Osterley House.

 Osterley House is not far from Kew Gardens so we made a dash to it. It is another National Trust House. The grounds are open tot he public as parkland.  This House is very large with Stables and servants quarters next door.

 Inside the house was dark as normal but they open the curtain in the main room and it was pleasant to walk around.

The Basement was very dark and is the way it was when in 1970 the staff just walked out. 

 In the gardens was the walled garden and flower beds.

They would have been beautiful in there hayday.

 But the parkland is great with rare birds a ponds.

 By the time we walked out, it was late so it was a 2 hour bus trip back.

Kew in Spring

Saturday at last again.

So this week we went to Kew gardens again, Last time we went it was winter. Now it is spring.

Spring is slow to arrive here, first the bulbs then the flowering trees and finally the trees. 

The tulips were out in front of the Fern House 

At the Back, The roses were all in Bud.

 But inside the flowers were out,

 Even some strange flowers

Jennifer wanted to see the Magnolias 

  The Magnolias were out

 In Abundance

The vista's were great with some trees showing greenery.

 The blossom was out in Abundance

 And so were the Kew Garden Bees.

 Some of the bluebells were still out as well.

 Views were Great

 Flowers and crowds by mid-Afternoon

 And the sun was bright. and the surrounding were great. A pleasant morning and afternoon. 

 But is was time for us to relax and just be us.

Hughenden Manor

Finally another Saturday and we were off again,  after an appointment with the bank, this time we headed on the the Number 74 Bus to High Wycombe.

 

 This town is a cute town, with a central area for shopping with plenty of street stalls on a Saturday, and plenty of shoppers around to encourage business.

The local church also looked Old.

 The church was rebuilt in 1275.
By 1509 the central tower was causing concern, and was taken down. 

A new tower was completed in 1522, and the pinnacles were added in 1755

but we went passed it and continued on up 

Hughenden Road. 

 But Hughenden was the target and 

we wanted to spend sometime there to get to know the place.

 The gate house was a beautiful flint home that of course has someone living in it.

 First was the Hughenden Chapel which again was a Flint Chapel, and it was open for viewing.

It had beautiful inside with lovely stained windows, and a Graveyard that had centuries of history.

we then walked up to the house.

 This beautiful brick home was Benjamin Disraeli home and he loved the place. 

The inside as usual is very dark and very hard to take to photo's

It was still a very nice house to tour.

 And at the door were two statues of him.

The gardens had been restored back to the time of best, and was still being improved.

This is where we sat and enjoyed the sun.

and got a chance to watch the Kites in the air above.

On the way home we found the old Vaiduct.

 But spring is in the air and next week is also planned to be special.