A new place for us

We spent a day out at a new (to us) National Trust place - there aren't that many left within driving distance that we haven't already seen, so this was a novelty!

As we were deciding what to do with ourselves at the tail-end of a heatwave weekend, my eye was caught by Shugborough Estate on the National Trust app - a similar distance driving as The Children's House, this was somewhere we'd never been, and, with a stately home, farm, gardens, play areas, and grounds filled with follies, it seemed like the perfect day out for us - so off we went!

It didn't disappoint. Even as we made our way up the long driveway we spotted some of the follies peeping out through the rolling parkland. These were built by Thomas Anson from the late 1740s as a reminder of the glorious architecture of Greece and Italy that he admired from his Grand Tour of Europe, and made possible by the wealth accumulated by his brother, George, who was the second person to circumnavigate the globe by ship and achieved epic naval victories.

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Evidence of these remarkable lives fills the grand house, with maps showing their journeys, and artefacts from their adventures throughout the beautiful rooms. Part of the house, though, is given over to the memory of Patrick Anson, the 5th Earl of Lichfield, who was also a renowned photographer (most memorable for being the wedding photographer for Prince Charles and Princess Diana.)

I could have spent so much more time here - wandering through the parks to see the follies up close (too hot today!), spending much more time in the rooms (Oli's patience was wearing thin), and generally soaking up the atmosphere of a place that was once described as 'a perfect paradise'.

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Though, in the interests of being completely honest about our family adventures - Oli had a full-on meltdown as we left; we refused to let her take 'twiggy' home with her (a giant stick she insisted on carting all the way around the grounds, and apparently "the best stick ever".) We'll definitely be back soon - if only to recover 'twiggy' from the bed she insisted on making for her stick so it wouldn't get cold under the trees...