We decide head over to visit Petworth House for no other reason than with our National Trust membership, entry into the house is free. (Oh, and there just happen to be a big car boot sale along the way.) We had visited Petworth House a few years ago, but our memories of it were a bit foggy, so we thought “what the heck”.
From the cottage to Petworth along the A272 is about 100km and is supposedly one of the ten best drives in Britain according to Guardian Newspaper's Travel Section. The drive is ok, but like most the drives we have taken in this part of the country you can't see anything of the scenery, due to the unending hedges that line both sides of the road. We were able to get a lucky photo through a break in the trees of the surrounding rolling downs.
Rolling downs typical of the Sussex countryside...
Petworth House is one of those grand old homes built by generations of Dukes of Something-or-other over centuries. But due to high maintenance costs, falling family wealth and the dreaded death duties the family's can no longer afford to keep the houses. Often the houses are donated to the National Trust which is then responsible for the maintenance and management of the property (often with the former owners as tenants, in one small corner of the house).
On the way we fail to find the mythical car boot sale but do find a flower show in a country church. The flower displays are lovely, the coffee and cake afterwards are great and the warm hospitality of the locals is wonderful. Unfortunately country churches are going the way of the grand old homes due declining numbers of parishioners and rising costs. Flower shows and the like are a small way of raising money to support the parish.
Flower display...
Fighting through the traffic we finally arrive at Petworth House. We spend an hour or so wandering through the house on a self guided tour concentrating on the art work. A lot of the work is by the old masters of the 17th and 18th century.
After the tour we head into the village of Petworth, which is just outside the gates of the house. The village is wall to wall antiques shops. Real expensive high class stuff. A bit out of our league.
The village itself however is very cute.
Wisteria covering a house in Petworth Village....
The main road A272 runs right through the middle of town and today it is nearly nose to tail.
Sports Car in Village...
Petworth House is surrounded by it's original gardens/park, much of which was designed and planted by the great Lancelot 'Capability' Brown over 250 years ago. A lot of the trees are enormous.
Tree Hugger........
