Tyntesfield

Today due to foul weather and for the sanity of the archaeologists on site (me included) we toured the Victorian Mansion on the estate and the real reason we're able to explore our field with National Trust blessing. Beautiful is not exactly the right word for the house. It is ornate and exquisite, but mostly its just quirky. The house is filled with all the everyday things accumulated by the family over the last 150 odd years and they are all just waiting to be catalogued as part of the collection. Already National Trust has catalogued 30000 artifacts. The quirkiness is perhaps intensified by the detachment of the house from the surrounding gardens by the massive scaffolding. (The house is undergoing an extensive repair... roof, rewiring, central heating, then clean up and restoration.) Still it was quite fascinating to poke around a piece of property in the process of becoming a proper national museum. Sorry about the poor quality photos. I couldn't use my flash and my camera never focuses properly with out it.

Our special name badges also meant greater access... into the cellar and up on the scaffolding to examine the repairs to the roof. And can I just say being on the Victorian roof checks of my wish to have a "Mary Poppins" experience before I head home. [smile]

By the way the first link goes to a 360 degree panorama of the estate and some of the rooms and the second goes to the news clip regarding the extensive collection.

Just, Margaret