Trentham Gardens

For moms birthday, we had a day out at the gorgeous Trentham Estate over in Staffordshire. This was a double treat for me, as not only had we had all wanted to go there for years, but it gave me a chance to drive on the M6 toll, which is a small ambition of mine, sad as it may be!

Anyway, after just over an hours drive, we arrived at the estate which is absolutely huge, 750 acres to be exact. A brief history of the estate is that the Italianate gardens were built by the same fellow who built the Houses of Parliament, Sir Charles Barry and the park was originally created by Capability Brown, who, if you don't know already, was basically kick-ass at creating masterpieces of gardening architecture. Go on, google him and find out!

The massive original house originally on the estate fell into disrepair and were demolished to make way for a grand public park, which has recently been restored to the tune of £100m, and by god it looks stunning. We spent about 6 hours in there, and didn't even have time to visit the monkey forest next door, which looks amazing!

Anyway, photo time:

Ain't it purdy, notice and 'ooh' at the box-hedging!

The estate itself used to have a monumentally huge house on it, which like I said was knocked down to make way for what you see above, and all that remains are the two sections that are about to be restored. Firstly, the orangery:

...which has a working belltower, amazing considering its hundreds of years old, and another section that they are about to convert into a new 5 star hotel, which should look gorgeous

...which is on the left.

Anyway I hope I have at least educated you slightly (and lord knows, some of you need it!) in architecture, landscape gardening and the M6 toll (which was great, by the way!). I've rather enjoyed this little diversion from my, now-usual, travel guide. But back to it for my next blog, during which I shall be record-breaking!

Toodles!