’m beginning to investigate some local parks. I recently badly sprained my ankle, so still can’t go for a run, so a hearty walk every day is in order!

Today I went to Sywell Country Park.

First things first – parking charges. Its £3 for up to 4 hours – which is fine as you need that long to get around it!

Sywell Country Park exists on the site of a former drinking water reservoir near the village of Sywell in East Northamptonshire, England. The reservoir was built at the turn of the 20th century to supply water to the Higham Ferrers and Rushden areas. It operated between 1906 and 1979 and is now a lovely country park.

There is a great play area of the kids of you have them, plus some wildlife areas and the Pump House Café, which I didn’t try but served all sorts of things from sandwiches to snacks and ice creams. Also has free Wi-Fi on a sign on the door!

I was most interested in the walks around the park , starting with the circular walk that takes you all around the reservoir.

It was a beautiful day, so this helped highlight how beautiful the scenery was, but it truly was lovely! There was wildlife galore and a mecca for bird watchers. The walk took me about an hour at a medium pace over grass and unfinished paths, which they are trying to do up at the moment. There were plenty of benches and picnic tables around the route to enjoy the views from.