There is an interesting National Trust property in North Devon; Arlington Court. Years ago the Chichester family used to live there but in 1949 Rosalie Chichester gave the house and grounds to the National Trust.

At Arlington there is a carriage museum. Years ago before trains and cars were invented horses had to pull ppeople about in carriages. It must have been very hard work for the horses.

We were able peep inside one…

A very ornate gold carriage was hidden away in the dark with no photograph allowed. This carriage is The Speaker’s carriage and used to be used by The Speakers of the Houses of Parliament for special events. It was very big and ornate. Here we are peeping out; the carriage is behind the curtain!

Upstairs there was a little seat sprung llike some carriages. We weren’t quite heavy enough to make it bounce.

We tried on some splendid riding boots that made us both much taller.

Nye has a problem with hats sometimes…

There was a little carriage on display that would have been pulled by a very big dog.

Before exploring the rest of the estate we enjoyed a cinnamon bun in the tea shop.

In order to go into the house I had to climb up and push a button to ring the doorbell.

The house has lots of cabinets housing the collections of shells, model ships and pewter that the last owner Rosalie Chichester collected. We spent a while chatting to a bear in one of the rooms and forgot to take any more photographs!

Outside in the kitchen garden a wondeful habitat had been created for insects.

The formal garden is very pretty with a round pond in the middle.

We wandered on further and got quite excited when we saw signs pointing to ‘The Wilderness’. We found a great place for bears and humans that like to play (such as children). We played ‘Poohsticks’…..

Nye’s stick won!

Someone had been busy building a shelter out of sticks and branches.

After leaving The Wilderness we walked for a while along the banks of the river Yeo. The water gushed into the Yeo from the lake, we didn’t get too close.

After walking past the lake we came across a bird hide. Not for birds to hide in but for humans and bears to hide from the birds and watch them.

We noticed a couple of ducks in the water but didn’t stay long enough to see any birds.

Before leaving we had some fun exploring in Monkey Puzzle Mania.

We think Arlington Court has something to interest everyone; museum, tea shop, monkey puzzle mania and the bit we liked best the wilderness.

For more information see:
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/arlington-court

Horace the Alresford Bear 19/10/19