Big houses in the country! Plus the port...

Friday involved a trip to the National Trust owned Montacute House. It's a tudor mansion and had wonderful rooms and quite a lovely estate and gardens. I am also now a member of National Trust! I'm looking forward to visiting lots of other places - I'm making a list!

Montacute House

Yesterday we went to Hampton Court with Margaret while she worked there. Although we've already been before, we had never seen Margaret perform!  It was so much fun seeing Margaret dressed up in costume and acting in little skits with Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. She was very good and is incredibly knowledgable about Tudor times. I love the gardens and the Tudor and Georgian rooms are so interesting. The little things are also so exciting - there was some Tudor graffiti on some of the fireplaces that you can find if you look carefully.

Hampton Court

Myself with the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk (Margaret!)

The Dowager with King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn

Lastly, today we went to Portsmouth! We went up the Spinnaker (a very large viewing tower) and looked out over the quays and port. They also have a small glass section that you can walk over (only in socks) and look down to the ground 100+ metres below! It was quite scary and a bit strange. It felt like you had to force your feet to move over the glass at first. We also then went through the HMS Victory (Lord Nelson's ship) which was amazing. Doug and I kept thinking of Hornblower! We also went on a brief Harbour tour on a little boat and was told about all the other Navy ships currently docked in the harbour.

View from the Spinnaker of Portsmouth

Ahhh! 

HMS Victory

On the Victory overlooking the Spinnaker and other towers

Back at the Scard's playing a spot of croquet...
Geoff won two games, Doug won one and I didn't come last in all of them.

We've had such a fun time with Margaret and Geoff and they've been so wonderful, acting as our own tour guides! This week we're moving on to visit Maggie and Martin Booth in Sevenoaks.
Kim xo