I was at Waddesdon. The first thing to note about this place is the correct spelling if you are looking it up. Not stone not ston but don.
William Brougham suggested the caption: 'The future's bright; The future's orange.' That was the slogan of orange mobile phones from 1994.
Another suggestion was Angel from heaven, (title of a song)
Stairs
Unfortunately the buildings's architects had not thought of two staircases everywhere to create a one-way system. If you want to go from the ground floor up to the top floor with bedrooms and bathroom and treasures, and down to the wine cellar, you might want to hold onto the rope hand rails so you could wear disposable or washable gloves and carry hand sanitiser.
Toilets
To get to the toilets from the main building you go down flights of stairs. However, the toilets are accessible from the outside of the building on the ground floor outdoor through a short curved tunnel, which is handy for those who don't like stairs, or if you are outside the buildings.
The shop
The shop has lots of items, books and postcards of the house exterior, aerial shots, and paintings. Also books by a member of the family, fact and fiction, softback and paperback signed by the author and unsigned.
Getting There
I was lucky enough to be given a place on a trip to Waddesdon in Buckinghamshire on a coach tour organized by a group of which I am not a member. My friend was going. I expressed interest. She phoned the organizer the night before and found they had a cancellation and would be glad to take my money so they could refund the person who had cancelled. Win-win all round.
The next generation may have inherited the wealth as well as the organizational ability of this family, but you have to admire their enterprise. I have trouble dealing with a small detail like fixing a lock or garden on an already built house. These people looked at a piece of land, decided I want a house here, in such and such a design, to house my paintings, and so on. One of the family bequeathed the house the family built, the treasures they collected, and the land with all the trees and plants they planted, to the National Trust. One of the inside rooms shows what they did for Israel, building the parliament building, a poly-uni, a home for the war wounded and a home for the blind.
The Ground Floor
Downstairs to the Wine Cellars
See the wine bottle label commissioned from famous artists. Chairs have wine scenes on the upholstery.
Upstairs
Bedrooms. The tallest bed you have ever seen. A bathroom. Toilets are covered. Because children of tourist day visitors kept lifting up the toilet lids to let them slam down.
Lunch
Outdoors. Kiosk in the courtyard sold for just under five pounds a brown or back bread bun with a filling of avocado and egg and green salad. Healthy looking and filling.
My friend bought one of the fruit-flavoured bottles of drink. Elderflower and something. They took credit cards and no cash.
We played musical chairs with tables in the sun and shade and other lurking ladies who lunched.
The shop
I bought a glittery lanyard. I saw lots of honey costing less than five pounds.
I was tempted to buy water colour pens - a suitable item to sell to visitors inspired by a house full of paintings. The friend I was travelling with had a sketchbook and pencil and drew trees and a doorway and elephant sculptures. I consoled myself by suggesting, "One can always take a photo and paint from it later".
She replied, 'That is not the same. It is an unedited scene, which everybody sees. I like to draw what my eye selects, at the time."
When we arrived, I thought the time allowed, from about 11.30 to 4.30, was too long.
When we were there in August the rose garden had been converted into late flowering gladioli. Instead we walked back to the house to find the toilets before boarding the bus which we reached in good time. We did not have time to see the converted rose garden.
Gustave Moreau Exhibition
I should mention the Gustave Moreau Exhibition which is on this summer. Vivid, weird, colourful paintings of oversize men with horse's hooves and women with wings. Myths and symbols. Not my taste. Pictures and a short video. Must book, with timed entry to prevent overcrowding.
As Samuel Johnson, who wrote the dictionary, and travelled with biographer Boswell, so succinctly put it, 'worth seeing but not worth going to see'. I was glad to glimpse the exhibition so as not to waste any more time or money on seeing it again. In addition, the disturbing sight of the scenes of people perched in odd poses left me uneasy that the painter's sitters would have back problems. The contrast with what I saw elsewhere in the building before and after made me appreciate the other restful realistic paintings in the house, of real people, demure, charming, children, morose millionaires perhaps worrying about their money, and wise women standing straight upright.
Waddesdon Manor
Aylesbury
Buckinghamshire
England
UK
Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waddesdon_Manor
https://www.facebook.com/WaddesdonManor/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Moreau
Must see video
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/waddesdon-manor/features/summer-in-the-garden-at-waddesdon#
How many gardeners and plants. What is unique about Waddesdon?
Creating a picture from a photo using bedding plants.
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