Audley End House & Gardens

On Easter Sunday (had I really been away from blogging for that long!?) myself and James decided to visit Audley End House and Gardens.  Neither of us had visited before, we'd spoken about it in the past but that was as far as we had got with it.  We ought to make more effort to visit more of our local attractions, there is so much to see and do locally yet we have barely visited any of them.

It was such a lovely drive there.  It took us around 40 minutes, and the journey took us through so many pretty, quaint villages.  There was always something to look at and it made such a difference being able to travel somewhere without having to venture onto a motorway or even a dual carriageway.

We parked up outside the entrance and walked in through the main gates as there was such a queue to get in, it seemed silly sitting there in the car and it was good being able to stretch our legs and being able to take in the house slowly as we approached on foot.  I was immediately taken with all the daffodils everywhere.  They are such a  happy flower and a promise of all that is to come of spring and summer each year.

The gardens and grounds were gorgeous, I can only imagine how beautiful they must look in the heat of summer.  Sadly there wasn't much in bloom but you got the idea of how it would all look.

We didn't spend all that much time in the house we were more interested in the garden and the servant quarters.  I'm pretty sure if I were alive in the days when the house was in operation that the gardens and servant quarters are where I would have been spending most of my time.  By choice it would either be the laundry or garden, any day, although I'm sure if that were the case I'd probably not see it the same way.

I fell a little bit in love with the laundry room.  All those pretty linen cloths, and the wooden drying racks, it's quite sad how much pleasure I got from seeing those haha.

I also fell in love with this beautiful black swan.  It was making the most lovely noise, and check out it's pretty frilly tail feathers, it truly was so beautiful.

The grounds were stunning.  The next time we go back will definitely be in summer, just so we can see it when it's at it's best.

I'd love to have a greenhouse like this one day.  It was gorgeous.

So it wasn't bad for a bank holiday weekend, and it's another place visited that we can cross off our list.  I'm not expecting any adventures this bank holiday weekend, but you never know what's in store.

Love Gem x x x