Then, I am still and wait here in the silence, Until you come and sit awhile with me.
Brendan Graham
8 Comments CherryPie on Aug 27th 2017
The walled garden on the south side of the Castle, known as the Ladies’ Garden, was established in the 1880s by Lady Algernon Gordon-Lennox during the period when her family rented the castle.
The existing planting was developed by the present Lord and Lady Saye & Sele and is based on advice given by the garden designer Lanning Roper in 1970.*
The garden is within the walls of what was the 16th century kitchen before it was relocated. You can still see the windows and doors located in the wall.
Shown below are borders to the side of the castle.
*From the Broughton Castle handbook
12 Comments CherryPie on Aug 26th 2017
A licence was granted in 1331 to John de Broughton ‘for Divine service in his oratory at Broughton’. It is a rare example of a 14th century private chapel. The fixed stone altar slab supported on three solid brackets and the encaustic tiles on the floor are all of the original date.*
The chapel can be viewed through a squint in the corner of Queen Anne’s Room.
*From the Broughton Castle guidebook
8 Comments CherryPie on Aug 25th 2017
John de Broughton built the house and surrounded it by a moat in around 1300. William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England, bought the house in 1377 and it has been in continuous ownership by the same family ever since. The licence to crenellate was granted in 1406 allowing the house to be called a castle.
The unusual compound title of Saye & Sele dates from the original creation of the Barony in 1447. It is partly personal, from the connection with the family’s French ancestors in Normandy, the Lords Say, and partly territorial,, through ownership of land at Seal (now on the outskirts of Sevenoaks) in Kent. The family name Fiennes (pronounced Fines) is from a village in Artois in northern France. Giles Fiennes had emigrated to England in the 13th century, following in the train of his cousin Queen Eleanor of Castile when she came to England to marry the future Edward I.*
The 16th Lord Saye & Sele changed the family surname in 1849 to Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes. The present-day, 21st Lord Saye & Sele reversed the process in the mid 1960, so the current family name is simply Fiennes.
*From the Broughton Castle hand book
10 Comments CherryPie on Aug 23rd 2017
When I finished work at the end of June I had lots of plans for the summer months, including days out in the sun. The summer didn’t quite happen and there has hardly a day gone by without rain at some point during the day. I have enjoyed my time; having space for myself, clearing my thoughts, catching up with my reading backlog and other things that I didn’t have time for whilst I was at work. I have however been yearning for a sunny day or two to entice me out into the big blue yonder with my camera in hand.
Today was not quite that sunny day but a sudden burst of sunshine before noon tempted me to go out for lunch at Attingham Park. After lunch I set off to the walled garden which is one of my favourite parts of the property. The project to restore the walled garden started in 2008 and I have enjoyed watching it progress over the years.
Whilst I was in the garden I felt a few spots of rain. I reminded the weather that rain wasn’t forecast! The raindrops ceased until I was in one of the glasshouses. The rain then sprinkled a playful tune on the glass for a few minutes before deciding to comply with the weather forecast.
When I had finished enjoying the walled garden I took the pathway of the ‘Mile Walk’, one of my favourite walks when I am on a solo visit. Along the way I sat on a bench to enjoy one of the viewpoints. A gentleman stopped to chat to me, asking me if I was having a nice day whilst his family walked on ahead of him. We got into a conversation, where he explained this was his first visit, had I been before… After our brief exchange he continued on his way to catch up with his family.
Me sitting on a bench and people stopping to chat with me is a common theme when I visit Attingham Park 
When I had completed the ‘Mile Walk’ I made my way past the house and down towards the river. I had hoped to walk in a secret garden which I was shown a few years ago on a guided tour, but unfortunately it currently roped off. Instead I was treated to the delight of the deer herd quite close to the pathway leading to the deer park. The ladies were in the distance but the gentlemen were sitting quite close to the pathway.
After this unexpected encounter I made my way back to the cafe where I treated myself to a delicious peach and almond slice, which I had spotted whilst I was buying my lunchtime sandwich.
6 Comments CherryPie on Aug 22nd 2017
Little Amsterdam Cafe and Restaurant in Banbury is fully licensed and serves much more than the pancakes I showed you in my previous post. In addition to the pancakes it also serves Omelettes, sandwiches, gelato, tea, coffee, hot chocolate, cakes, muffins, waffles breakfast, main courses, deserts and daily specials.
On the Little Amsterdam website Ilja explains about the food and the reason behind the name:
Little Amsterdam is the name that the Dutch affectionately use for Haarlem, a beautiful market town about 20km from the capital. I was born in Haarlem so to call this delightful café Little Amsterdam is very appropriate.
I am looking forward to sharing with you some of the very best The Netherlands has to offer.
It’s not just about clogs and tulips, The Netherlands has so much more. From the famous cheese markets to beautiful architecture, from culture and history to the people themselves and, of course, the food. Dutch pancakes are pretty much as popular as fish and chips are here in the UK.
Many people think that pancakes are eaten only as a sweet treat but they can be enjoyed as much as any main course.
The Dutch pancake isn’t really complete unless it is served with stroop (syrup, pronounced strope) – my favourite is the cheese, bacon and stroop pancake… delicious!
I also recommend the “poffertjes”, another extremely popular Dutch dish. These are fluffy mini pancake “discs”, best served with butter and a generous dusting of icing sugar… amazing!
10 Comments CherryPie on Aug 21st 2017
