I had some difficulty seeing the Manor House due to the splendid bulrushes  growing outside.  I paused to take a ‘selfie’ in front of them.After showing our National Trust cards I had a conversation with a resident horse.People live in the Manor House so some of the gardens are ‘private’.  They have one of the excellent topiary houses all to themselves.From a distance I thought that there were some strange creatures in the meadow; however on getting closer discovered that they were piles of grass drying in the sunshine to make hay.A dog lives in the garden though he didn’t say much.The Manor House looks very pretty with roses growing against it.  I had a look in the well but was very cautious not to get too close.  I think it might be very deep and not a good place for bears.Some people were picnicking next to this topiary house; we have cut them off the photo.  Topiary houses are good places for bears and I think human children probably like them too.It was quite warm during our visit so I thought about cooling my paws in the little stream,  then remembered that getting soggy isn’t a good idea for stuffed bears like me.There is a special little house for storing apples.  I spent a few minutes in the rocking chair and had a good look around.High up in the middle of the ceiling was a very big wasps nest.  Fortunately the wasps had all moved out and it was empty.  I don’t like wasps;  I do however likes bees, as they make honey.There were lots of very big vintage cars parked in the front court yard.They were all Alvis cars; the Alvis owners club were having a picnic.A few of the Alvis cars had ornaments on the bonnets.  I really liked the rabbit and asked the humans if we could put one on our Skoda Fabia.My favourite Alvis car was the TC100 Grey Lady.  The owner very kindly let me sit in for a while.  Any visit to a National Trust property would not be complete without a visit to the tea room for cake.  Unfortunately the tea room at Chalfield had closed when we got there but tea and biscuits were still available self service.  We put some money in the honesty box.There were loads of packets of biscuits.  I opted for the oat cookies.Karen made some tea and I sat in the sunshine to eat my biscuits.  They were nearly as good as cake.

After returning home my humans found out that Chalfield Manor was used in the filming of the BBC series Poldark as Killewarren, the home of the Penvenens.

For more information about Great Chalfield Manor & Gardens see: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/great-chalfield-manor-and-garden

For information about the Alvis Owner’s club: http://alvisoc.org/