Tallulah's 1st outing of 2015

Sunday 11th January 2015
MILEAGE 15201 - 15280 -TOTAL = 79 MILES. 

It is 6 weeks since Tallulah last had a trip out so on Sunday we decided that despite the weather we really should take her for a little ride.

The weather was very cold and very windy but at least it wasn't raining.

We decided to go to Lyveden new Bield which is a National Trust property near Oundle.  We have been there probably half a dozen times over the  years and of course it is also the place where Coralie and John held their wedding reception in 2008.

Lyveden New Bield is an unfinished Elizabethan summer  house.  It dates from around 1604 and was built for Sir Thomas Tresham.  However, after years of religious persecution, Sir Tresham died in 1605 with most of his wealth depleted. His son Francis inherited the estate but sadly it was never to be finished as later that same year Francis, along with his cousins, became involved in the gunpowder plot and as the saying goes..... the rest is history!

You can find out more here: Lyveden New Bield.

http://www.britainexplorer.com/feature-articles/item/153-curse-of-the-treshams

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyveden_New_Bield

This is Tallulah in the car park.  We had a cuppa and some lunch before heading out.

As it turned out it was so bitterly cold that we had a quick walk around the house and headed back to the comfort and warmth of Tallulah.  We will be back at some point I am sure.

 As you can see I was cold!  What else can you see?

 

 

 

I thought you might also enjoy seeing a couple of old photos from Coralie's wedding.

 

These were taken in the evening at Coralie and John's wedding.  The lighting was all done by John and it looked absolutely beautiful.

 

 

Jilly

Tattershall Castle

Thursday 30th October

Mileage Start 14789 - End 14852 = 63 miles

School half term week so Simon was at home.  We had hoped to get several days out in Tallulah and I can't remember now why we only ended up having one.  

Mind you we were reminded during this trip that half term is not the best time if you do not wish to be over run by unruly children!  Seriously!  There were quite a few children literally running riot in the castle and the parents were just ignoring them.  We would never have allowed our children to do that.  There is a time and place for everything.  

Anyway, we went to Tattershall Castle.

 

 

Tattershall castle is a 15^th century, red brick, castle built between 1434 - 1447. It is now owned by the National Trust. It has 6 floors. There are 149 steps on a spiral staircase to get to the roof. The views outside on the roof top are lovely but I didn’t stay out there long. It was too cold, I'm not overly keen on heights and the pesky children running around up there screaming was just too much. I left Simon to it and waited back at the bottom.

 

I have to say that we were both fairly disappointed with the castle. It looks quite impressive from outside and brick built castles are a bit of a rarity. However we felt that the inside didn’t really live up to its promise. Each room is more or less bare, devoid of all furnishings. They are all laid out exactly the same and are basically big empty voids. The fire places on several levels were impressive and also one level had a tapestry. There was a nice vaulted ceiling but that was about it.

 

 

 

 

 

We have seen it and won't be going back to visit again.

If you want to learn more about the history click here: Tattershall Castle

Jilly