Other Places I have visited this year so far.

 Now that I have the school holidays off I am determined to see more of the country and the attractions that interest me which may not appeal to the rest of the family.

As a family we have been members of the National Trust for many years and now the children are adults my membership has changed to just Craig and I. We do try to visit a few properties each year. Over Easter I finally got to visit Quarry Bank Mill in Styal near Manchester airport. It is not one large property it is a mill, an apprentice house, the owners house and gardens and the village. The tours of the apprentice house and village have to be booked on a timed tour as they are guided. I booked for the apprentice house and learnt a lot about the life the children would have had. In some ways they were very well looked after compared to the workhouse or other mills. I have to admit, anything to do with industry does not appeal to me, I prefer seeing how people lived rather than worked so I didn’t really spend time in the mill. The owners house was a bit disappointing as you only saw a few rooms downstairs. The gardens were lovely and the location would have been a lot more desirable a place to work than the centre of the towns.

The other National Trust property visited was Tatton Park. A word of warning here though. Although the property is managed by the National Trust, it is owned by Cheshire Council who are currently charging £9.50 per car just to park.

I have been to Tatton Park a number of times before for events but never to really go into the house or gardens. This time I did. The house is impressive and it is one of the few places that gives you an insight into the life of the servants and you get to see the kitchens.

As Penny was not with us we went into the gardens which I haven’t been into since I was a child. I can imagine that in the height of summer when everything is in full bloom they are stunning but it was a little early for the flowers to be blooming. The Japanese garden was eye catching and felt very peaceful.

There was a Shaun the Sheep trail for the children with various designs dotted around the park. This was my favourite design.

As it was just Craig and I we went into the ‘Gardener’s Cottage’ for a drink and a slice of cake. The picture here does not really do justice to how pretty it really is. Unfortunately, the weather was not favourable enough to sit outside,

As mentioned earlier, I like learning how people lived in the past. Living museums are fantastic places to get insights into so I visited Blists Hill Victorian Town near Telford in Shropshire.

I loved seeing all the shops and what they sold. It certainly makes you realise how lucky we are nowadays to be able to have so much choice compared to then. I am also grateful for all the things we have nowadays that make our lives more convenient and easier. There are aspects that I wish we still had, such as the sense of community and having local shops to buy fresh things from on a seasonal basis and less choice.

I enjoyed looking at the homes they had and speaking to the people who were there and giving you information as to the types of people who lived there and the types of lives they had.

It is somewhere I will definitely be going back to later this year to see how it looks in a different season and hopefully better weather. Maybe I could persuade Craig or Emma to come along as well. I know Matthew will not be interested.

Finally, on a glorious Sunday of the May bank holiday, Craig and I went to Eden Camp which is a World War Two museum created in an actual Prisoner of War camp. It is near Malton in Yorkshire. I have been before accompanying a school trip and we have passed it every time we went to Whitby. The museum exhibits are housed in actual prisoner of war huts arranged by events or to give you an overview of what life was like for ordinary people, soldiers or prisoners of war.

Again I was only interested in the huts that showed what everyday life was like and although I went through most of the huts, I definitely spent less time in the huts that covered the battles. There was also a lot of information on the boards and it meant that there were hold-ups getting into some of the huts due to people wanting to read the information. Taking pictures in most of the huts was not going to be easy as they were quite dark inside so I did not bother.

Although the visit had interesting elements, I am not planning on going back any time in the near future. Probably only if I have to accompany a school trip which is unlikely as it is a little to far for the school I am working in to go.