The Vyne

The Vyne

Been a couple of months since I wrote in this blog which is tending to migrate over to my Daily photo blog with the Our World Tuesday Post but I feel I should keep it going with the longer posts. Today we are going to The Vyne a place which is steeped in history though when you read the Wiki on it very little is shown. The house dates back to the 16th century which is the time of the Tudors and Henry VIII. It was built for Lord William (great name that) Sandy's who was the Lord Chamberlain of Henry VIII. In those days the place was huge and a walled manor house. Little of that remains now though the place dates further back to Roman times from what I read. The house came into the Chute family around the time of Cromwell and the first Chute decided the place was too grand for him and promptly demolished most of it.

Now you are probably wondering if I've gone mad showing a Lego model, well that is what the manor would have looked like when it was first builtall the external walls and buiildings you see with a black line through have gone. That is the extent the place was trimmed. I recon about three quaters went. I think it must have been a magnificent place back then before it was demolished

 Leaving what you see now. The old manor house extended way down the lawn here and the ornamental part of the river in front. the Portico was added around 1654.

When you walk round the building what is left is no less magnificent 

I did not take a photo up the drive to the gates but this looks to the main entrance to the Vyne

 It does not look as grand as the back but no less impressive with the winged Eagles either side

I'm not the only person taking photos of the Eagle

I did like the Eagles

and also the griffin over the door

This is where you start your tour of the house it takes you in to what was an orangery

As you can see there are a few statues & busts of Roman/ |Greek legends

You can see this over the fireplace as you come in and I'm told there is another at Hampton Court which is in not such good condition.

This is my favorite, like the eyes how the look at you

You go through some amazing rooms of furniture and china like this which is made in Venice and there are only 16 pieces of. Unique you could say. I've never seen the like

Rooms with Tudor panels in

the buttons are Tudor roses and are an addion made later

 Different stile of Tudor panels with Tudor Paintings

 This stunning one is of Chrysogona Baker aged 6 in 1579, Queen Elizabeth I st was on the throne then, makes you wonder if they met

Next place is this the chapel which has Tudor stained glass windows in.

 Best I could do taking it hand held with a compact camera

These are on either side

 Off to the right is a side room with this tomb and effigy

Belonging to Chaloner Chute Speaker of the House of Commons under Richard Cromwell, Oliver's son. I might add the commonwealth did not last long as Richard resigned in 1659 and Charles II came back to the throne in 1660.

 Going on with the tour you come to starecase

 Of which this is the top, very neat

 Another magnificent room with books and old paintings though the one over the fireplace must have made the place very dismal, it seems to suck the life out of you

I think this is Issac Newton of Gravity Fame

Rooms with tapestry (need to check my other blog on Monday to see more)

 and more panels along with wonderful carved fireplaces

 then you come to this long room with more busts 

and more that a few swords

 

 You might have seen this lady before on one of my Blogs, Mary Queen of Scots, might even have visited and the other is no less than our Will

Henry the VIII who was a frequent visitor here mainly for a dirty weekend with Anne Boleyn or one of his other wives

Charles the I st and the guy who had him executed Oliver Cromwell, not sure if they visited.

 This is the window at the end of the room

 I could not help taking a photo of the stained glass in the window, it was stunning

One of the last rooms you come to is a bedroom, on the wall are these sketches  of

Sir Charles & Lady Chute who left the Vyne to the National Trust. I think they make a hansom couple

That was about the last of the  rooms so we went outside to enjoy some of the sights

 Like this tree with a face

or looking at the odd spider

You can see some nice views 

visit the gift shop

or this place for a cup of tea

have more views of the house

meet the local inhabitants 

when they are not getting chased but some ones unruly brats, that was a bit harsh they were  having a great time and were polite

spend time on the lawn

or look at the lake, well dammed up river

see some of the well laid out gardens

 Beautiful you have to admit

You can even visit a walled garden

Hope you have enjoyed the visit  it is well worth the visit. I will be returning as there is a Saxon ring there that I want to see which was the inspiration for a book called Lord of the Rings. The tapestry above is in the cafe.

 If you would like to go the check out the National Trust  Website

Raglan Castle

I have driven past this many time and every time said to my wife we should visit sometime. Well that one time came up and we popped along to view the place. Raglan Castle  is looked after by Cadw the Welsh government equivalent of English Heritage and if your a member you can get in at either a reduced rate like we did or free if you have been a member a couple of years. Here are a few photos from our visit.

The entrance and car park, lucky it was a nice day when we visited

Hard to know where to start but going to the entrance here is a good place

Walking round to the left gives you this view of the castle

Going further round gives this view and entrance which is where we went in

This is a panoramic view of the west side of the castle

 Inside you are greeted with this view of the place

 I noticed this carving which I thought looked Greek in stile

Climbing some stairs takes you to an upper floor where you can look down into the castle

Going back to ground level you could see where the floor you were on carried on further. In the walls you could see fireplaces

Going on further brings you to the great hall

 This is the coat of arms at one end

Couple of the windows in the hall looking out to the courtyard

This is the fireplace in the hall, lets say you can stand in this easy

It's hard to show in a photo the size of this window which is called the Oriel Window but if you go back to the photo I took of the Hall you can see on the left hand side at the end, the fireplace is just before it and that is about 6ft high

This was the kitchen area behind the hall

From the hall you can go to the courtyard which is easier to show in this stitched photo, that's a well you see in the foreground

From there I went to the Kitchen which must have been a dark and very hot place considering the number of fireplaces in it

 This is a stitched photo of the kitchen

Back into the courtyard, if you look to the end on the right you can see the Oriel Window from the Hall, this might give you a better idea as to the size.

Juts off the main gate you see at the end of the courtyard you can visit various rooms which have exhibitions in

Some of the cannonballs used on the castle  in the civil war 

This room had a fireplace & a toilet no less (got a little camera shake)

 Back outside to the other end of where I came in

 and time to go up this tower I had seen

Looking down off the bridge at the moat 

This is the other side of the moat

 Looking up at some of the battlements

 The views from the top were worth seeing

 Over the top of the castle

 Or looking back down

 The area here you see my wife walking was for the lady's of court to walk which was covered, the alcoves used to have statues in. My wife read the information on the wall

Still the views over Wales take some beating

 In the distance you can see the hills which I think are the Brecon Beacons

Looking up at the battlements over the gate house

This is looking up towards the place I took the photo downwards to the base I'm stood on

There is always a loo around if you need one or Garderobe as they are known

This is the main gate where the portcullis would have been

The moat and moat walk where ladies of court would have spent time. The alcoves would have at one time held statues

That's the tower I was taking photos from it's called the Hexagon tower

Looks a bit more impressive when you see the moat walk along with it

 I'm off  to that tree now as my wife is waiting there. Hope you enjoyed my tour of this Welsh castle it is well worth taking a picnic and visiting.